Teaching photography to the younger generations

Belle said:
I let my daughters use my cameras whenever we travel or go places. We take photos together and evaluate results together. When they were younger, I let them use my 1Ds-Mark II, but now they want to us my M8s. It took some effort to teach them how to focus a rangefinder, but now they get it. The key for me was to make photography fun and age appropriate. Kids like to be praised and encouraged so I tell them how good their work is. I sometimes find myself learning interesting angles and ways of looking at the world through photos that my daughters take.

This is my instruction to my children:
1. Put the strap around your neck
2. Hold the camera properly with elbow support
3. Always take pictures standing (not sitting down)
4. Don't touch lens glass
5. Think of composition/framing
6. Take as many pictures as you like

Attached is my eight year old in action.
Click to expand...

Love that look of concentration and determination. Nice photo of her.
 
My dad gave me a digital P&S when I was 15, and I used it a lot. After some practice, I got some pretty nice pictures out of it, too. But after a while, I got to the limitations of my 'pocket camera' and wanted something real. Last summer, I bought a used AE-1 off eBay. Half a year later, I am completely broke from buying film, dreaming of my own darkroom and decorating the house with A3 size prints of my pictures. I guess you could say I've gotten addicted.
 
My dad taught me to use his Olympus SLR when I was about 8 or 9 and he got me one of my own when I was 11. That's how I got started. I still have my dad's old camera, he gave it to me when he bought a digital camera. My first camera got damaged in a car accident so sadly I no longer have it.

When my son, who is now 11, was little he wanted to mess with my cameras, looking through the viewfinders, tripping the shutters, etc. He was only 3, so I got him a Fuji Quicksnap (one time use camera) and he was excited about it. He took a photo of me and then I told him to let me have it back so I could show him how to wind it and how to turn the flash on. He held it close so I couldn't take it and said "I know how to do it!". He wound the film himself but then puzzled over the flash (you have to charge it before each shot by holding down a button on the one I had gotten him). I showed him how to do it and he finished the roll of film in it all by himself. We got it developed and he had some GOOD stuff! His compositions were very good, especially since he was only 3 yrs old.

He used a bunch of those single-use cameras until I got him a 35mm auto point-n-shoot when he was 4. The cost of the Quicksnaps was too high compared to buying 4-packs of cheap 35mm color film. He used it for several years until his mother, who was also a photographer, bought him a digital camera that he still uses.

My son isn't into photography as art or as a hobby in itself like I was as a kid, he just uses it to document things he does mostly, and he photographs our cat and the family. He's been active on the forums on lego.com and he photographs things he builds with Legos to post there. He takes a lot of photos though and is very good.
 
I had a little coaching from my father when I started, but by then he was done with photography as a hobby, and only had a dSLR around for doing ad photos. Other than that I learned solely through trial and error (with a dose of the internet), including a switch to film when the S1 died.
It certainly would have been nice to have someone guiding me, but not having a teacher doesn't stop people from learning.
 
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