The idea was a simple one: have an exhibit just about Akron, on a regular basis.

The images, however, are probably not what you expect; however, one would hope not to find the usual, the commonplace or the typical in an art exhibit.

''What we're hoping for is a dedicated photography show, open to both students and practitioners of fine art photography,'' said Andrew McAllister, who curated the exhibit, Akronography, at Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron, through Nov. 3.

''The title is a play on words, but it also sets a subject for people to focus on and a focus for the show as well,'' he said.

McAllister is not picky about the means used to get the image to paper. He accepts both film-based and digitally captured images.

''I consider that if they are made with a camera by a person who considers themselves a photographer, then they are the same medium,'' he explained. ''We aren't trying to segregate the delivery method.''

He compared his approach to that of a print show, where prints are included from woodcut, etching, engraving, lithography, silk printing, linoleum blocks, or any of a huge variety of methods available today for printing an image on paper. ''The printing method is beside the point, just as long as it looks like they know what they're doing, exhibit some mastery of technique and artistic merit.

''We did have some amateurs submit works, but most of those were too inconsistent. However, having a degree or being a professional was not a stipulation in this process. What we were looking for was a body of work that has consistency of vision,'' McAllister said.

They found 15 such photographers, an eclectic mix of amateurs, students and professionals whose images were taken in and around the Greater Akron area.

Featured are Akron photographers Bruce Gates, Ethan Rimke, Andrew Lopez, Shane Wynn, Amy Koons, Arnold Tunstall, Janice Kreitz and McAllister; Laura Bidwell of Peninsula; Frances Nicholson of Uniontown; Chris Rutan of Cuyahoga Falls; Katie Ardner of Canton; Michael Hudik of Mogadore; John Powers of Bath; and Pamela Daum of Hudson.

The subject matter ranges from abandoned tire factory spaces to new downtown construction, the approaches from whimsical to highly aesthetic, and the techniques from sophisticated platinum prints to images taken with a toy camera.

There are the square-format color images of Amy Koons, whose reflections in store windows in the area make us see what is the dream and the reality of Akron. Koons uses a plastic toy Holga camera that uses 1/20 film, the kind you used to use in a Brownie.

''There's only a little bit of control with the focusing and that's it,'' she said.

The film produces a square negative in what's known as a medium format, which is larger than 35mm but smaller than, say, 4 by 5 negatives.

It's unfortunate that these images are behind glass and poorly lighted. When I saw them in the gallery, I wasn't impressed. They seemed vague and underexposed, confusing and lacking in insight. However, when I saw the images sent to me for publication, I was quite impressed. They are stunning, rich and loaded with import.

This is one instance where the quality of the presentation makes all the difference in the world. This show should have been exhibited without creating any more reflections so there's no visual barrier between the image and the viewer.

Powers' silver gelatin prints of abandoned sites in the Cuyahoga Valley are a continuation of his series on the subject of abandonment.

''I'm fascinated by what time, poor maintenance and weather does to things,'' he said.

In an earlier show at Summit Artspace, he exhibited photographs of a greenhouse abandoned because of a family feud.

''One member of the family didn't come through with the money, and the other members of the family pulled the plug, and 6,000 tomato plants died six acres under glass, a quarter of a mile from Lake Erie now taken over by weeds and mice.''

Abandonment is a powerful subject, yet there is little sense of pathos or yearning in these images. They are very well done: Technique and craftsmanship are excellent. What's lacking is philosophy, point of view or emotion. But the subject is fascinating and worthy of the effort needed to add the final punch.

Compare Powers' images with the two platinum prints by Bruce Gates of empty interiors at the former B.F. Goodrich plant, and you'll see how a sense of abandonment can be pushed to an emotional pitch by staging, lighting, composition and context.

Also compare it to Arnold Tunstall's Hotel, an image of the neon sign from the old Anthony Wayne Hotel sitting in the middle of the street. Here is abandonment personified a sign of the times if ever there were one.

Bidwell, former gallery director for Summit Artspace and now working on her own creative endeavors, has chosen childhood memories and character studies as her subjects.

Memories of Akron's Airdock and the Diamond Grille are explored for their evocative powers: the Airdock for its fearsome size, the Diamond Grille for its 1950s/1960s atmosphere.

''When I knew I was going to do this show, I decided to photograph two places in Akron that have not changed since I was a child, and two places that have fascinated me since I was a child,'' Bidwell explained.

Since childhood she's had an unreasoning fear of the Airdock, which she associates with a sound of vast emptiness, nothingness. ''And there's something about the way when you turn down Kelly Avenue and see it it appears suddenly, then disappears, then appears,'' that she finds unnerving.

''I spent three days and early evenings sort of circling it and pulling off the road to photograph it. I found the historical marker out front and photographed it to look like it was taken from newsreel footage. They call it a 'colossal feat of engineering' and 'a leviathan.' Those two phrases are like an introduction to a narrative that I'm interested in,'' she explained.

''At the moment you can't go inside there. They're renovating it inside. I could have gotten permission to go inside, but the inside isn't the part I'm interested in.''

She also wanted to use digital images and an inkjet printer, ''because the ink sits on the top of the paper, and I wanted to take advantage of the richness of the colors and the blackness of the blacks and the square format that made me think of the old drugstore snapshots.

''I made them small because I think it's a nice contrast to the largeness of the Airdock, and because you expect big pictures and close-ups.''

She was fascinated with the Diamond Grille because it was a place where grownups went for a night out when she was a child, and she still gets the same thrill of having arrived at adulthood that she experienced the first time she went there on her own.

She got permission from owner Ted Thomas to photograph the Akron landmark on the afternoons they weren't open.

''I think it has a beautiful timeless elegance,'' Bidwell said. ''It reminds me of Frank Sinatra and that era. If Akron had had a Rat Pack, this is where they would have hung out.''

Bidwell also made a series of photographs of a young man she identifies only as ''RM II.'' He has a David Beckham quality and, as Bidwell puts it, he's ''charismatic and photogenic,'' and comfortable in front of the lens.

The photographs were taken on top of the parking deck across from the Akron Art Museum during Downtown at Dusk. ''He's not a model, and he's never acted,'' she said. ''He's just an incredibly nice guy.''

Andrew Thomas Lopez has submitted two images from his Modern Iconography series. The powerful color photographs lack nothing in terms of point of view, craft, presentation and impact.

Current Regime shows a man in a suit clutching what looks like a Bible in one hand, except that the cross on its cover is quickly revealed to be a dagger.

In Mother & Child we see a woman wrapped in white holding what appears to be the skeleton of a child, bringing to mind how eager our government is to prevent women from using birth control, and how indifferent the same government is to these babies once they are born.

So the images in this show range from the clever to the powerful, fully realized professional efforts and works in progress by students.

It's an interesting concept to have a show about Akron, and if future shows are selected as deftly as this one, then McAllister is to be congratulated.

One caveat: a photography show about Akron could quickly devolve into slick promotional images. That's not the real point of McAllister's concept. Here's hoping he retains control of the project.

Details

Show: Akronography

When: Through Nov. 3, noon-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Admission is free.

Where: Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron

Information : 330-376-8480 or http://www.akronareaarts.org