When Grant Rissler goes to market, he looks over the food and local wares as any other buyer would. But when he checks the color and texture of a tomato, it's not produce but a perfect picture that interests him.

Rissler has spent a lifetime traveling the globe, camera in hand, and he will show some of his photographs for the first time in an exhibit titled "Market: Place" in the Parrot Café at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, 328 W. Orange St. The exhibit opens Friday, Dec. 4, and runs through January.

A fundraising coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee, Rissler graduated from Goshen College in Indiana. He spent a semester abroad in the Dominican Republic, and after college bounced around a lot between Texas and New York City before coming to rest in Lancaster.

He grew up mostly in Front Royal, Va., and spent a few years of his childhood in East Africa. He was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and during his middle childhood spent two years in Somalia.

Travel has informed his life and his work.

"The photography exhibit itself is themed around the concept of 'market' [and] 'place,'" Rissler said, "either looking at those two words individually or together.

"Markets are a place I've often enjoyed taking photos over the years at different places around the world. Also, 'marketplace,' especially in our society today, has become a ubiquitous metaphor, and so some of [the photos] are working to explore market as a metaphor. We often talk about the 'marketplace of ideas,' or the 'power of the market' or, especially in a down economy, people 'watch the market.'"

Rissler's photograph "Pasta Heaven," taken in Bologna, Italy, contrasts the smooth forms of gnocchi, tortellini and farfalle with the rigidity of the wooden bins that separate the pastas. Half of the photos in the exhibit deal with these kinds of tangible items at or around a market; the other half explore the idea of market as metaphor. There is, for instance, a series of photos dealing with religion.

"Some people talk about religion as being part of the marketplace," Rissler said.

Parrot Café is itself a marketing tool of sorts, providing a space for artists within the congregation to share their work. With his show, Rissler would just like to get some honest feedback.

"It's certainly the first solo exhibition that I've done," he said. "We'll see what people think and what people like. If nothing else, it's always fun to go back through the images."