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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You may also like...
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.
