The AIPAD Photography Show celebrates its 30^th anniversary this weekend with special features that underscore the constantly evolving processes that make photography unique among the arts. This show, which brings together galleries from around the world presenting museum-quality images, is a destination for collectors and connoisseurs. It's also a must for anyone hooked on process and innovation in the camera arts.

Organized by Bill Hunt, of Hasted Hunt Gallery, Innovation, a show within the show, highlights milestones in the history of photography, from daguerreotype to new media and video. "We invited each gallery director to choose a print from their inventory which they feel represents an important advance in photography - artistically or technically -and write a brief description for the catalogue," said Hunt. The commentaries also accompany the images on display, giving a tour of the show added dimension.

Left to right: Mary Mattingly, In the Navel of the Moon, 2008, courtesy Robert Mann Gallery. Binh Danh, Regeneration of the Buddha, chlorophyll print and resin, courtesy Lisa Sette Gallery. Still life by Jan Groover, courtesy Janet Borden Gallery.

At Robert Mann's booth were contemporary works by Holly Andres from her Sparrow Lane series, Chip Hooper's new images of waves and surf, and classics by Aaron Siskind and Ansel Adams. Mann chose an image by Mary Mattingly from her new series, Nomadographies for the Innovation project. "Drawing on failed utopian projects, she intermixes Fortune 500 corporate logos with jaw-dropping landscapes, pushing the latest digital technologies to the limits to create her composite tableaux. As the representation of a world operating somewhere between obsolescence and post-tech ingenuity," he continued, "Mattingly's work may be considered as a travelogue, projecting into the future while recalling our recent past."

Hans P. Kraus, Jr., who specializes in old masters of photography, made a rare 1864 image of the moon by William Henry Fox Talbot the star of his presentation. In his description, he points out that while reproduction was one of photography's greatest contributions to modern life, there were many limitations to overcome. Fox Talbot spent more than thirty years perfecting a process that combined the best aspects of photography and printmaking. "The present image," he writes, "is among the first photomechanical images of the moon, representing the kind of discovery and knowledge that scholars and scientists were eager to share and distribute."

Doug and Mike Starn, who revived the 19^th century color carbon printing process, have begun creating images using this method combined with gilding. At HackelBury Fine Art of London's booth was an image of antique Buddhist statuary, which was originally captured digitally, then printed through the combination of watercolor pigments, palladium leaf water gilding and 24K gold leaf applications. The wall text reads, "The finished piece becomes a time vessel both metaphorically and philosophically through this unique photographic process."

As I went from aisle to aisle, counting the number of Moonrise, Hidalgo prints by Ansel Adams on display, and rating them for print quality, I was reminded once again why AIPAD is such a pleasure. Here, under one roof, are images selected by some of the most discriminating minds in photography. The diverse points of view might, at first, make the variety seem somewhat overwhelming. But the quality of the images, and the chance to get the story behind the image first hand, takes gallery hopping to another level.

The AIPAD Photography Show runs through Sunday, March 29th at The Park Avenue Armory at 67^th Street. Please visit the AIPAD website for hours and information about special programs scheduled for Saturday and to download the entire Innovation catalogue.

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