Photographer Arthur (Butch) Bean is perhaps best known for his single images which regularly appear in The Royal Gazette , but when his one-man exhibition, entitled `Jaded', opens at the Masterworks Gallery off Front Street on Friday, viewers will discover another side of this talented Bermudian's art: collages.

"The bulk of the images which make up the collages were taken during my ten years with the Bermuda Sun weekly newspaper from 1986-96,'' Mr. Bean says.

"Only one derives from my present job.'' Even so, the photographer explains that while some of the images are news-related, most were taken while traveling to and from official assignments around the Island.

Like all pros, his eye is constantly on the look-out for the new, the unusual, and the inspiring.

"It is the things you see while covering the news that keeps my interest rather than the news itself,'' he says.

The genesis of Mr. Bean's fascination with collages began in his former job where, once his official duties were done, he was given free rein in the newspaper's darkroom.

"Having your own darkroom is like cocaine to an addict,'' he says. "From the naughty to the nebulous I printed my guts out. I did my own thing, only a fraction of which is represented in these collages.'' A self-confessed "book fetishist'', the photographer reveals that some day he plans to publish a collection of his collages.

"I love the idea of fat, coffee table-type books chock full of offbeat imagery,'' he says. "Every time I take a shot I'm fitting it into that coffee table book in my head. Stay tuned!'' Meanwhile, Mr. Bean admits he first got interested in collages as "a lark''.

"It was kind of like seeing the end product in a block of marble, only in this case it was a pile of photographs. One weekend, armed with a pair of scissors, a cutting knife, Elmer's clear drying glue, construction paper and double-sided tape, I tried and bingo! I liked what I saw.

"I also found, for the most part, that I could lose myself in the building of collages. Time flew by. Some, however, were like pulling teeth, and would sit for weeks on my drawing table. All in all it took about two years to complete them all.'' Asked why he chose the title `Jaded' for his show, the photographer says it is "because that is how I feel sometimes -- about myself, my job and life''.

Mr. Bean, 38, first joined The Royal Gazette in the early 1980s. Then aged 22, he had a strong background in graphic arts, but was untrained as a photographer.

Nonetheless, his keen eye quickly found its niche, and he remained with the photography department for two years, working for both the daily and its sister paper, the Mid-Ocean News.

In 1985 he joined the Bermuda Sun as a photographer, where he remained for ten years before returning to The Royal Gazette five years ago.

In 1989, indulging his passion for sports photography, Mr. Bean published the first of three books entitled `Players I.' The following editions were modified versions of the original.

In 1990 he published `Bermuda Revisited' in conjunction with Scott Craft Ltd.

A complete departure from sports, its pages were a compilation of what the photographer describes as "approximately 80 eight by ten-inch gritty black and white images depicting people in Bermuda''.

`Jaded,' which is part of the 2001 Artists Up Front (Street) Seven Year Itch Showcase series, runs from April 6-20 at Bermuda House Lane, 97 Front Street.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday. 295-5580. Mr. Bean's e-mail address is: butchie(at)ibl.bm Faces and Places: Years of capturing all facets of local life on film inspired local photographer Arthur Bean to create collages from some of them. This is one of them, and will be featured in his one-man show, `Jaded,' which opens at the Masterworks Gallery on Bermuda House Lane on Friday.