Well-known local photographer Ian Macdonald-Smith will receive international recognition when eight of his photos go on show at the Park Avenue Atrium gallery in New York this week. Mr. Macdonald-Smith is one of just six photographers chosen by sponsors, Olympus, manufacturers of photographic equipment, Pictorio, makers of ceramic coated photographic paper, and Altamira, makers of specialist software, to participate in the group exhibition. Other exhibitors include well-known fashion and beauty photographer Douglas Duber, who has done innumerable covers for top fashion magazines Vogue, Elle and Bazaar. Mr. Macdonald-Smith's chosen subject is tall ships, and his work covers aspects of his voyage on Eye of the Wind in the Halifax to Amsterdam leg of the Tall Ships 2000 race. The photographer has enjoyed a business relationship with Olympus for several years, uses their equipment, and his images have been included in some of the Company's US trade shows. The group exhibition on New York's prestigious Park Avenue marks the first time, however, that he has participated in an international show. "It is an honour to be part of a group show with some very well-known photographers,'' he says, "and my work is completely different to everyone else's.'' According to Mr. Macdonald-Smith, the sponsors have mailed out five thousand invitations, and the exhibition has been advertised in New Yorker magazine, Time Out, and the New York Times. "So, hopefully, the exhibition will receive good exposure,'' he says.

High seas: This is one of several tall ships studies local photographer Ian Macdonald-Smith will include in a group exhibition opening at the Park Avenue Atrium gallery in New York today. It features the boom and sail of Eye of the Wind with the Lord Nelson in the background. The vessels were en route from Halifax to Amsterdam.