* . * . * . Just For Kids . * . * . *

While sorting through some old boxes I found a photo album filled with the first ever photos that I took as a young photographer. I was around nine years old when I first started using our family’s film point and shoot camera and I still remember my Dad’s ‘training’ on how to use it. Basically it consisted of this advice:

‘Don’t take too many shots’

Remember, this was back in the day of film photography where film and processing costs made my Dad’s advice pretty sound. However looking back over my early images I wish he’d taught me a few other things about taking photos. Here’s some of the advice I could have benefited from hearing. Before I start I should say that you can probably teach a child too much about photography and ‘kill’ some of the playfulness that I think makes the images that a child can take special. My main advice would be to instill in your child to experiment and have fun.

Take Lots Of Images: While my Dad’s advice did save our family a lot of money at the time – with the launch of digital photography, taking lots of pictures is no longer something that is too costly. Taking lots of images is a great way to learn different techniques of photography.

Experiment: While you probably will want to encourage your children not to take 100 shots of exactly the same thing – encourage them to experiment with lots of different shots over time and as they do you’ll see their photography improve.

Learn How To Hold A Camera: It is easy to assume that everyone knows how to hold a digital camera – however while many people do it intuitively some will not – particularly children who are unfamiliar with them. In fact I’ve seen a lot of adults who could do with a lesson or two on how to hold a camera and whose images must suffer with camera shake as a result of poor technique. A quick lesson on securing your camera could help a child get clear, shake free images for years to come.

Find Cool Thing To Shoot: Interesting photographs have interesting things in them. Teach your child to identify a point of interest before hitting the shutter. Once they’ve identified the point of interest they can then think about how to highlight it (by positioning themselves, using their zoom etc).

Make A Hobby Out Of It: One thing that you can do to help your children drastically improve their photography is to sit down at the computer with them after they’ve been out with their camera to go through their shots. Pay particular attention to the shots that they do well with as this will give them positive reinforcement and inspiration to keep going with their hobby.

Finally… Deciding which lessons on photography to teach your child will depend upon their age and experience. Some are obviously more appropriate for some children than others. In doing so they become more comfortable with cameras – and I’ve noticed when I’m photographing them (which happens a lot) they are much happier to pose for me.


"You dont take a photograph, You make it."   So have lots of fun and make great memories!