“Bike Rack” by Michael Keller is among the works in the “Charleston and Vicinity” show at the Byrd Federal Courthouse through October.

“Charleston and Vicinity” is the title of a group show featuring photographs of West Virginia’s capital town and its environs, now up through Oct. 31 at the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse on Virginia Street. The show, orchestrated by photographer Betty Rivard, is part of the Judiciary Arts Program, coordinated by Sally Groves. It’s viewable when the courthouse is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. (You’ll need a photo ID to enter the building and prove you are not Osama bin Laden.) The featured photographs are by: David Fattaleh, Bruce Haley, Robin Hammer, Michael Keller, Thorney Lieberman, Laura Moul, Steve Payne, Betty Rivard, Amy Williams and Mark Wolfe.

If your appetite is whetted for more Charleston photographs, do check out the DowntownWV gazzblog, which specializes in that sort of thing, featuring A daily dose of three photos by photoblogger Walker DeVille along with occasional guest photos.

“Egyptian Barber” by John Fluharty

Charleston native John Fluharty travels far and wide in search of striking photographs. He has exhibited photos from his travels in Nepal in past years in Charleston. Starting Friday (Sept. 15), ten new photos he shot in Egypt and in Tibet in 2005-06 are featured in a show at the Cultural Center in the state Capitol Complex.

The exhibit, in the 2nd floor balcony gallery, includes images of a monk seemingly lost in the ruins of a temple destroyed by the Chinese government; a Tibetan girl listening intently to a nearby conversation; an Egyptian butcher awaiting customers at the market; and the shot above of an Egyptian barber taken late one evening at a village in southern Egypt. “In choosing these photos, I looked for an intimate relationship between the subject and his environment,” says Fluharty.

“Giza and Camel” by John Fluharty

See a slideshow of some of the photographer’s Tibetan photos at this link.