WATERVILLE — Taylor Dawson pointed to her black-and-white photograph of a cellar window that was leaning against the house it was removed from.
“Personally, I thought it was very good,” she said.
Dawson, 11, entered her photograph in the Kids With Cameras Exhibit at the Hathaway Creative Center on Water Street.
The Albert S. Hall School fifth-grader is one of about 80 kids ages 3 to 18 from the greater Waterville area whose photos line the walls at Hathaway. The public may view them, free of charge, today through Sunday.
Sponsored by the Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club and YMCA, the third annual exhibit gives children a chance to learn photography, be creative and tout their works.
Dawson and 14 other students in the Hall School’s after-school program Kids Express visited the exhibit Thursday afternoon. The children have been studying photography for the last six weeks as part of the program.
“I think it’s cool because we get to see what everyone else did, so we know our expectations on what we do next — the judges expectations on what a good picture is,” Dawson said. She said she plans to continue shooting pictures.
Steve Aucoin, director of the North End satellite office of the Boys & Girls Club, coordinated the exhibit. He said children entered the contest from as far away as Pittston.
Many children have their own cameras, but cameras were made available to those who did not have them, he said.
Area businesses donated gift certificates for prizes.
Sean Cabannis, 16, of Vassalboro, won Best of Show with his black-and-white photograph of a bird on a branch. Cabannis also took first place for that photograph in the digital black-and-white category for 16- to 18-year-olds.
Deja Pineda tied for first place in the color digital category with Sebastian Bouchard, in the age 9-and-under category. Bouchard won first place in digital black and white.
Eli Michaud won first in digital color, ages 10-12 category, and Bethany Lund won first place for digital black-and-white in that age group. Madisyn Collier took first in digital color, age 13-15 category; she also won third place for digital color. Calev Haviland won first place in digital black and second place in digital color. Haviland won Best of Show last year.
In the age 16-18 category, Cassie Hoyle took first place for digital color.
Judges were John Goodine, owner of Elm City Photo; Jim Evans, managing editor at the Morning Sentinel; and Bernadette Puiia, of Bernadette Photography.
Rebecca Gonzalez Kreisberg, a junior at Colby College majoring in art, is one of the teachers in the Kids Express program and accompanied students to the exhibit Thursday. She said they loved taking photos and were excited to see their works displayed for the public.
“That’s a big deal for these kids,” she said.
Sammie Saulter, age 11 and a fifth-grader, discovered a house near her school had many colored glass bottles hanging on a tree. She snapped a photo and got to see it prominently displayed Thursday.
“I think it’s pretty neat to see everyone from different schools — to see what their photos are,” Saulter said.
Anyone wanting to purchase a photo may leave a name and number on a list at the exhibit and organizers will notify the child and his or her parents, Aucoin said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com
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