My stance on photography is not uncommon: it can be a complicated, artistic science, but the relative ease of the modern medium makes it all too easy for anyone to point and click and capture a charming image. I'm all for the democratization of art, but truly impressed when genuine effort and reflection are evident behind the endeavors. As a gallery entirely dedicated to photography, and just a few blocks from Georgie E's big house o' glory, Image City has quite the task on its hands. The partners of the gallery, all talented artists in their own right, offered up their walls this month to eight photographers selected by the partners and by Lumiere Photo staff, from 123 portfolios entered in the Portfolio Showcase competition. Also exhibiting work in this show are the staff of both businesses and Image City's artists-in-residence. A slideshow on a video monitor features two images from each of the portfolios submitted to the competition, and a show catalog that includes every image from the exhibition is available for purchase.

Susan Larkin captures the elegant forms of dry plant husks and other natural structures, bereft of color and dramatically lit. Isolated in a void of empty space, they bear the dormant potential of new life in their abundance of seeds. "Echinocystis Iobata (Wild Cucumber)" is a spiny, broken-egg form, the complex workings of dark vessels visible in the paper-thin skin, and the whole composition lending the feeling of an alien, organic zeppelin hovering in space.

"The peculiar terrain of Palouse [Washington] is characterized by steep domed hills (actually windblown silt dunes from the last ice age)," states the info-card near Rick Mearns's photos of a place he feels has a "mystical quality" despite its lacking the overt grandeur of a national park. They could easily be called portraits of shift - ancient changes recorded in land, newly cultivated topography, and the fleeting effects of abundant clouds and drifting shadows on undulating landscape, stretching into eternity. All were shot during one day "of continuous change" when passing storms threatened Mearns's efforts, but produced the scattered light that allows for such deeply saturated color.

Ted Tatarzyn's stunning portraits of Antarctica - a place I considered to be a useless frozen wasteland - include the captivating "Blue Ice + Wave," with impossibly clear cerulean water, bouncing and cresting chaotically against eerily lit blue ice, and capped by a heavy mantle of white snow. "Six O'Clock in the Morning at Booth Island" is a panoramic expanse of water, rock and ice, gently lit by a rising sun through a blanket of downy clouds. Hardy penguins huddle as languidly as possible on the frigid rocks. Were I on this expedition, I'd be impatiently, bitterly thinking, "Time to go home yet?" and most certainly seeing nothing but uniformly white and gray surroundings. Tatarzyn succeeds in pointing out unexpected beauty.

Considering all of the accolades listed in lieu of an artist statement, Dan Nolan has doubtlessly taken many amazing photographs. But his grouping, "Faces of the Caribbean," taken while on cruises and vacationing on the islands, disturbed me more than anything. They include an image of a street-side fruit seller who Nolan admits didn't want to be photographed, and children too young to know what exploitation means smiling at the novelty of being shot. What's more, I fail to understand why these pictures were selected when another travel photographer - who has a humanitarian mission to learn and aid - was included in the show.

Chris Kogut dedicates her portfolio to the "struggle and resilience of the people of Myanmar," per the provided statement, and she acknowledges that her work raises "the question of whether tourism supports the oppressive military regime or whether it aids the survival of the people who rely on the trade to support their families." This conscious and respectful examination is more than a documentation of a westerner's experience of subjective paradise in the third world, and is more than a passing connection with an "exotic" culture. She continues, "Their rich and ancient culture resounds within the mystical beauty of the land despite isolation, subjugation and abject poverty."

Kogut raises funds for humanitarian efforts in Myanmar and for the refugees who have come here. The photo "Leap of Faith" shows a red-robed, child-monk soaring across a gap between decorative platforms on an abandoned pagoda with the confidence reserved for 12-year-olds and Indiana Jones alone. "Kayah (Big Ear) Girl" is a softly lit profile of a youth, her eyes shielded by a fringe of hair, our focus stolen by the disfiguring and enhancing golden earplug in her extremely stretched lobe, and the brass neckrings just visible among her necklaces. The modifications are ornamental, but also may have made the women "less desirable to slave trade during the 19th century," and authorities have encouraged the women to revive the custom to attract tourists to the refugee camps. Kogut is honest about the moral ambiguity within our privileged fascination with exotic cultures, and our duty to help where we see the need.

Beauty is abundant in the world, and easy to point out. But profundity is more elusive, and originates in how we incorporate what we see into our lives.

Portfolio Showcase 2009

Through September 6

Image City Photography Gallery, 722 University Ave

271-2540, ImageCityPhotographyGallery.com

Wed-Sa 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun noon-4 p.m.