There's this old adage that children see things unlike adults do, that they view the world on a completely different level. Lomographer and proud father dirklancer decides to take on an experiment and gather empirical evidence that proves this theory once and for all.
ndroo shared his cameras x offspring adventures with us a few weeks ago, so I thought I’d share the dirklancer family version of it.
Here’s my twist on Lomography Rule #4
Instead of “Try the shot from the hip”, which I think is sometimes used by those control freaks who think they are “letting go”, I suggest “Try the shot from the kid”. That’s right. I said “shot from the kid” You choose the camera, you choose the film, then hand it over. Let go. Free yourself. (I prefer to use children that I co-produced; it keeps me out of trouble with the law.)
I’m not saying this is “art”, there’s nothing particularly beautiful about the images they create, and I don’t think they are trying to communicate some difficult concept…yet. My kids are nearly 4, and 6 (and a half!), minidirklancer is the only kid in his school who knows how to load 35mm, I’m sure. And littlemissdirklancer is catching on to the fact that Daddy’s cameras don’t show the picture on the back. I see this exercise as a educational activity, and I have a bit of hope that I am helping to foster yet another generation of analogue lovers.
I always carry multiple cameras wherever I go. My wife thinks I carry too many, but I usually think I’ve forgotten one or two that I should have brought along, so I’m never without a little beauty that I’m willing to hand over to some eager young hands. Usually a reloaded disposable of some kind or another (and occasionally a more precious and expensive toy when I’m feeling brave).
I have been attempting to catagorize the types of pictures that the kids take, and I’ve come up with the following groupings so far:
The back seat of the car
Fingers (although I get this myself too often).
Artsy low angles.
Pictures of each other (they won’t sit nice for me, and they’re worse for each other!).
Pictures of each other taking pictures of each other.
Accidental self portraits (is this thing on?).
Pictures of you.
The occasional still life of their favorite possessions.
But my favorite of all of the “Shoot from the Kid” phenomena are the series of multiple shots of the same thing, such as this fascinating firepit:
Are you about to take a group picture with one grown up missing because you have no tripod? Change it up a bit – have one of the kids do it!
I also love to take pictures of the offspring with my cameras.
What kind of wonderful images do you get when you hand over the camera to your little one? Try it out yourself!
16 comments
ndroo
Haha!
Super duper cool!
nural
some of their shots are a lot better than mine lol thats so cool!!
basterda
This article literally made me smile.
COOL!
I'ma try this with my nieces and nephews!
adi_totp
coooooooooool!!
nicolas_noir
These pictures are really good! Much better than some "grown ups" who post on here!
"I always carry multiple cameras wherever I go. My wife thinks I carry too many, but I usually think I’ve forgotten one or two that I should have brought along"
Know that feeling very well!
My kids baffled me the other day when I took a photo with a film camera and said "Show me!" - the only digicam I really use is my camera phone, film is the norm really. I've trusted them a couple of times with my cameras, but they had their own action sampler type camera, but it got broke then dropped in the sandpit :-(
myloveletter
my kids, 7 and 11 were early lomographers, too. the 11 year old just recently started her own lomo page. @loloswan! lots of fun. great article!
matslap
vicuna
great!! love it! I had once this kind of experience with a Holga camera i put in the hands from my nieces and nephew, the results were very cool! See my album called Holga Kids :)
http://www.lomograph(…)-holga-kids
ak47lomogurl
ahhhh so cute! ill try this one too :) I have a nephew whom ill visit next month in USA. he has a nintendo ds with a camera and hes been taking so many pictures of his mom and my mom while they get dressed hahaha. i wanna see if hell like analogue too! i was supposed to wait till hes 10 or something but i guess ill try now, while hes only 3 1/2!
tallgrrlrocks
this is one my most FAVORITE Lomo magazine articles ever :)
warning
GREAT article! hahaha
bensozia
Brilliant idea! It reminded me of this project in Calcutta: http://www.kids-with(…)idsgallery/
ipdegirl
I'm laughing so hard right now, Jeff. I love giving my kids a crazy camera or two to take with them while on our little excursions. My two girls have surprised me with their POV and framing--some of their shots are really good! I love your 'categories' of pics things take. SO TRUE!!!
ilovemydiana
i've done this before, it is always a hoot.
zoe191
My little nephew and niece uses my camera a few times. It's fun to see them get excited about it even though they cannot see the image right away. I think they like the act of taking a picture. I just feel sad now that I don't let them experience that anymore. I should let them shoot again. Thanks for sharing this article.
mgf
woooow great article