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In the visual-art world, photographers sometimes go without the appreciation they deserve. After all, when professional cameras are available to anyone with a hobby and certain software allows tech-savvy wannabes to alter an image until it barely resembles the original source (are there any celebrities left who don't have rug burn from worshipping at the altar of Photoshop?), it's easy to take for granted that artistic talent - not simply the most expensive equipment - is what's responsible for the truly top-notch photography out there.

While we're a little miffed our "One Night in Boston" issue was erroneously omitted (just kidding!), there's little doubt as to the obvious merit of the five winners of the 2009 Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Awards, who are receiving their due in a special exhibition at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University (832 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.975.0600). The infrequent awards, staged only seven times since they were first presented in 1988 (and most recently
in 2005), are named for the co-inventor of Kodachrome color film, and they had jurors culling from submissions of world-class work from the world over.

Though the works by the winning artists all reflect a few consistent criteria - the works have to have been produced within the last two years, be in color (the word "duh!" seems warranted), and showcase "emerging artists and new approaches" - these photographers display artistic visions and approaches that are totally varied. For example, German artist Claudia Angelmaier makes limited use of color (ironic, aye?) in her work, minimalist photos of paper goods - especially illustration books and postcards - reproduced and layered over one another in fascinating geometric arrangements that maximize white space.

Illinois-based photographer Curtis Mann also makes grand use of stark white space in photos from his series Modifications, though he achieves it by a very different technique. Mann paints portions of his photographs in a clear varnish before dipping the works in household bleach: the unpainted portions are washed away, leaving huge splotches of empty space while at the same time emphasizing the stark, isolated images - solitary people, lone trees, single buildings - that do remain. The photos, taken in battle-fatigued countries like Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq, convey the weight of war through their dramatic depictions.

Argentinean photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg creates surreal images that explore the relationship between people and water, especially in his 2007 series The High Tide. In the series, Chaskielberg turns his lens to the Parana River community in Argentina to capture folks at hard work and melancholy contemplation - but his use of lighting (he worked only at night, illuminating his camera with lanterns and natural moonlight) transforms these real people into frozen curiosities that resemble plastic figurines arranged in incredibly detailed play sets.

Equally eerie is the work of photography duo Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, collaborators who once studied locally at Provincetown's Fine Arts Work Center. They're responsible for the series Eisbergfreistadt, a fictitious restaging of a real-life 1923 incident in which an errant iceberg ran aground a German port. The huge panoramic photos, which make use of elaborate costumes and props, are so whimsical they resemble watercolor paintings. Then again, in these artists' hands, reality is reflected and refracted in equal, awe-inspiring measure.

The winning photographers will first be featured at a public reception on Thursday, November 12, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and the exhibition will then run from November 13 through January 24, 2010.

World Without Walls

While the artists featured in the Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Awards often seem to transform their subjects into otherworldly dreamscapes, there's a stark realism to the exhibit "Dislocated City: Berlin Photographs by Angus Boulton," on view now at the Wolk Gallery at MIT (Building 7, Room 338, 77 Mass Ave, Cambridge). Boulton's work is part of the school's lecture series "City as Stage, City as Process," and it captures the architectural landscape of Berlin to show the continually evolving history and culture of a city that, his work suggests, still struggles for a cohesive unity exactly 20 years after its famously divisive wall fell. Boulton will appear for a talk on November 9 from 7 to 9 p.m., and the exhibit will remain on view until January 22, 2010.