Kids and Cameras.
Children and photography was once a combination that only the rich could truly afford, sure my children were allowed to use cameras, but there was always the concern in their minds and mine about the expense, this was rather stifling for them. Occasionally they might get a good picture, but weren't really free to take the risk of ending up with too many bad shots all of which cost cash. When a child uses their own pocket money for this purpose they don't have to be concerned by "wasting" their parent's money, so that may keep the parents happy, however when they look gloomily through the latest prints and out of the two to three dozen only see one or two they are really happy with they may begin to wonder if their money would be better spent elsewhere.
We started our journey into digital photography with a "Barbie" camera, the girls had fun with it but the resolution of the pictures was rather poor and the older children wanted better results. A friend had a Sony Mavica camera, this was the first quality digital camera I had ever seen and to watch as nine-year-old Leo used this camera taking shots of everything with no concern about the bad shots that he may make made me decide that I had to buy one.
It took me several months of watching my daughter Rhianon's disappointment with her attempts at photography before I finally made the investment in a Sony Mavica. I walked from the store questioning my own sanity, surely the money I just wasted would have been better spent any any number of things. I took the camera home and handed it over to Nathan my 14-year-old son and asked him to figure it out [this is easier than reading instruction manuals]. He quickly learned what all the buttons did and imparted this knowledge to his sisters and me.
It was great! The girls particularly loved the freedom that this new camera gave them, they could take a few floppy discs and the camera and go wild, freed from the concern about bad shots they produced a lot more really good ones. This rekindled Rhianon's love of photography and if my camera was ever missing I knew who to ask, she took so many great pictures of her favorite subjects; her little sisters capturing some beautiful images of them, and some not so beautiful when they pulled ugly faces for the camera, though I am sure we will treasure some of the ugly shots too.
Now I have moved on, as great as the Mavica is, it was too large for me to carry as I went about my daily tasks, so I gave myself a Cannon Elph for Christmas, again I questioned my sanity when I first made the purchase. This camera has 2.1 megapixel resolution and is about the size of a packet of cigarettes so I carry it everywhere I go. The Mavica became Rhianon's on the condition that she allow her siblings to use it, she was absolutely delighted and now has the freedom to take the camera with her without having to talk me into it. This has given her much greater freedom with her camera use and a lot of good pictures to show for it.
In retrospect I would definitely buy the cameras all over again, now I have the camera that is the best for me, and Rhianon has a camera that will keep her happy for many years.
Some of Rhianon's nature shots
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