Youth Photography By the students of Laurie Myers Give a child a camera and he will show you how he sees the world. Kids are easily impressed upon—so providing a handful of photography tips will empower them to demonstrate their view of the world. The fascination of photographing themselves, each other, from various viewpoints and angles, as well as in unusual conditions, children have no fear of digital photography. They are, however, highly curious about the capability of a camera and the magic of fixing an image. Given the choice of using a new digital over an old film camera, my students preferred the older. The disappointment didn’t last too long over the lack of film when we began a variety of photography assignments. Here you will find a small portion of their view of the world.
2012, Arianna, female, age 13, from Missouri captured an interesting angle and viewpoint of two friends. Editing in Befunky.com offers a variety of tools.
2012, Malik, thirteen-year-old boy from Missouri, captured this photo during a photography assignment. One of the girls, edited the picture on Befunky.com. Acceptance of new friends and collaboration with a camera is evident in this picture.
2012, Sala is a twelve-year-old girl currently living in Missouri. She enjoyed photographing herself and editing her pictures on Befunky.com. She was not afraid to use different angles or viewpoints.
Daniel is a thirteen-year-old boy who enjoyed combining limited light photography with special affects on the app Mega Cam on his iPhone. Picture created in 2012.
Kim is a thirteen-year-old female from Missouri. She enjoyed photographing her friends having fun. Kim was not afraid to place her subject off center, or in the rule of thirds, to make her composition more interesting. Photo created in 2012.
2012, twelve-year-old Sarah, from Missouri, was very creative in recording herself from various viewpoints, as well as her shadows.
2012, Sarah, female, age 12, from Missouri, like many kids, are not afraid to try a different angle when taking or editing photographs.
2012, Spiro is a 12 year old male from Missouri. He's a typical young man who enjoys football. Like many students, given the opportunity to appropriate a photo, Spiro selected a picture of a famous athlete to edit.
Alyssa, female, age 12, from Missouri. Photo taken in 2012. Kids love to photograph themselves. Exploring their individual features and facial expressions seems to be a natural act when they pick up a camera.
Tanner, male, age 12, from Missouri. Photo taken in 2012. Besides photographing themselves, kids enjoy experimenting with older cameras. This Sony Mavica camera uses a floppy disk and has a variety of picture effects. Tanner especially liked the solarize affect as seen here.
Michael's photo on Artsonia was taken in 2011. Michael is a thirteen-year-old boy who enjoyed taking limited light photos on an old Sony Mavica digital camera and then editing them by pushing the contrast.
Kathy's photo was edited on Picnik.com in 2011. Kathy, a thirteen-year-old female from Missouri took a variety of shots of the same subject until she captured what she wanted. She had a fascination with stopping action and the movement in clouds
Sarah, twelve-year-old girl from Missouri, took this limited light photo in 2012. Kids are very fascinated with the effects they capture by turning off the flash. Exploring the functions of the aperture and shutter are interesting for kids .
Trent, a 13 year old boy from Missouri, took this photo of white Christmas lights in 2011. Trent moved his camera close to the lights, suppressed his flash, and made a slight arclike motion with the camera.
2012: Reanna, a thirteen-year-old female from Missouri, photographed a string of lights without a flash in a dark room. She then boosted the contrast of the photo to highest extreme. Moving the camera, with the flash turned off, in a dark room proves for an interesting and exciting composition.
A seventh grade student, Nathaniel, took this self-portrait reflection in 2011 in the cafeteria window at school. Like many students, Nathaniel enjoyed photographing himself in different situations, locations, and positions. In this photo, he used Picnik.com to change the image to black and white.
One of many of Nathaniel's self-portraits. This seventh grade boy from Missouri explored the many features of the camera and discovered the self-timer as being very useful. Through Picnik.com, he boosted the contrast of this curious image of himself peeking over a desk.
In 2011, twelve-year-old Madison from Missouri was given an assignment to pretend to be an insect. Laying on her stomach in the grass, she was able to take this closeup of a dandelion. When she discovered she has also included some friends playing in the background, she was excited about her composition. Students learn through play in photography--like Madison did here with emphasis and proportion.
2011: The second picture, or edited photo, by 13 year old Madison from Missouri. As a 7th grader, Madison used Picnik.com to emphasize only the dandelion in the composition.
A middle school Missouri girl, Audrey, discovered in 2011 that by putting the camera strap around her neck, she could safely but quickly move her camera to draw with the light from a string of Christmas lights. By turning off the flash and getting close to the lights, the shutter would stay open longer to record this image.
Chandler, middle school boy from Missouri, took this photo as his self-portrait. Editing the photo in Picnik.com, Chandler removed the color except for his shoes and slightly in his jeans. He was not afraid to experiment with angles we see everyday, but don't give much notice. This quiet young man won a youth photography award through Youth Exceleration in 2011.
Morgan set her camera next to the computer keyboard in 2011. She accidently captured this image and loved it. This is one of several shots she took, filling her frame with depth and repetition of an everyday object.