When You Give a Kid a Camera...

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

This post is from that trip.

 

If you've followed my blog for very long, you will know that I LOVE my camera.  And that I LOVED the camera before this one before it started growling at me and subsequently died.  It's not a super expensive camera, as camera's go, but it's not a super INexpensive camera either. 
  

Some of my favorite qualities...the ability to point and shoot.  I looked into the SLRs and they were pretty great...but a little too much car for me, if you know what I mean.  I think those might be more for REAL photographers...like you know, those people who ACTUALLY plan their shots and stuff.  Not someone like me who runs around sneaking up on people and snapping as fast as they can.
 

I really like its zoom.  Again, not the best ever, but still pretty awesome, especially when you are sneaking up on a kid from far away, or the KID is far away and wants to show you something.  I have a not-so-secret desire to find a super-duper-zoomy lens that fits my camera, but having looked at them, I'm comfortable with the dreaming and not so much the buying.

 

But my favorite thing...it's really silly...my favorite thing is the shoulder strap.  I know, I know, I can hear you saying, "Stack, EVERY camera has been able to have a shoulder strap since the dawn of cameras...that's like saying you like the wheel or fire."  Yes, dear reader, you are exactly correct.  It is a dumb thing to give me such joy...but lemme tell you why...

 

See, I've got these three kids. 

 

And they make me so very happy that I want to give them the opportunity to try stuff I do and maybe become really good at those things...like sewing...or photography.  See, the thing about letting someone else TRY one of YOUR things...is you have to LET GO of the thing.  I'm afraid that without the shoulder strap on my beloved camera there are at least TWO of those kids that would never get their grubby fingers NEAR my camera.  Why?  Because I'm a cranky, selfish thing, that puts the camera in a child's hand and doesn't see the joy of the art they are learning, but only the CRASH and SMASHED lens and broken pieces that I'm sure will come about when they run with the camera to their eye and trip over something.

 

But with the shoulder strap, I figure there's at least a little insurance.  Alright, maybe writing it down is weakening my case...they still run with it up to their eye...and they still could trip...but weirdly enough, they don't usually fall down, so the camera SHOULD only "fall" the length of the shoulder strap.  I'll just have to keep praying for their billy-goat-like reflexes.  But I digress.

 

So all of my kids had my camera at various points in this trip.  In Mississippi, we played in this terrific park overlooking the mighty river.  Bear got bored and I was chatting on the phone, so I handed her the camera.  So glad I did.

  

 



 

And the coup de grace?  The one that I looked at and was so happy that I'd buried my selfishness and felt safe to hand my 10 year old my camera with the quick, "don't forget the shoulder strap"...as she took off down the park along the Mississippi?

 

 

Sunset on the river?  Getouttahere!!  I love it.

 

I also dig that we got pictures through THEIR eyes.  I'm always the one behind the lens, and that's great for seeing MY point of view...the things I notice that I find beautiful, but I think we may be entering a new phase here, where we (you and I, dear reader) get to see a little more into their heads.  I've gotta tell you, I can't wait.

 

Also, it will be nice to be able to prove that I actually go places with them...here's hopin.

 

Until then, here is a picture of the native rocks from somewhere along our journey for your viewing pleasure...

 

 

See ya around...