Too bright
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2008
Photo by Zach Levy
You never quite know what you're going to get when you hand the camera off to one of the kids. And that's why I love putting it in their hands and seeing what comes back.
I've long ago gotten past the point of worrying that they'll somehow damage it. Sure, a digital SLR with an attached grip and flash unit is a lot heavier and cumbersome than a pocketable camera. I have the occasional fleeting fear that they'll snap the thing in two at the hot shoe. But our kids have grown up with cameras in their midst, so they're familiar enough with my equipment that they know how to hold it, to balance it, to use it to tell a story.
Besides, we buy cameras to use, not to coddle.
So with my in-laws' condo buzzing with extended family, all there to celebrate a very special birthday, I decided now was as good a time as any for our eldest son to enjoy some behind-the-lens time. He'd been asking for it all morning, and I thought it might be nice to have two free hands for a change.
True to Levy form, he was able to capture moments that most folks would typically miss. He quietly moved around the fringes of the room, shooting in and drawing little attention to himself. Later, we had just as much fun reviewing his pictures as he did actually taking them. All in all, it was one of those small moments in the life of our family when I realized our kids are slowly, inevitably absorbing little bits of us as they begin to plot their own way through the world.
Neat.
Your turn: Do you hand your camera to others? What happens when you do?
One more thing: Thematic Photographic continues to celebrate glassy-themed pics. If you've got one you'd like to share, head here.
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3 comments:
I hand my camera to my son all the time... unfortunately for me, he always gets me at the most inopportune moments. Like my mouth open and half full, or talking while hosting an odd expression, or laughing so hard I cry... aka the ugly laugh.
So I don't post those... they stay private family moments.
I try to stay OUT of the picture if at all possible.
This shot reminds me of something. Wasn't there an old song called "I wear my sunglasses at night"? OK, now the tune is stuck in my head.
I handed my camera to my son Nick last year, and I have rarely seen it since! His passion for sports (baseball mostly) became intensified when he started taking photographs of it. He subsequently became a contributing photographer for a sports media website and has held credentials for the Tampa Bay Rays MLB team, as well as minor-league affiliates. He is now taking that passion to college.
I'm glad I handed him the camera, but with a couple regrets! If I go to use my camera, it will be 1/8th charged, the memory card will have his 475 shots still on it, the ISO will be jacked-up, and most of our seven computers (and external storage) now contain maybe hundreds of thousands of shots!
I'm proud of my son, and so too would be my late father, who one day handed me his Pentax Spotmatic.
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