With Sun Sensitive paper, we understood how chemicals are a big part of both film and the development of photography paper.

Click to see Wild & Crazy Pinhole [...]]]> This week we made sun-prints, pinhole cameras & learned of mistakes in the history of photography.

With Sun Sensitive paper, we  understood how chemicals are a big part of both film and the development of photography paper.

Click to see Wild & Crazy Pinhole cameras; ours will be a bit more tame.

This week, I will take a few minutes to teach kids how to protect and use a camera.  Give a kid a camera and they will astound you with their images.  Seriously, hand one over.

Photo taken by 3 year old in line at Credit Union

……Kids have great perspective! As early as two years old, my kids were taking images with my digital camera, but they always used the safety strap around their wrists. And with the advent of digital cameras the worry of wasting film disappeared and we all know how children light up seeing the immediacy of images. Here are 10 great tips for teaching budding photographers how to use a digital camera. They range from the simple to the more advanced ideas.

Try to avoid negative comments: Ack! Be careful. Don’t do that. Watch out. Give it back.  Look what you almost did!

Passion and confidence blossom in the absence of negativity.

Everyone will also make Pinhole Cameras

Everyone will make Sun Prints

Almost all the kids made their own pinhole camera.  Thank you to those who donated film, tape and assistance!!!  If you couldn’t get to the park, you can still make your own pinhole camera by going to this website. I couldn’t have done a better tutorial myself.

Kids see the world in a unique way.  And it’s not just that the view is different from a few feet lower; it’s that different things appeal to different people.  And a camera lets you in on what your kids find appealing.

After the kids complete taking their roll from their pinhole camera and you get it developed, sit down and let them tell you about their images. Enjoy learning more than perspective, but how their brain’s work.

And if you and your family are really getting into photography – here’s a site that makes it seem easy to turn your bathroom into a darkroom to develop your own negatives onto paper and experience the second half of the artform’s potential.