I was walking through a botanical garden with my six-year-old when I handed him a cheap point-and-shoot camera – and what he said reminded me of the reason that I fell in love with photography in the first place.
A smile on his face and the new screen-free Camp Snap 2 in his hands, my kindergartener said, “I’m going to take pictures of all the pretty things – and that means you too, mom!”
Naturally, being lumped in with “all the pretty things” made me smile. But then I watched him take pictures, and I was reminded of the camera’s power as a tool for slowing down and noticing simple beauty.
Walking through a botanical garden with an abundance of different plants and flowers, the photos of “all the pretty things” according to a six-year-old was not the obvious blooms – though there was plenty of that, too.
(Image credit: Future)
His list of “pretty things” included a dandelion – yes, the “weed” that most gardeners pull, which he was ecstatic to find among the weaving paths.
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I wouldn’t have stopped to take a photo of a dandelion, nor would I have photographed the stamped pattern in the old sidewalk, nor watched long enough to find the frog in the pond.
(Image credit: Future)
Photographers could be described in many different ways, but I think photographers are also Noticers of Things. Painters create art from nothing; photographers seek out the beauty in the world and frame it – and sometimes turn the mundane and even ugly into a work of art.
Sure, there are lots of photographers who create from scratch by building their own sets, props and scenes, but photography as a whole is a way of framing the beauty that already exists.
(Image credit: Future)
Kids have a way of being fascinated by the things that adults take for granted. If you want to appreciate the everyday, watch a baby’s reaction to ceiling fans and light switches, or a toddler’s fascination with remote controls and cups.
If you want to stop and take in nature, bring a kid on your hike – your speed will slow to a crawl, but you’ll spend more time noticing and appreciating the things you would have just walked by before.
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Kids make me appreciate the small things that I may have overlooked otherwise – and nothing quite highlights this like giving a kid a camera.
Kids’ cameras don’t have to be fancy – I prefer the ones without games and screens, or he’d try to sneak in more screen time – they just need to be a tool to frame how they see the world at that age.
(Image credit: Future)
Last week wasn’t the first time that I gave one of my kids a camera – and it won’t be the last. If you want to keep a child entertained on a hike or a walk through a garden, a camera is the one piece of technology that will help them slow down.
I love photography because it forces me to slow down in the fast-paced world – and nothing reminds me of that quite like taking a photo walk with a child still enamoured with all the small things, dandelions and all.
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Ready to stop and smell the dandelions? These are the best cameras for kids, as recommended by photographer parents. Or, take a look at the kid cameras so good that I’d use them for myself.