Suggestions For Teaching Photography

Stephen Frizza

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My sister has a son he is almost 3. I have given him 2 cameras so far and I have shown him where to look through the camera and how to record a scene by pressing the button on the camera to release the shutter and the like. Im sure he isnt listening to me because he doesnt follow any of my instructions. He has presses the shutter release button multiple times, opens the camera back exposing the film and the like.By chance when the film does happen to survive his poor skills with handling the camera, the images are just plain terrible they are poorly composed always out of focus etc. My sister is terrible at photography too...is it perhaps a trait on her side of the family? or can someone suggest how i should go about making him take better pictures? I defiantly need help helping him.
 

Lightproof

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Wait a year or two. "Almost 3" is too young. Give him some lenses to play with first. I would not call it a "poor skill" when he is not able to handle a camera correctly. I think you expect way too much.

"poorly composed"... hahaha. Sorry, children do not function this way.

The son of my friends is also 3 years old and I do not hesitate to let him take a look through my Rollei et cetera. But I do not force anything. I just try to wake up his interest.
 

MikeSeb

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Have you checked whether he's good at handling explosives? If so, then his clumsiness and inattention with photography are family traits.



Just kidding. Suzanne said it best.
 

Michael W

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If a kid can't take good photos by the age of 3 then there is no hope for them.
 

uhligfd

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Well, did the kid wash his own diapers by age 1? See how underdeveloped he is.

Runs in the family, though, if his mother thinks he can handle the complexities of a toy like a film camera of which she gave him two already ...

Will we ever learn not to hot-house our future artists? Our future generations? Does he know how to hold his liquor and how to drive, eh, I wonder. Any dating, seriously?

I did get my first camera at around 10 and I was barely ready for this ... And it took me a few years to develop a passion, a knack and a lifelong hobby.
 

Lee L

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Get yourself a good book on development... child development.

Lee
(stay-at-home father of now 15 and 18 year old sons)
 

Christopher Walrath

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Put the cameras in a box and kept handy. One day when you photograph him or are viewing photographs he will ask the question. It is then that it will be time to start the journey.
 
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keithwms

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Hmm, at that age I was just taking things apart. My dad had a TLR that I took apart....!

My brother's sons just developed an interest in photography when we went out west together; I gave them each an XA and a handful of film. They are 11 and 13.
 

Prest_400

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Too fast. At that age all they find interesting is pressing the button and hearing a click.
Just wait some time, I had my first camera at 8 and went seriously with film at 13 (a year ago). I think that 5-6 is a good age to introduce them into photography. 7-9 is much better. I remember to have taken mum's compact when I was 5 and snapped a photo at some mountains, just had the desire as my friend's brother. A plain mountain-blue sky
The brother of a friend (he's 6) wanted to press once the shutter release, and nothing else. He just wanted to take a picture. All he got, was a christmas tree unfocused (well, a nice bokeh test, at least).
 

jaimeb82

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unless he is a genius he won't be able to do nothing but play with a camera on his hands. My son is almost 3 and all he does is look across the viewfinder and press the shutter non stop. I guess is a good thing I don't put film on the camera.
 

Leighgion

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I concur that age three is just straight up too young. At that point, kids are interested in operating controls, but not really in their being results, much less what the results might be.

My nephew has just turned 9 and I gifted him my compact digital P&S. I debated with myself and consulted with my sister/his mom about giving him a Nikon Action Touch, but I ultimately decided it just wasn't a good gamble at this point. While the boy is interested (and was thrilled to have his own camera) it'd be just like him to shoot an entire roll of film with the lens cap on, which the Action Touch would allow. I want him to be encouraged by his first camera, not demoralized.
 
OP
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Stephen Frizza

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but there are 3 year olds who can play piano and violin or who know where every country on a global map is.
hmm perhaps I expected too much.
 

SuzanneR

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Stephen Frizza said:
but there are 3 year olds who can play piano and violin or who know where every country on a global map is.
hmm perhaps I expected too much.
Click to expand...

First off, kids like that are exceedingly rare, and I would say kids like that are mimics... still took Mozart ten years of playing before he really made his own music.

And really, why "peak" at three? The rest of your life will be all down hill.
 

Lee L

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Stephen Frizza said:
but there are 3 year olds who can play piano and violin or who know where every country on a global map is.
hmm perhaps I expected too much.
Click to expand...

As Suzanne says, this is simply not the norm. My older son knew the alphabet at 16 months and "invented" addition at 2 1/2 (holding up three fingers on each hand... "hey dad, did you know that 3+3=6?"). This wasn't because I pushed him, but because he was naturally curious and asked tons of questions. I simply answered the questions he asked.

Let the kid determine the pace of learning until school comes, not your expectations, especially expectations of genius level performance. That will only cause serious problems later when the kid has taken your unrealistic expectations to heart and becomes a "failure" in his own mind at a young age.

Lee
 

Shawn Dougherty

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I think you're being too easy on him. Photography requires great discipline. You should sit the boy down and have him create an outline of his short and long term photographic goals. Then it's time for a serious talk about just how he plans to meet those goals while he's still stumbling around pressing the shutter release willy nilly. I hate to say it Stephen, but it sounds like you might be dealing with a real slacker. Good luck. Shawn
 

Sirius Glass

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Too young. Between ten and twelve are a good time to start, if they are interested to begin with.

Steve
 

removed account4

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i was going to say the same thing shawn ...
 
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