Here is a glimpse of people who work hard just to get a little smile from the audience. Their dreams then are the same as actors and performers all over the world today - to entertain, enthrall and amuse.

While cleaning up boxes in storage, I came across several rolls of my old 35mm negatives that were hidden away in a fading yellow Kodak box. They are from a forgotten era - black & white photos, taken without flash, of Single Lens Reflex cameras, f-stops, manual focus, darkrooms, and contact sheets. Here are prints of the most memorable ones, and with then comes a story.

These pictures are time capsules of people and performers at the circus taken a while ago. They worked hard just for a smile. As a young man one summer, I joined Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus selling circus souvenirs. I hiked up and down hundreds of aisles hawking souvenirs during each show. At each event I bought handfuls of plastic inflatable souvenirs from vendors, headed up stairways to the fans, looked for eye contact and yelled out, "Circus souvenirs," while the performance unfolded within the three rings below. At night, I slept in the circus train in a tiny bunk bed as it traveled from town to town and ate in the "pie car."

Between sets, I photographed various performers as they prepared for each show. After a while I became Mark Solomon apprenticed as a photographer's assistant for many years before working as a photojournalist for the San Francisco Examiner.

He is a graduate of Vassar College and is a Cinematography Fellow at the American Film Institute. Mark is also an IT professional and has created numerous corporate web sites. He has been teaching at Pratt Institute for over ten years.