i spent friday afternoon at my friend karen's house with her and her three children. i brought my camera and lenses along, to try to get some good candid shots of her kids for her. at one point, i gave my camera to her daughter and told her that she should snap some photos.
oh, she loved it! she'd hold the (much larger than her hands) camera body up to her eye so seriously, wander around until she found the perfect shot, snap, then look at the results with the happiest of "ohhhhh!"s and a huge smile. it was perfect. oh so perfect. she completely personified the joy that i feel in photography. actually, she made me fall in love with photography all over again.
i thought i'd share a few of her photos with you. (she was using my 50mm lens so they were mostly not in focus, but i love all the shots regardless; she took over 100 of them!)
anyway, if you are in need of inspiration, i highly recommend trying this. it really gave me a new perspective.
What a great idea! And a good way to rediscover the wonder of a camera... She did a terrific job! :)
I just picked up my SLR for the first time yesterday in months and it felt new and exciting. I actually hadn't a clue what to take pictures of- it took a little bit for inspiration to kick in.
Posted by: Julie M. | 09/28/2009 at 10:39 AM
Fantastic :) I thought this post was going to be about children being inspiring subjects for photographs -- instead it's about taking the cues from them because of their natural passion and enthusiasm. I actually enjoyed those shots she took (not as much as I enjoy yours, though, to be honest) -- and I love that watching her play with the medium made you fall in love with it all over again...
Posted by: Meredith | 09/28/2009 at 01:32 PM
Ha! This looks like so much fun! I've got to hand my camera to my daughter and so what she comes up with.
Posted by: A. Jarrett | 09/28/2009 at 05:14 PM
My daughter borrows my camera so often my mother bought her one of her own for her birthday. She'll be so excited.
Posted by: Relyn | 09/28/2009 at 06:18 PM
I gave my camera to an 11 year at a party recently as she was fascinated and she actually took some great shots.
Even though blurred I like the first shot. You never know you may have just created an inspiring photographer.
Posted by: Liss | 09/29/2009 at 12:00 AM
I love when my youngest son takes my camera. So far he is the only one of my three children that are interested on photography.
Posted by: Gayle | 09/30/2009 at 07:49 AM
I love this! Spending time with children is a wonderful way to freshen up our perspective. It's nice that your friend's daughter could do it through your lens!
Posted by: Josiane | 10/03/2009 at 10:34 AM