I really like the George Eastman House. I just never know quite what to call it. House? Museum? Gallery? It stayed in my peripheral vision for years. I was always glad it was there but it wasn't on my list of priorities. That changed after September 11, 2001. The exhibit the Eastman House presented after that soul-shattering event touched just the right chord of shared sadness and common unity. Since then I've been a regular visitor, and I just saw the Ansel Adams exhibit. For many of us, his photographs nearly define the medium; they are as familiar as the days of the week on the millions of calendars that bear their reprints.

The auxiliary shows on view - "Vital Signs" and "Pictures for Ansel" - should not be missed. Mostly the pictures are by talented young international artists, fresh and startling. And what fun to see up close a Vik Muniz piece from his" Pictures of Junk" series!

As I was leaving Eastman, it occurred to me that logically, photography is Rochester's defining art form. The big question: as Motown is to Detroit, as jazz to New Orleans, does Rochester have a signature photographic style? I went looking.

Lucky for me, the "Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition" at Memorial Art Gallery, that bell weather of Upstate New York art, is still on view and full of photography. And yes, there are some obvious trends, namely black-and-white stills of graffiti walls, lonely parking lots, ramshackle buildings, elegant landscapes, and overall textural abstracts. But these are general art retreads, not exclusively "Rochester photography."

And they are boring compared to Frank Petronio's "Cristina, 2006," the show's stand-out work. Cristina is a 20something, semi-nude, body-beautiful. She stands in a doorway (aha! The old doorway metaphor!) next to a television. On its screen is a full-face shot of Sally Fields. Sally, as any TV watcher knows, is advertising Boniva, a drug to scare away osteoporosis, a major threat of aging. Poor Cristina. She doesn't see the train coming, but just around the corner is the inevitable fall from perfection, nature's dirty trick. Petronio manages to foretell the whole life cycle with one click of the camera.

Still mulling, I shuffled over to the Image City Photography Gallery and there it is! Dan Neuberger's exhibit "Color, Shape, Form and ... Cat", and I am face to face with Rochester signature photography.

Neuberger is a PhD chemist, a long-time retiree from Eastman Kodak's research lab, and an exhibitor at nearly every art venue that Rochester has offered over the past 50 years. He has also been a tireless cheerleader for photography, organizing art shows and serving as both mentor and panelist for photo clubs.

His picture making is remarkably consistent. Neuberger revels in high-contrast graphics. He does not shy away from technology but explores and embraces the new. Digital enhancement has brought intensified color to his already sharp, clean images.

This exhibit showcases a body of photographs taken as he toured Greece and Turkey. The colors are all shades of white, blue, and gold, as crisp as a national flag. Some are printed on canvas, stretched and mounted like oil paintings.

These are pretty pictures. They are technically good. They are non-confrontational and non-political. They would not inspire heated arguments at any dinner party, nor be objectionable to even the most conservative decorator. These are indicative of the Kodak (Rochester) School of Public Art and Photography.

During the last few years Rochester - never exactly a hotbed of artistic experimentation - has retreated from anything that smacks of controversy. We seem to prefer art comfort food, the Rochester signature. All the more reason that I cherish the George Eastman House. Any museum that presents a pure delight like animal portraits (2006) followed by a photo documentary of the atrocities in Darfur (2007) is challenging our conscience while it entertains and informs us. And that wins my support.

George Eastman House

900 East Ave, 271-3361, www.eastmanhouse.org

Image City Photography Gallery

722 University Ave, 271-2540, www.imagecityphotographygallery.com

Memorial Art Gallery

500 University Ave, 473-7720, www.mag.rochester.edu