Bloomington's 'little' citizens display photos in new exhibit

Autumn leaves exploding with color, friends' smiling faces in a pumpkin patch, the Sample Gates on a sunny day -- these are just a few examples what local children find beautiful in Bloomington.\nThe Bloomington Photography Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana are currently hosting their third annual photography exhibit in the Education Gallery at the John Waldron Arts Center. Twenty-four photographs, brightly lit and framed by bold blues, yellows, reds and greens, portray the world from the perspective of the young participants in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. \nThe exhibit is designed to help expose young people in the program, known as "Littles," to photography as a potential career path and as a means to capture and share the beauty of the everyday world, according to a press release. \nParticipants received cameras from members of the Bloomington Photography Club and were given instruction about camera use and basic photograph composition, said Mark Voland, case director for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The children then had one week to capture aspects of Bloomington and Monroe County that they saw as being important to them, he said. \n"The kids were told to use their imaginations, to take pictures upside down and sideways," Voland said. \nA panel of seven members of the Bloomington Photography Club chose the best photograph from each participant to be matted and displayed in the exhibit, according to the November 2006 issue of the photography club's newsletter "Camera Obscura." The young people in the program enjoy having their work presented for the community, Voland said.\n"Some of the kids have been doing (the exhibit) every single year since it started," he said. \nThe exhibit will run until Dec. 3, with an opening reception at 11 a.m. Saturday. It is free and open during all hours of operation for the John Waldron Arts Center.