TO WEDNESDAY

Arlington-based photographer Forrest MacCormack captures bright outdoor landscapes in the middle of the night. Working with a medium-format camera and exposure times as long as 45 minutes, he “paints” the scenes in an almost surreal fashion by entering the frame to wave colored flashlights around while the shutter’s open. MacCormack’s method, now on display in 17 images at the Fraser Gallery Georgetown, is not unique: A California-based photographer named Troy Paiva has done something similar chronicling abandoned buildings and signs in the Mojave Desert. MacCormack, though, favors rustic scenes, such as old industrial buildings built of stone, and aging bridges. In some cases, his multicolored lighting seems unnecessarily garish; one questions whether the abandoned stone structure in Round Top Cement Mill Kilns really looks better when it’s bathed in shades of pink and amber. But when MacCormack uses his lights sparingly, the effect can be—pardon the pun—illuminating. Barn (Looking North) (pictured), for instance, begins with a Walker Evans-worthy architectural façade but records layer after layer of surface complexity: peeling paint, clinging vines, and just a few patches of magenta and indigo lighting. MacCormack’s portrayal of trees is consistently strong, perhaps because he sticks to classic rules of composition and keeps the lighting understated. When several of MacCormack’s arboreal images are lined up side by side against one wall, their trunks, branches, foregrounds, and backgrounds resonate with welcome harmony, rather than brash intensity. The exhibition is on view from noon to 3 p.m. Friday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, to Wednesday, April 16, at Fraser Gallery, 1054 31st St. NW. Free. (202) 298-6450. (Louis Jacobson)