Seven-year-old Shelby Langford loves taking pictures of her dog, Buddy, and the cow on the family farm, and her siblings.
Her mom, Marisa, says Shelby and her sisters have quite the eye.
“When we go on vacations and different places, it’s really fun to see what they create," she said.
They use gear that was already sitting around the house.
“For us, iPhones make it really easy to shoot and then edit,” Langford said.
Me Ra Koh says any major brand smartphone camera is a game changer when it comes to getting the “littles” snapping shots. She is a professional photographer who shares photo-taking tips in seminars, books, and a television series.
“We really made that show for moms, but kids got so into watching it and now no matter where I go, I have three and four year olds come up to me who want to show me the photos that they’re taking," she said.
There are now summer camps offering camera classes for children and online lessons, too.
“Let them learn the basics and run with that,” Koh said.
Worried they’ll drop the camera phone? Devices like Pixlplay put it in a protected case that resembles a 35-millimeter model. And, there are kid-proof cameras that don’t require a phone at all.
But part of the fun, the kids say, is having the apps that make it so easy to take a regular picture and make it frame-worthy.
Blaze Tausend, an 11-year-old photographer who happens to be Koh’s son, prefers “…the Instagram editing feature and another app called Colorsplash.”
No matter what their age, Koh suggests printing your kid’s favorite photos to encourage the hobby and points out this is a good way to get parents in the picture for once.
Langford adds there are other benefits, saying, “I’ll even see the vacation through their eyes, which is really cool.”
