With smartphones and more tech-savvy parents, our kids get behind the cameras earlier than before. Ch went on her first photography trail at an event by Canon Singapore last year. Her school also offered a basic photography module when she was in Primary 3. When she goes for experiential trips with her school, she brings along her iPod touch and then shares her photos on iCloud with us.
There are a whole lot of reasons why photography is for kids as much as it is for adults. The world surrounding them is more interesting than just selfies and wefies. Diana Nazareth, a photographer and educator in Toronto, says, "Photography can help develop a child's voice, vision and identity as it pertains to their family, friends and community."
We had our first photo walk with the kids last year. The aim was to get Ch to practise taking photos with a "real" camera, and for L to rub off some photography enthusiasm off Ch.
Our photo walk started from the OUE Bayfront where the car was parked and ended off with a sweet reward of cakes and drinks at Starbucks at The Fullerton Waterboat House and satay from Lau Pa Sat satay street. I would say the walk met its objectives and here's sharing five tips that helped us enjoy our photo walk.
- Dress and pack accordingly. Have the kids wear comfortable footwear for walking and bring along enough water (and snacks) to last the whole walk. Rain-proof the camera (and the kids) and/or slap on some sunscreen. In any case, there are plenty of eateries along this stretch of road and you can always switch to cafe-hopping if the weather does not hold up.
- Have one digital camera for each child (if possible). It can be any camera (disposable, point and shoot, kids camera, smartphone, polaroid etc) you have. We brought along the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS but Ch and L started "fighting" for it soon after we started the photo walk. Of course, they had to learn to share the camera, but in retrospect, it would have been more fun if both of them could shoot at the same time.
- Fully charge your cameras and abandon the extra battery. And other bulky stuff. Cos the kids won't be needing them and if the battery runs out, it's a prompt to call it a day and head to the nearest pit stop for some good food.
- Leave the kids alone. Ch was taught the "rule of thirds" composition tip from school so we left her to apply what she had learnt. It is tempting to start teaching the kids what we know but sometimes, we might get very interesting results from the children's perspectives through their own experimentations. If your child has no prior knowledge in photography, it'll be good to prep the kids about taking photos before the photo walk. Digital Photography School has a list of 13 tips you can teach your child about digital photography.
- Have a theme. Or no theme, in our case. You can assign a theme like "Anything red", or "Lines and Angles" and get your kids to take photos based on that. We went theme-free as we just wanted them to have fun taking lots of photos.
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| Photo taken with an iPhone |
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| Photo by Ch |
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| Photo by L |
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| Photo taken with an iPhone |
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| Photo by L |
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| Photo by Ch |
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| Photo by L |
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| Photo by me using the Creative Shot mode. The collage was done with an external collage maker. |
Photo walks can be done anywhere and at anytime. A walk up Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, a nature walk around HortPark, a stroll down Little India or Chinatown, or even around your neighbourhood - these are some places which are suitable as photo walks for our young ones to help them develop an eye for details in their photos.
Although I had hoped that the kids would show more passion in photography after the walk, this is a good start. All their photos were not edited for this blog post so you can see that there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of their photography skills. If you notice, L took over the camera and came up with some pretty good shots in my opinion.
Some of the other photos from the photo walk are on this online album. Do check it out.
Have you done a photo walk with your kids before? Share your tips from your photo walk with me!
Although I had hoped that the kids would show more passion in photography after the walk, this is a good start. All their photos were not edited for this blog post so you can see that there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of their photography skills. If you notice, L took over the camera and came up with some pretty good shots in my opinion.
Some of the other photos from the photo walk are on this online album. Do check it out.
Have you done a photo walk with your kids before? Share your tips from your photo walk with me!
If you are interested in the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera, here's what we like about it.
Although the Canon camera is chubby-looking, it is surprisingly light with a weight of 650g. The rugged plastic casing and non-slip finger and thumb grips give me the confidence to hand it to the kids for the photo walk. Both kids love the huge 65x optical zoom, although it is very difficult to take a decent photo when the lens is zoomed to the max as one tiny move shifts the target off. That didn't matter for the kids because it was more fun as binoculars.
The 3-inch vari-angle LCD flip screen is another hot feature for them and they took many selfies with that. However, it'll be better if it has touch-screen function. Transferring photos from the camera to my mobile is simple as it comes with built-in Wi-Fi and NFC. The Creative Shot mode automatically applies special effects after the camera assesses the subject and shooting conditions and records six still images with each click of the shutter button.
Disclaimer: The Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera was loaned to us for the purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was given and all opinions are ours.
The 3-inch vari-angle LCD flip screen is another hot feature for them and they took many selfies with that. However, it'll be better if it has touch-screen function. Transferring photos from the camera to my mobile is simple as it comes with built-in Wi-Fi and NFC. The Creative Shot mode automatically applies special effects after the camera assesses the subject and shooting conditions and records six still images with each click of the shutter button.
Disclaimer: The Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera was loaned to us for the purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was given and all opinions are ours.
