Slideshow:Bayou City Art Festival and Sun Photos in The Creative Zone

Houston had beautiful weather on both days of the 2010 Bayou City Art Festival in Memorial Park. I volunteered in the Creative Zone with Houston Center for Photography helping kids use light and shadow to develop a monochrome photo print for framing. 

Making the Sun Photos involved using a piece of treated, light sensitive paper and various different objects and shapes. The objects are placed on the paper in what ever creative manner the “photographer” wanted and then placed in the sun to expose. After a few minutes the “film” is then “developed” by rinsing the paper in water treated with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide. After the paper dries, everything that was exposed to the UV rays of the sun will turn a shade of Prussian blue, while the part that was covered by the objects will remain white. It was fun and there were a lot of kids (and adults) all day long.

I didn’t get to the festival as early as I had hoped before my shift in the Creative Zone started so I only had time to make a really fast circuit around the festival to see all the great art. I decided to only take my Canon PowerShot S90 and while I am happy with the results, I need to spend more time using it. I don’t like composing images with the LCD screen and while this is a great small camera for parties and general portability, I still can’t help but wonder if I would have been happier with a small digital rangefinder camera like the G11. Even though the s90 does have a wide maximum aperture of f2.0, the relatively small sensor size prevented it from easily rendering a truly shallow DOF. Oh well, I have the S90 now and for pocketability and overall image quality it’s really a great little camera. It’s not a DSLR and I think I’d get more enjoyment from it if I learned to use it properly as a point and shoot.