TWO HARBORS - Local college students are getting the opportunity of a lifetime:  to have their photographs on display in an art gallery.  It's the Waterfront Gallery in Two Harbors.

The streets of Duluth may not seem like the ideal place for capturing the perfect photo, but Ashley Strazzinski has an eye for beauty.  She carries her camera with her wherever she goes and she has a way of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

"I don't know.  I just feel a lot of people don't look at it as a photographic place," Strazzinski said standing on the streets of Duluth.  She looked up to see the shadow of a man working in a skywalk.  "I like the guy mopping in the skywalk."  Strazzinkski is a student at Lake Superior College.  Now her work is on display along with photographs from a dozen other local college students at the Waterfront Gallery.

 "I think it means a lot to have photos here, just because it's hard just being a student, not to mention an amateur photographer, to get pictures anywhere," she said.  "So to have the chance to have them displayed here is really great."

She captured every photograph in the Northland.  Dozens of students sent in their work for a juried competition.  Only select photgraphs made the final cut.

Keith Cich of Duluth has five photographs in the exhibit.  "It's a local area, so when people come in to look at your images they are familiar with what you are looking at," Cich said.

The exhibit is called "Superior's Edge; Emerging Photographers."  The students who made it in say it is quite an honor.

"I am shocked to be selected for this exhibit as it were, surprised and honored, hopefully more of my stuff will appear in places like this," said Paul Tousignant, one of the featured photographers.

Erin Gregor agreed.  "It's a big step, it's a big opportunity, it's amazing."

The owners of the gallery, John Gregor and Val Doherty, say they believe in supporting the youth and the future of art in the community.

"I think it brings, sheds light on the photographers themselves and their work, and their message," said Doherty.  "It's just nice for them to have a nice venue to do it in."

Students like Strazzinski say they appreciate this opportunity, since this is the first time their photographs have ever been on display in a professional gallery.  They say it's one experience they are sure to remember.

The "Superior's Edge" photography exhibit will be on display through October 24th.

For more information go to www.waterfront-gallery.com