All images copyright by the individual photographers

Antarctica Journey Although Ted Tatarzyn”s sublime images of Antarctica are the focal point of this exhibition, please enjoy his other striking prints, representing scenes from some of the other continents that he has had the good fortune to visit. Antarctica, the coldest, windiest, highest and driest continent, is a place like nowhere else on earth, an environment that Ted Tatarzyn has admirably captured in this exhibition, with memorable images that reflect both the austerity and beauty of this hostile world. I would love to comment on all of the prints, but because of space restrictions, I will highlight two or three, and then say a little more about my two favorite images.  As we move around the exhibition, “Blue Ice and Wave” immediately catches one’s eye as an awe-inspiring picture, where we envisage the power of the sea, the fantastic abstract formations of the blue ice resembling fingers reaching out to engulf you. All  of this coupled with a background of subtle color hues that seem to dance across the sea. Further on, we encounter another magnificent image, namely, “Adelies Porpoising in front of Blue Bergs” that truly highlights life in Antarctica, from the fantastic iceberg formations with an ice-shelf enjoyed by two penguins, to the mad dash of their cousins “porpoising”, in a world where time is of the very essence. In prints that follow, one has to marvel at the superbly colored King Penguins in close-ups, and in colonies numbering in the hundreds of thousands of penguins, photographed in dramatic landscape settings. Here, I will now detail my two favorite images.
	Adelie Penguin, Rainbow Sky and Icicles by Ted Tatarzyn For me, this sublime image is quintessential Antarctica.  he glacial icicles, the dramatic blue ice, colored blue as the compressed ice absorbs all light except blue, the gorgeous soft reflective light, the warm pastel colors in the sky, all culminating in the presence of a solitary, majestic Adelie penguin. The latter poses alone, yet we all know that this striking, heroic penguin, is representing colonies of thousands of these magnificent animals, that have made this unique landscape their home. This penguin, a living sentinel on the tip of a glacier, gives all of us hope, that although we are on the “tip” of ecological disaster due to global warming, there is still survival and life in the future, if only man can change his ways. This is truly a magnificent, thought –provoking image.
	King Creche Pattern at the River Mouth by Ted Tatarzyn This outstanding photograph, with a powerful s-curve that takes the penguin colony breathtakingly way beyond the confines of the print border, a colony which seemingly goes on forever. The wonderful deep blue “water hole” gives the image a strong focal interest point. Besides being photographically stunning, it is the consummate story that is revealed that really grabs our attention. Most of us are aware of the perilous journey that a King Penguin has to make in a forbidding environment, of the long incubation of a single egg in very adverse weather conditions, culminating in a magical period where offspring have to be nurtured, fed and reared into adulthood in a very short space of time. Here in this expressive image, we can envisage the love, affection and parenthood, depicted in an oasis of fervent activity, one of anxiousness, of foreboding, but definitely of hope for the future, for this colony, and for Antarctica.
	Porthole by Julie Oldfield. Julie Oldfield’s exquisite prints of vignettes of Rochester and its environs are displayed in the East Gallery.   I have highlighted “Porthole” to comment on, because this eye-catching image so dramatically captures Julie’s artistic talent. The strong three dimensional “porthole” leaps out of the frame, whilst the receding planes inside seem to disappear into the wall, definitely enhanced by a mysterious shadowy image of what is possibly a reflection of a traffic light.  Adding to the mystery element, is the question of what is this “porthole” doing set in a non-descript,  faded brick wall?  What obviously enhances this outstanding image, is the vibrant red color of the porthole, a brilliant color mirrored countless times under the peeling white paint of the old brick wall. Furthermore, as an added bonus, we have the powerful element of a sweeping arch of green ivy, clinging desperately to the wall, reaching out to one day engulf our circular focal point. It is unusual in dramatic photographs of this type to have a dominant circular design, and it is probably why this image is so strong and captivating. Our eye is transfixed into travelling around and then through this porthole, looking into the beyond, into the past, and possibly into the future, even though our mind would remind us constantly that this is no passageway.