Thanks a lot!

David

I started photographing quite literally everything when I was about three or four, after getting sick of always being the model! The first thing I was ever told about photography was ‘don’t waste film.’ I have never been a fan of that phrase – I started buying my own film when I was eight or so, just to get my parents off my back! (This was, of course, after I realised they had begun to remove the film from the camera before they gave it to me…)

We got our first digital camera when I was about nine or ten, and I taught myself everything I know since then. I still own that point-and-shoot and although it’s completely broken now and the quality, etc. was terrible, I took some of my best shots with that camera.

Re: keep it straight: One of my favourite shots I have ever taken is one where I titled the camera. Granted, that was on purpose – but it’s one of the few shots that I’ve ever had up on display and liked looking at.

Most of the best photos I’ve taken where ones when I completely threw the rules out to the wind – when I was eight-thirteen years old, before I bought my DSLR, I didn’t really care about photography in the sense of doing it ‘correctly’ and I got tons of great shots – I had fun with what I was doing!
I think the best tip you can be given as a child is to have fun with the pictures you take – be spontaneous and don’t try to conform. Children look at things creatively, just as an innate part of their nature. Don’t try to stifle that.

Of course, most of these rules are GREAT tips, too! I took hundreds of photos and acquired a collection of three-four 1200 memory cards by the time I was twelve, because I was a believer in ‘the more photos you take, the greater the chance one will stun you.’ Plus, you can never have too much practice! Taking so many photos then is the reason I can take such nice photos now. Trial and error is a great way for kids to learn. Don’t take the camera away from you child – especially in the age of digital photography, having them take tons and tons of photos is one of the best ways to get them interested in photography in the long-term.

I agree that you should teach children about different camera settings, as well. I started with film and that was just part of learning how to take a good photo – but when we got our first digital I started forgetting about that. Luckily I was reminded by a family friend-photographer that I should be taking advantage of all the camera settings available. Never leave your camera on Automatic, if you can help it! It also teaches kids how to correctly format and set up a photo, because quite honestly it took me years to get to the level of post-processing I’m in now in Photoshop… knowing all those essential camera basics eliminates a lot of that need, and it’s a really great way to teach kids the basics of photography before they get serious about it…. then they don’t feel as silly asking questions.

So, in a nutshell: let your kids have FUN with photography – don’t stifle them or it will just become a chore. Even so, teach them techniques and such early on, because it will rub off, even if they don’t notice it happening!

I remember on a school trip to France my Mum telling me…don’t waste your film taking photographs of your friends.

The result being that I had probably 24 pictures of Paris identical (although no where near as good) as I had in my guidebook and not a single one of the friends I traveled with.

When my son went on an outwards bounds holiday recently I told him to make sure he got plenty of his mates in the photographs and the memories are so much more special.

many people don’t know about these (easy) modes & settings… I think lesson #12 can be learned and used veeeeery quickly!

Hope that’s OK :-)