It has been a while since I’ve updated proper on the two girl’s journey into photography and this circuit-breaker (Singapore’s version of a a Covid-19 lockdown) period allowed me to clear one more target:
To ready Kei to teach Lynn on using the camera
Both ladies are now 5+ and 4 years old and started their camera experience young from around 1+ years old. They now readily handle composition and understand the causation-link between the shutter and taking a photo to capture a moment. It did take a while to move them from using the LCD as a WYSIWYG tool into using the EVF and two of the more recent write-ups of them handling cameras are here:
Review of the Paper Shoot Camera
Teaching photography to children | Instax Mini
Back then to start, they were introduced to the Amkov’s Kid’s camera before moving into more full-feature cameras covering the full array from Instax to even the medium format Fujifilm GFX100, and yes, even film.
Today, I felt it was probably a good time to have this learning milestone cleared and hence I started off by passing Kei the X100V, and Lynn quickly followed saying she wanted one of her own and so she was passed the X100T, both with a simple set of instructions:
1. Do not drop the camera (Kei did drop the V once =.=” , ouch)
2. Teach and help one another.
3. Share with me your photos in a while.
And it was pretty soon before the two girls were sent on their mission to photograph anything they found interesting!
*A cute thing to note was Lynn soon ended up quite distressed with the X100T missing focus and lag between LCD/EVF switch until Kei suggested they both exchanged cameras. 🥰
Disclaimer:
1. All the cameras here belong to me and the post isn’t sponsored. Kei and Lynn handled the X100V and X100T while I used the X-Pro3 to photograph them. The X100V’s a loan from a great partner due to be returned June 2020.
2. The images shared were edited to my taste in Lightroom.
A reason for the choice of the X100V and X100T was that the two cameras’ handling are generally similar and compact enough for children to handle and I plan to further the learning in aperture / ISO and shutter speed later using the physical dials. They currently shoot in P (Professional lol) mode.
Conversely, I do understand these two cameras are on the costly side and frankly, any budget friendly fixed lens compact is great to start kids on photography. I skipped using a zoom camera for them to start as I felt it be easier for them to compose with a fixed focal length of 35mm.
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Before I realised it, the two girls were actually even doing layouts of their subjects, surprising me.
As a parent, it is gratifying to see the two girls having fun together in a hobby aligned to mine. I think maybe the next step is to start teaching them the concepts behind shooting in auto-ISO and aperture mode.
Here are some of the shots fished out from their cameras, personally, it is kinda always refreshing in a way to see photos from a child’s perspective.
I will admit it is not easy and this requires patience on both the parent and kids’ side. However the results in seeing the kids make gains in their skills are always worth it.
Thank you for reading 🙂
Very nice article and journey! I think could be the only way to understand “how kids sees”.
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Thank you for dropping by, it is indeed very different in trying to get young children to adjust their ‘view’ to suit that a camera needs. I can still remember that even for the part where the LCD was a WYSIWYG representation of the scene needed explaining haha. It can be a very fruitful journey though 🙂
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Awesome!
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Thank you 🙂
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