I know there are some kids doing 365s out there. My question is how do you give the gift of a passion for photography to the next generation. I'm interested in all aspects: equipment advice for primary age children (in my case 6 and 8), ideas for projects, how much to direct and how much to let them explore etc... If you started shooting when you were young what or who first inspired you and how?
My two daughters are doing 365, although one I believe as already given up. The other surprisingly has really taken to it. Their projects are mostly self directed. They both can use my old Cannon G12 whenever they want, which they do, and they also ask to borrow my camera which is a cannon D70 when I am supervising them. They also use their phones. I emphasize constantly more than anything else, but try to give them a few tips on manual use when appropriate and they seem receptive. I also give them little bits of advice as they shoot and post about composition and sharp imagines. Marianne really wants a camera and I honestly don't know what to buy her. Any advice would be great about that.
I think you've just got to let them choose. They'll see how much fun you're having and how much you enjoy it and will probably end up following suit. If you try to get them to commit to a project like this they'll probably see it as too much of a chore and lose interest....I know my oldest would.
My 6 year old is following in my footsteps and loves photography, she is learning on my old canon 1100d (t3) she is shooting in manual and has an understanding of ISO and Ss and light. I am following her cues, she follows me around with my camera....I shoot a friends kids on our property today and she was next to me as second shooter.
My dad was my inspiration :)
I watch for camera's at garage sales. A lot of the time people spend big money on a good or great camera. Then don't figure out how to use it.. I gave one to my grandson who was 5 at the time. It lasted him about 2 weeks. It cost me a dollar to let him try. A few weeks ago a younger cousin about 12 got 2 camera's from her grandpa. He had gotten them at a auction. Although they were big buck camera's they were film she didn't want to work with them. I had 2 digital cameras. One when I look up on line was worth $70 I had given $15 the other I gave $2 so we traded. She was the happiest little girl you ever seen. I asked her grandpa how much he paid. He said it was in a box with some other stuff and didn't pay much.
I have had a good time with my daughters by involving them in my project as much as they are interested. We just concluded a Shel Silverstein poetry series and they absolutely loved it. They picked out the poems and we brainstormed on what we should be photographing. I did the processing and then they got to choose the "winners". I've been doing this throughout the project (not just this series) and let them pick from a few pictures and we brainstorm titles.
I also have old point and clicks they like to use when we go on adventures (zoo, festivals, etc.) but we never upload anything (kind of like I used to before 365!). I think I need to teach them how to do that part.
I started buying a dedicated kid camera for my oldest daughter when she was about 5 or 6 years old. That was a big mistake. The camera could handle dropping very well and it had big grips but the picture quality and display where awful! Now my oldest (she is 9 now) uses an old olympus mju and ocassionlaly I let her use my old Nikon D70. My youngest (she is 5) is shooting away with an old Kodak point and shoot and ocasionally I let her use my Nikon Coolpix P7100 on automatic. So far nothing has gone wrong. They handle the cameras with care and because the quality is decent to good they enjoy taking pictures which was spoilt by the lousy (Vtech) kids camera.
My kids love to take pictures with their iPods and edit them. They think that is great fun. My son has even taken pictures with his DS game system! LOL! My youngest son earned his photo patch in Cub Scouts (Girl Scouts probably has something similar), he set up his stuffed animals in poses. It was very cute. He had a lot of fun doing it, too. Try something like that, or just take them some place very cool and let them take pictures (like the zoo).
I got into photography as a kid, because I loved all the pictures my grandparents showed me, and I went to a photography unit at girl scout camp and learned how to develop black and white film ( a skill I have completely lost since then, but would love to get back into), and we got to go to a photography studio and use their main camera. I fell in love with everything photography then. I gave my two year old a Canon PowerShot last Christmas. Everyone wanted me to get her a kids camera, but I got her a "big girl camera" and it has survived this long only getting dropped once. As she is my only child I don't have any advice for children that age other than saying that they could learn quite a bit. I had a light meter my grandpa gave me at that age and was trying to figure out exposure.
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My dad was my inspiration :)
I also have old point and clicks they like to use when we go on adventures (zoo, festivals, etc.) but we never upload anything (kind of like I used to before 365!). I think I need to teach them how to do that part.
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