With the three-way combo of it being First Friday the night before, a Saturday day instead of a Friday night opening reception, and the seven-hour long expanse of time, I didn't think Image City would be packed mid-day. But it was -- jam-packed, in fact, for the opening of "Elsewhere" on January 5. I guess with the more than 100 exhibitors in "Elsewhere," all having supportive friends and family, I should have figured that. These same friends and family gathering around their loved ones' pieces made it difficult to maneuver around what is already a tight fit in a fairly efficiently arranged space. Still, I managed to slither through to view beautiful photo after beautiful photo.

With so many great shots, it was hard to pick out any favorites. Many of the subjects were beautiful to begin with. That many were taken in foreign locales, and some were digitally enhanced, added more layers to the Big B (beauty). I began to feel a bit hypnotized. That is, until I saw Michael Murdoch's "Whorls Above." It's a shot up the mast of a sailboat that jogged me out of my beauty fog and launched me into vertigo. I felt refreshed, like some of the ocean had sloshed up and smacked me.

After my kind awakening, I was better prepared to relish Paul Porell's "The Sole Heeler," a shot of the front of a shoe repair shop in Lawrence, NY, with its welcoming open-armed Jesus in the window. I also liked Sharon Yockel's pieces and the colors in Mary Jo Giglioti's. I found it hard to believe that Daniel J Nolan's "Boys Fishing on Honeoye Lake" -- a stunning sunset (sunrise?) shot of copper rippling across the water contrasting the silhouette of three boys in a boat -- was actually taken locally.

Some of the curator's placements were brilliant, too, arranging similar subjects together, but the products arrived at by very different means. The photos attached to the bottom of the stands were a bit difficult to see, though, something I've noticed each time I go there and have to squat down for a clearer view. I'm wondering if there is any way they could suspend them from the ceiling, centering the viewing space?

Next up: Elizabeth Streb at RIT