Hackneyed view of island life

A pile of travel brochures by the window of the gallery offers you the 'unique opportunity to experience the Cape Verde Islands'. It's unfortunate this exhibition of photographs of the inhabited islands that make up the archipelago of Cape Verde, just off the west coast of Africa, is sponsored by a travel company: the juxtaposition of the glossy brochures reminds you all the more that these photographs of picturesque poverty do little other than the brochures designed to entice you to experience the exotic.

They do not reveal much of the island or its people, some of which you discover upon reading the short extracts of accompanying text - and these are lifted from a source unconnected to this exhibition.

Marstrand is a trained photographer, and there are indeed some pleasing mist-covered landscape shots: pictures of verdant hanging foliage, volcanic backdrops and close-ups of rough-hewn rocks against a lush green land. But his background in advertising gets the better of him and many of the images are simply hackneyed: children fishing in the sea, silhouetted shapes against a shimmering horizon; primary coloured, 'charmingly' dilapidated walls.

All this, of course, raises the question of how art photography differs, if at all, from other forms of picturetaking, and of how quickly images that once may have seemed so fresh, so innovative, become clich?s. These are difficult questions but, while pondering, one might quickly realise that the application of a little critical intelligence, when aiming the camera, goes a long way.

Henning Marstrand: The Cape Verde Islands

Until Sept 8, Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street W1, Mon to Sat 10am to 5.30pm, free.

Tel: 020 7636 7478. Tube: Goodge Street