Kids and Cameras

We went to a small party this evening at my friend's apartment. We brought our SLR, and I was haphazardly taking some photos. One of the guests at the party, the nine year-old son of another friend, picked up the camera and took some photos. He was very careful with it, and throughout the evening took some outstanding shots. We set the camera on auto, so he didn't really have to worry about aperture and f-stops and all that jazz (but we did talk about those things as he began to ask questions about settings). But still, he did a great job, especially with framing his shots. I was quite impressed. He took the two photos here, and many more good ones.

Philosophically, I support the idea of giving kids access to real art tools and real supplies. How can they get interested in art if all they have to work with is a couple of pots of cheap tempera paint and rolls of butcher paper? Now, I am not saying that every kids needs to have an SLR. That would be silly. But kids surprise you with what they can do. Really.