let's do it againg daddy

hbc · Apr 28, 2003

i just wanted to share sommething with you. i am not an eloquent writer so i will tell it how it happened. last night i went into the "darkroom " actually it is the spare bathroom, to do some light printing,i usually wait till every one in the house settles down, so that i will not be interrupted, but last night my 31/2 yr old daughter fatu (i posted a portrait of her on the standard gallery) fallowed me in for tha first time since usually i wait til she is asleep, as i set up the trays, measured developer etc... she asked me what i was doing i tried to explain it to her the she offered to help, i said ok, the started on the first neg i showed her the image on the easel, took a piece of paper and exposed, then proped up fatu on a chair so that she could see the developing tray, when i placed the paper in the tray i asked her to help me rock it back and forth, when the image started to appear she was so exited started ooing and aaing as if it was majic. after fixing i turned on the light and showed her a picture of her mother , she said "lets do it again daddy". i pray that as she grows up she takes up this great tradition. and if there are any kodak, ilford etc.. reps please take heed.

Donald Miller · Apr 28, 2003

Eloquent or not, you expressed the experience better then anyone else could have. Congratulations on your experience and thank you for sharing it with me. Wonderful!!!!!

Sean · Apr 28, 2003

Thanks for sharing that. I have a 7month old daughter and look forward to doing the same

Jorge · Apr 28, 2003

yep, I think there is still the kid inside a lot of us who still marvel at seeing the image appear like magic. Great story!

Nige · Apr 28, 2003

thanks for sharing

My son (just turned 4) has been 'helping' me in the darkroom for about a year. I say 'helping' because sometimes he really does help. His job is to drive the enlarger, operate the light switches and agitate trays. He manages pretty well. He even suggested to me one day that we should 'do printing' and took me into the darkroom where he had organised the tray and tongs... getting the sequence (colour coded red/beige/white for dev/stop/fix and the tongs are red/yellow/green ) of both trays and tongs correct! I was amazed. On the weekend he was basically doing a test strip by himself, turning the enlarger on, then closing the flaps on 'our' Test Strip masking frame (Paterson) although he managed to bump it when closing one. He also loves watching the print appear in the developer, and usually says "'ahh, magics" as it appears.

On the downside, his attention span is pretty limited at the moment, and after a couple of prints he's usually to be found messing around under the benches sorting bottles of distilled water and other junk. He's only managed to wreck a couple of pieces of paper when he came into the room un-announced (my fault for not locking the door... but he now knocks!) and the other day he shot out the door before I could stop him. I only put a couple of sheets of paper in the paper safe as he's sure to open that one day while the lights a on!

BobF · Apr 28, 2003

I haven't even considered taking my 5 yr old grandaughter in for "the experience" and I feel like a real curmudgeon now for not thinking of it. She has a chance for an experience that she will always remember and I thank you all for reminding me to give it to her.

Bob

David Hall · Apr 29, 2003

I had my four year old son Daniel collect some of his favorite things...a rock from a beach we visited, plastic dinosaur, and what's left of a stuffed animal he's had since infancy.

We put the things on a piece of paper and made a photogram, and then developed it. Same reaction as fatu, and now the same request to do it again and again.

dgh

bmac · Apr 29, 2003

Ah yes, Photograms! I can't wait till Emma is old enough. I love photograms! Go Man Ray Go!

Aggie · Apr 29, 2003

Nige · Apr 29, 2003

hehe! that reminds me.. we did a photogram of his hand! he thought that was great and ran the wet print out to mum to show her!

Attached is a pic of him at work! (red tint added digitally!)

Nige · Apr 29, 2003

and, one of his pics taken with his $2 plastic camera that just happens to take pics!

David Hall · Apr 29, 2003

I wonder if Daniel notices that those dinosaur photograms we're making have the richest blacks and delicate whites because they're on azo??? Or if he appreciates the lack of grain and the sharpness in the lines where the obhjects are touching the paper??? All of that bother still ahead of him, as it should be...

Aggie, doing flowers is a great idea. We will try that. Thank you.

dgh

David A. Goldfarb · Apr 29, 2003

Great story. When I was in the fourth grade (so I would have been around eight years old), one of the teachers had set up a darkroom where we made photograms and learned to do some printing. I don't think we learned to develop film. Is an eight year old coordinated enough to load reels? Been doing it ever since.

blansky · Apr 29, 2003

Great story.

I feel the same way every time I'm in the darkroom.

No matter how old and jaded I get, it's still magic.

Michael McBlane

David A. Goldfarb · Apr 29, 2003

Every kid needs a Speed Graphic. Beats the hell out of video games.

hbc · Apr 29, 2003

great pic jdef i hope your son brings us beauty as seen through his eyes. i cant wait till fatu is old enough to take her out with me to photograph. i want so much to show her to see beauty in this world, to see things where other people see nothing, because i know from personal experience, no matter what she acomplishes in her life, she will be rich with the world layed out before her.

Jim Chinn · Apr 30, 2003

My 7yr old Natalie, loves to go with me on outings on the weekend has learned to use one of my old Nikon FEs. I have also worked with the neighbor kids building pinholes and giving them disposable cameras that I reload with B&W. It is really wonderfull to see how children see the world through a camera. Natalie helps process the film and print.

She is not really interested in the bigger cameras because she wants to have the freedom to roam around and go through film. The best thing is she is learning to observe the world around her and appreciate subtle changes in light and color, how detail and form relate to each other and to take an interest in all kinds of natural and manmade objects and other artwork. If see continues to learn this but never uses a camera except for snaps it will be a great education.

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