TITLE: The Next Generation

It is fascinating how children learn from us. We teach them how to talk or use various items, but they learn a lot more from observing us day to day - how we react to situations, how we treat other people, what we wear and what we do in our free time...

As soon as my daughter had mastered walking she developed a habit, which made photographing her more difficult - whenever she noticed a camera aimed at her, she would run up to it to take a look at the picture. I had to learn to hunt for a good image and take it before being noticed, especially when using one of my film cameras… Recently she became fascinated by the waist-level viewfinder of my medium format camera. Since then, even if she graciously allows me to take a photograph of her, she soon asks to have a look at a world, where left becomes right, attentively observing how the image changes as she rotates the camera to the sides and turns the focusing knob.

One day, after having some photo fun with the whole family, I lowered the tripod to allow her to play while I took down the lighting. I noticed that instead of simply looking through the camera, she arranged her friends on the couch. I quickly set up to take a photograph with my DSLR while she was “working on her composition.”

AUTHOR: Maciej Kędziora (Poland)