Photography for kids
A drawing by "BRIH" photographed by my son Toby Main at JJ Bean on Commercial Drive.
I never know what I’ll see on my iPhone camera after my son’s been using it. Yesterday I found this super-cool drawing on it after our trip to JJ Bean. He’s also taken some interesting shots of the painting on the south wall of Continental Cafe (which is worth a look-see next time you’re in there).
Inside the dryer, inside the toilet, street corners, random people on the airplane – all are images I find on my camera. I’ve only “banned” a few things – and I’m reluctant to tell you what they are, but here goes. I had to say: “No private parts, no poo and no pee” pictures on my iPhone. Otherwise, privilege to use it is lost. Anything else goes!
Pass the camera to the kid
Point-and-shoot technology makes it easy for little kids to take pictures. You may not want to risk your new iPhone to small hands, so acquire a cheap camera you won’t worry about. However, I risk my iPhone all the time – letting wee ones look at our photos and take their own. I take lots of pictures of flowers, dogs, cats, birds, beams of sun, and other things that kids have checked out on my camera. Then, if they seem interested, I show them how to take their own photos. “Just look in here, see the picture, and touch the camera button!”
Yesterday my three year old friend took many blurry photos of feet and a dog under a table at the cafe’s outdoor patio. It’s interesting to see what’s at her 3-year-old eye level. She seemed so happy to look through the collection again and see her own shots added to the randomness.
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Nuff said.
Good rules, Susan. We had to make a similar rule for my daughter when she went to kindergarten. She liked to draw naked pictures. Her first day of school she drew a picture of herself with a skirt that was too short so her bum was hanging out. With a beginning like that, I was worried the teacher was going to be calling us for lots of conferences.
We told my daughter that just like being naked was for home, and she had to wear clothes to school – naked drawings were for home, clothed ones for school.