Spent the day at the 30th Annual Somersworth International Children’s Festival yesterday.
Let me preface this post by saying that “event photography” is not exactly my forté. Especially at events like this one, the backgrounds are busy no matter which way you turn, there’s next to no control over lighting situations (it’s not like you can ask them to move their entire booth over here where there’s nice open shade …), and if you blinked you missed it. Nevertheless I think I got some interesting photographs.
Here they are setting up in the morning:
The people came and looked:
The Humane Society had a booth where the kids could visit with dogs that need adopting:
There were ‘train’ rides:
A parade with Chinese dragons:
and clowns:
and this guy:
The Cub Scouts were there with a Pinewood Derby track:
Wipeout!
There were booths with face painting:
Clowns doing balloon sculptures:
“Make your own Princess Crown” kits:
Here the kids (and their parents) could learn about Pakistan:
This little leopard is checking out spices from the rainforests of Belize:
At another table there were traditional toys from eastern Europe:
Over here they could see marvels made by modern technology:
This young lady was displaying her paintings (can you believe she’s an EIGHTH GRADER!?!?!? What talent!):
In the “It’s a Small World” department, these kids ran into their favorite teacher:
Among all the other interesting people was this little diva, who just HAD to stop and pose for the camera:
and of course there was music:
and magic … gotta love Audience Participation performers! 
All in all it was a great day! I didn’t even get sunburned!
I look forward to seeing you at next year’s event!
Deborah Parkin responded on 20 Jun 2010 at 10:50 #
looks like a great day … beautiful images too .. you just can’t beat b&w
Stacie responded on 20 Jun 2010 at 19:13 #
You say event photography is not your forte but I think you are overly modest. These are fabulous. I love the dragon one!
Frank responded on 03 Jul 2010 at 07:56 #
Great photos and warm feelings! I was disappointed there aren’t any boys without their shirts on - Is it a strict Muslim community? I have a video on YouTube that includes a boy without his shirt on, so I hope it doesn’t disturb anybody in your neck of the woods!
RichD responded on 03 Jul 2010 at 12:49 #
New England has a long standing Christian tradition that, while not as strict as orthodox Muslim culture, solicits a bit more modesty when out in public than is common in places like Florida or California.
It’s not unusual for the shirts to come off while playing in the sprinklers or having a quick game of pick-up basketball or frolicking on the beach.
On days like the one we had for this event, I think the main concern keeping the shirts on people was sunburn - it was a scorcher, and most people (likely because their minds weren’t on going to the beach) didn’t bring sunscreen. A number of the other vendors left in “lobster mode” at the end of the day, even though they were in the shade provided by their canopies.
Having experienced that pain myself on several occasions, I’ve made it a habit to keep a large tube of SPF 30 in my accessory bag.