The Big Town Gallery in Rochester will present "Alice Hall: A Life in Photography" from April 28-May 20, with an opening reception Saturday, April 28 from 4-6 p.m.

Presented by Ethan and Mike Bowen of Rochester and their sister, Amanda Bowen of Medford, Mass., the exhibit celebrates their mother Alice's 80^th year. It will showcase her 40-year body of work as a photographer through portraits, landscapes, still-lives and collages along with her personal collection of daguerreotypes, stereographs and tintypes.

"We knew there were hundreds of great photographs in her collection and we felt it imperative to select and exhibit the best of that work that we've loved and admired for years," Ethan said.

Hall, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1927, noted that her association with Rochester goes back 50 years.

"It is where I met my first husband, Curly Bowen, the father of my three children, Amanda, Mike and Ethan," she explained. "I was a science librarian at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. for 30 years, and one day strolling on campus with my camera, I learned that the famous photographer, Minor White, was teaching at the Institute. After studying with him, I felt encouraged to concentrate more seriously on my photography and started to work in my own darkroom."

Portraits and images of Vermont have been a major part of Hall's work, including many shots of her children. More recently, as she experimented with color photography, she has become more interested in still life and composite subjects.

"What I like about photography is the accidental quality of it; that you take this picture and you don't know what it's going to be like until you develop the print," Hall explained. "I have resisted the transition to digital photography because I love the instinctual unexpected aspects of shooting film with my old manual Cannon cameras; focusing and shutter speed manipulation feels like an extension of your hand. Surprise and mystery are also a part of that process."

Big Town Gallery is located at 99 North Main Street in Rochester. For more information, call 767-9670.