CITY FAMILIES: Chicago and London

A nice change from cinema-verite photography. Banish went after, and largely captured, the discreet charm of the ordinary in these family-album photos where small details of dress and furnishings individualize homes and life-styles. Banish eschews contrived camera angles and bizarre lighting effects. The families come from Pimlico, London, and Lincoln Park, Chicago, and offer a fair sample of the social and economic mix of those neighborhoods--archaeologist, plasterer, doctor, dustman. Spontaneity is sometimes a casualty of the best-foot-forward look. Viewing a row of poker-stiff children, one mother had her doubts: ""I don't know. They all look like they're going to be shot."" But happily--and this is a happy, upbeat photo essay--the rigid, awkward look is the exception.