The Shoreline Arts Alliance recently raised its annual juried photography show in Mill Gallery, the main exhibiting space within the Guilford Art Center complex. While the art competition is open to all Connecticut residents, only a comparative few are provided the opportunity to display in the 30th anniversary of Images.

Jurors chose work from 65 artists. And, while they come from points throughout the state, shoreline residents make a strong showing, with two-Eric Litke (New Haven) and Miela Barocas Mayer (Guilford)-receiving First Honors.

The diversity doesn't end with the geographic spread of the artists. The 96 photographs pull from wide pools of inspiration, like the beauty of ice-encased trees, the carefree attitude of carnival attendees, and the intense personal toll of the financial crisis. They also use equally varied techniques like silver gelatin print, cyanotype, scanned collage, and even toy camera print.

The Exhibit

In looking at Images, I'm drawn to an unwritten, but emergent theme-our changing environment.

Steve McGuire's (Guilford) Faulkner's Light Web Cam grids out 72 thumbnails of the exact same lighthouse view over the course of a year, showing the iconic structure as it shines in the summer sun, is doused in a blanket of darkness, or hides, obstructed by snowy storms.

Retail Seasons: Target in Winter and Summer by Daniel Hott (North Haven) offers up commentary on the whims and impacts of our economic downturn within the context of a Target store façade during summer highs and winter lows.

Eric Litke's (New Haven) series Hartford Elm I, II, and III contrasts a leafless, branchy giant amid concrete, billboards, and decaying neighborhoods.

David Ottenstien (New Haven) and Jerry Reed (Essex) are equally effective in using planes of starkness. Taken together, the two images distinguish the vast openness of quiet rural life from the engineering mastery of urban culture. In Ottenstien's Fence, two veils of white, one drifting down from the sky, the other draped along the ground, are stitched together with upright posts. Meanwhile, in Reed's Opera House, curved structures simulating architectural details are anything but calm; the tension of the arch and the contrast of light and shadow create an energetic graphic punch.

Two photographs that capture the joy of childhood in a bygone era, Timothy by Kathryn Frederick (Killingworth) and Untitled 1 (from the jump series) by Ken Stabile (Thomaston), are contrasted with work from two nearby photographers who capture the modern decline of innocence-Miela Barocas Mayer's (Guilford) Broken Puppets and Penelope Barsch's (Meriden) Rory.

There are at least seven other images that easily fit within the theme, but I won't spoil the fun.

My Honorable Mention

One of the draws of photography is its exactitude. In its finest moments a certain amount of truth is pulled to the surface. Photography can also be an alternative paintbrush. But every once in a while an unassuming, non-award-winning photograph will confuse the line between real-life documentation and conjured, painted imagery-and magic can happen. Inspired by Botticelli by Adrien Broom is one of those images. With its dramatic lighting effects, its seemingly targeted enhanced coloring (particularly on the subject's thigh, heel, and ball of the foot), and its unnatural composition, this otherworldly image appears to be more of a painting than a photograph.

Images 2011 is on display through Saturday, March 5 at Guilford Art Center, 411 Church Street. It is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call 203-453-3890 or visit www.shorelinearts.org.