WATERVILLE — Taylor Dawson pointed to her black and white photo of a cellar window that had been removed from a house and was leaning against it.
“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 3-18 from the greater Waterville area whose photos line the walls at Hathaway. The public may view them, free-of-charge, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Sponsored by the Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club & 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 learning 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 plans to continue doing photography, which she has learned to enjoy.
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 youths ages 16-18.
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 the teacher in the Kids Express Program and accompanied them 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, 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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