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July 26, 2007

Give a Kid a Camera...

This is what happens when a 4 year old boy gets hold of your camera.

My wife and I were cracking up as we imported some of the images he made of himself and surrounding objects while we attended a Milwaukee Brewer's baseball game last Friday night.

I've been impressed with Nathan's eye with a camera. He's very serious when shooting, and often seems to deliberately frame shots, though many times his shows seem less than intentional.

I quite liked his set of blurred and gradated background images, which I might come in handy for future design projects. I especially like the blue gradation background shown on the left. Those make me want to set him loose with a digital camera and a 2GB card just to see what he comes up with! :-)

I'm planning to work with Nathan on his camera skills, so he can better understand what he's doing. Whatever the case, I find a deep, unexplainable enjoyment as I watch him explore his world and express himself through a camera lens.

July 26, 2007 1:31 PM | Kids | add to del.icio.us

Comments

My Mum said that I took good pictures when I was a small kid too :) I'm not sure I'm "still" a good photographer now that I've grown up, but my friends make me the "official photographer" recently when we went for a short holiday to Chiang Mai. You may want to see some pictures in my Flickr account :)

Posted by: pelf at July 27, 2007 5:16 AM

That's awesome! I like the abstracts.

I've been letting my daughter (10) mess with a camera for a while. It's great to watch - like you said in your post. The little ones just enjoy it -they're fearless.

I've started her online gallery too. She gets a kick out of seeing her stuff on my site. Doing projects together is a great way to bond.

Posted by: claudia snell at July 27, 2007 3:10 PM

I'm always amused and impressed by the snapshots my kids get too!

Posted by: Karen Putz at July 30, 2007 8:10 AM

I am firmly in the "don't train them to use a camera" camp -- once they get "taught" by us grown-ups, their pictures lose their child's perspective.

My son is learning photography on his own, and even though not every picture is a winner, I am still surprised by his untrained eye.

When he gets older, and he feels he wants to get serious about photography, then I'll guide him -- otherwise, why spoil it? It's like organized sports, grown-ups have to come in with their rules and won't let kids just play and figure stuff out on their own.

//k

Posted by: macfixer at July 30, 2007 9:48 AM

Kid's do seem to get lucky when they have a camera in their hands. If you buy him a digital you should try to explain the fundamentals but don't expect him to follow them. My buddy who is a photographer, among other things, set his boy loose and has shown me some great shots that were taken. Of course that was 1 out of about 200 pictures. Most were worthy of deletion.

I guess my point is simply not to have too high expectations of him. If you pay a few hundred for a camera make sure you know that you remember it's for a kid and ultimately is a toy that will get a ton of interest at first and possibly lose it's appeal if you overload him with too many tips from the pro.

I don't know your kid or his interest though. As long as he sees you with a camera in hand he will likely have more interest than the next kid. Sounds like he already does but at 4 years old that is the same enthusiasm for anything that daddy does you know?

Thanks for sharing. I recommend something like Panasonic Lumix DMZ-LS75 since it is cheap and also offers movie mode with audio (crappy audio but better than silent for kids). I believe that is the one that was recommended to me. Actually it may be the Panasonic DMC-FX07S which almost $100 more just for 3.6x optical zoom. I think I am goign to buy the cheaper version for my 6 year old though.

Posted by: Collin at August 1, 2007 2:01 PM

Actually, I take that back. There is no built in memory with the first one. Spend the extra money for the zoom and a bit of memory to fall back on once your kid fills the 2 gig card with video.

Posted by: Collin at August 1, 2007 2:04 PM

You know what.. Don't even listen to me. There are too many Lumix here and besides the more expensive one does not have built in. Now I am confused. How about you recommend a camera to me instead! lol.

Posted by: Collin at August 1, 2007 2:06 PM