Last weekend we took a family trip to the mountains of Banff Alberta, Canada. A lovely and relaxing 5 hour drive from home.
One morning I handed my Nikon D3100 DSLR to my 11 year old and said, “Go, have fun.” She smiled the hugest smile and took off like a rocket. We relaxed near the foot of Tunnel Mountain while she vanished up into the treeline. She returned about an hour later, covered in dust, but happy with a “thankfully” still functioning camera in hand.
She has never had any instruction in how this camera works. This was a trust experiment on my part. Her results were quite nice considering this was her first time ever using a camera that wasn’t a simple point and shoot. Now she wants a DSLR for herself.
Note: She did take about 40 pictures. These 5 are representative of her results. I also had the camera set to Aperture Priority before she took off with it.
That’s awesome, Paul!! Great trust exercise, too. The timing couldn’t have been better-- she’s at that age that recognition of quality items and responsibility to care for them are meeting up.
Now it’s your responsibility to make sure she gets a Nikon instead of a Canon.
(I’m a Canon user, mind you… but if you get her hooked on Nikon, you’ll be able to borrow her lenses when she gets her first job and starts buying them… Always plan for the future!!)
Those are some great photos. I’m particularly fond of those macros. Something about capturing the little moments in life. It’s great that the two of you have found a hobby you can enjoy together =)
