Teaching photography to children | Lynn X Instax mini Tsum Tsum

To most of us adults, the act of taking a photo can be as simple as:

Frame ⟹ Focus ⟹ Activate Shutter 

Tsum Tsum Instax to grab her attention | by Fujifilm X-T3, XF23mm f1.4

But teaching a child how to use a camera is not as simple as it seems and I persist in doing so for 3 key reasons.

(I’ve done a previous post on this here)

1. The knowledge possible to impart is immense, at the basic level it can be simply the understanding that pressing a shutter gets you an image, And beyond the cognitive/reflex link, one can even end up touching on understanding the notions of even relative speed.
2. They understand causation through the process they have to do to capture a shot.
3. They learn to observe, instead of simply reacting to the world.

That is why even though tedious, I find this rewarding and this post just serves as a way for me to document Lynn’s learning journey at 3 years old. (her elder sister managed to learn this at 2 years old and has shot medium format at this point now at 5 years old) 

Framing how to frame and activating the shutter | by Fujifilm X-T3, XF23mm f1.4

Just this took a while, even down to how to frame a shot and understanding what one sees in the OVF is what is going to be appearing on the final shot. In this sense, Instax films are great as the kid can see a direct result which is tangible and possible to interact with instead of just an image on the screen. 

Of course, after learning that the Instax mini shots are to be kept and collated, the next step is to learn a little bit on how to screen the shots, tidying them up and on.

So many of us don’t do this necessary step | by Fujifilm X-T3, XF23mm f1.4

All in a simple 1 hour of one’s time and yet the child has had the opportunity to learn how to view the world through a frame. 

And of course, bonding time between parent and child ❤️

Thank you for reading. 

*Disclaimer. 

1. The Fujifilm X-T3 setup and Instax Tsum Tsum cameras are mine. 
2. This post is not sponsored (lol) 
3. All images shared here were photographed using the X-T3 and XF23 f1.4 lens and edited in LR to my preferences.