The Magic of Light 2026
Image City Photography Gallery
722 University Ave.
Jan 2, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Image City begins each year with a juried show, selecting at least one photograph from each entrant to create a dynamic exhibition throughout the main gallery. Opening January 2, the 19th Annual Juried Show features 74 photographers exhibiting 116 framed images in the Main Gallery. Awards valued at $200 each will be presented to three outstanding works, sponsored by Archival Methods, Lumiere, and Image City Photography Gallery.

This year’s exhibition highlights the many ways photographers use light as both subject and expressive tool. Several works rely on shadow and restraint, where minimal illumination suggests introspection, vulnerability, and quiet emotional weight. In contrast, other images employ layering, transparency, and reflection, allowing light to shape psychological depth and visual complexity rather than simply describe form.

Imaginative compositions challenge perception by altering orientation and perspective, transforming familiar environments into surreal, contemplative moments. Landscape photographs range from expansive vistas to intimate scenes, capturing subtle atmospheric transitions such as early dawn, mist, or starlight. These images reward close viewing, revealing how patience and timing can elevate fleeting conditions into enduring photographs.

Precision and craftsmanship are also on display in carefully lit studio works, where controlled light sculpts shape, texture, and design. Across portraiture, landscape, and conceptual imagery, the exhibition demonstrates a broad range of creative approaches unified by a shared mastery of light.

Together, the photographs celebrate both technical excellence and artistic vision, offering visitors a compelling reason to experience how light can transform perception, emotion, and meaning.

There is no admission fee, and the Gallery is accessible to everyone.

Learn more and see a full list of participating artists here.

Image: Almost Dawn Bow Lake by Debbie Nawoczenski