When Sir John Herschel first coined the term "photography" in 1832, he probably never imagined an age where the art form would warrant such power of illusion granted through the luxury of digital alterations and the computer age. The photographer today has nearly two centuries of artistic and technical advances at hand to do virtually anything he can imagine with a single snapshot.

These concepts will be on display as East Carolina University's School of Art and Design presents the 5th Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition today-Feb. 10 in the Wellington B. Gray Gallery. The gallery is open today from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Gil Leebrick, gallery director, said the show has become quite significant for photographers across the nation.

"It serves an important role for East Carolina and Greenville, but also for the photo-based community," said Leebrick. "It is an avenue for the best work to be gathered together."

Just about every style of modern photography is on display, from Giclee (printed from an inkjet), digital and traditional photography, to 3-D and installation pieces.

"This is a wonderful overview of contemporary photography in its diversity of media and approach," said Leebrick.

Photographers from 27 states, primarily working artists, faculty and graduate-school students, submitted up to four entries each in hopes of winning recognition and possibly one of the five $1,000 awards.

Mark Klett, a known photographer and author, is exhibition juror and selected the displayed works, as well as the winners. From the 384 entries, he chose 74 pieces.

Just as painters have a choice between oils and acrylics, the recognized photographers also employed several instruments to convey their own message through photo-based media. Leebrick said photography today could be a pair of jeans or the side of a truck with a picture plastered onto it, as long as there is light-sensitive material somewhere in the piece.

"However (the photo) is manipulated, what it's placed on and what the final outcome is ... that's up to the juror to see how successful it is," said Leebrick.

The exhibition includes several political pieces, including two collages of digital photographs surrounding a small video screen playing images of war.

Featured artist David Simonton characteristically captures the sides of buildings while also including some element of culture or humanity. His photo of an old poster depicting different hair styles for African American men in what appears to be an abandoned barber shop hangs by the front wall of the gallery.

Leebrick said one interesting issue photography's technical advances has created is the ability to make the viewer wonder if the piece is created around an actual photograph. Two displays by Catherine Day pose this question by using Giclee on fabric to create an eerie, almost dreamlike, view of gravestones.

Perhaps the most eye-catching entry is an installation piece by Deb Davis titled, "Precarious Happenstance."

An initial photograph of feet hanging on the gallery wall leads the viewer to a rickety ladder that hangs above the patrons' heads and peaks at the center where a pair of shoes sits. The ladder ends on the floor by a photo depicting the same feet with the shoes. Leebrick suggests this piece may express the artist's personal trials.

Davis was not a winner, but Cathy Crowell, Morehead City; Catherine Day, McLean, Va.; Brian Delevie, Denver, Colo.; Linda Foard Roberts, Waxhaw; and Gwen Walstrand, Springfield, Mo., all will receive awards.

At 5 p.m. on Jan. 19, Klett will present the awards in Speight Auditorium, as well as lecture on his own work, which he uses to capture the intersection of cultures, landscapes and time. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Buhl Foundation and the Japan/US Friendship committee. He also is author of 11 books including 2005's "Yosemite in Time" and "Third Views, Second Sights" in 2004.

Following the lecture, the gallery will open for a catered reception. The public can view the work and possibly meet Klett and some of the other artists.

"We are very proud of the exhibition, we understand its place in the art world today and are pleased to be a part of it," said Leebrick.

"And in its fifth incarnation, we look forward to continuing for many years."

What: Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition

When: Jan. 12-Feb. 10; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Wellington B. Gray Gallery, in the Jenkins Art Building off Fifth Street, ECU campus

Cost: Free

Call: 328-6336

Visit: www.ecu.edu/graygallery

Contact Kristin Day at 329-9579 or kday@coxnc.com.