I love spending time with my kids, lots and lots of time. And while we are passing all of this time together, I thought I’d have a try at teaching them a little bit about photography. I don’t go into this endeavor with any illusions; they are probably going to end up teaching me.
My kids were both born well after the year 2000 and, I’d argue, that alone puts their visual acumen far ahead of what mine was at their age. Their understanding of photography as a language and their consideration of what can happen inside a frame is much more developed due to the omnipresence of smartphones, image-editing software, and the proclivity to use pictures to tell simple stories on social media. Yes, I grew up staring at my generation’s version of a framed screen, and during a golden age of photography, but to them almost everything is told with a photo. My kids do read, and play, but when stuck indoors 23.5 hours of the day, they communicate with and absorb images—good, bad, and very repetitive—at a pace I still don’t completely grasp.
So, how can I teach them photography? The three lessons I hope to give won’t be about film and darkroom and f/stops. It’s going to be about story, editing, and eliminating wasted imagery. Later, maybe, we’ll get into the exposure triangle, but I want them to understand how to use the incredible image-making equipment at their disposal in a better and more meaningful way. I mean, people take a photo nowadays just to check their hair.
Lesson I: Smartphone
I am asking them to come up with two stories that they should tell with no more than five photos each. I don’t care how many they take, but they need to edit the series down to a reasonable number. And due to their current status as indoor kids, they will be doing an indoor story and an outdoor story from their window. Fortunately, there’s a lot to see and many stories to tell. There always are. To keep them on task, they will write down the story they want to tell, describe how their equipment is appropriate (or not), and provide a quick self-critique afterward. I will share the images they selected and the “crit-session” that we have.
For this first lesson (of three), the tools will be very familiar: their smartphones. They already know how to operate them, they know darker and lighter, and framing, and image ratio. With that they can utilize certain tried-and-true photographic techniques to aid their storytelling, but also test the limits of their gear against their vision.
Lesson II will have the same set of parameters, but use a mirrorless camera to tell a more complex story with a more adept tool. The live view screen on most mirrorless cameras is a familiar bridge feature between phone photography and more controllable devices. However, it will allow them to utilize exposure controls, depth of field, and specific focal length lenses. The stories will, of course, stay within the friendly confines of home but I’m hoping to see their ambition and complexity grow with the new tools.
Finally, Lesson III will be with a DSLR and choice of one lens. Manual settings required! Let’s hope, by then, they are well on their way to an appreciation their craft and ready to take their visual skills to new heights, both creatively and narratively—either that or start throwing cameras at me.
So, how did the first assignment of Lesson I go?
My younger child took some pushing to realize this was not “extra homework,” but came up with this statement.
Indoor Project Statement: Stripes are very interesting to look at and they lead your eye into the picture, I wanted to use stripes to show the angle I see, because I am mostly laying around playing games, doing homework, and playing piano… and hiding in the closet.
Self-critique: I think that this was an appropriate use of a phone for photography because it’s not very technical and also the phone is very close to me, like these subjects. I do realize though that the resolution is very low.
One question after shooting: What is HDR?
Answer: High-Dynamic Range
Teacher’s Comment: This is a good start and I commend your understanding of “leading lines” and showing what you are doing objectively (piano and cleaning) with a distinctive point of view (camera often at low angles), but does an “inventory” of different objects similarly composed constitute a story? Could this story have been told with just one very strong image?
Outdoor Project Statement: Have you ever breathed on a window and drawn something when you’re bored? I have! I also have a lot of free time during quarantine and it’s been getting really boring, why not experiment with fog, blurriness, reflection, and exposure!
Self-critique: I just experimented and could have tried harder for more interesting compositions.
One question after shooting: Why are you making me do this?
Answer: Isn’t it fun?
Teacher’s Comment: I thought the idea of blurry abstractions of cityscapes was a good one, and I wish you would have done a few more like that in this series.
My older child, who is happily spending an inordinate amount of time in her room these days, offered this.
Project Statement: My inside story is really just my story but, told from the point of view of my cat, who is in my room almost all day. How does she see me? Using the self-timer on my phone, I set up the camera where my cat often is (bed, shelf, on my desk when I’m trying to write) and put myself back in place.
Self-critique: This is more like a series of self-portraits, but not selfies. They were maybe too easy to take but, I think if I used a bigger camera, they would not have a casual feel, which is how I assume a cat looks at humans.
One question after shooting: What is the difference between a self-portrait and a selfie?
Answer: Ask Cindy Sherman.
Teacher’s Comment: I like the idea of using the camera to explore “someone” else’s P.O.V. and this does tell a story about your day doing homework and your cat’s day, distracting you from said homework. Good use of the camera’s limited features, but perhaps it’s possible to get more out of a phone camera’s imaging capability and expand the story from just your room.
Outdoor Project Statement: My goal was to portray my community supporting and celebrating all the work our medicinal professionals have been putting in during this time and doing so from the window of my bedroom.
Self-critique: It is very clear in the photos that using a phone to photograph these moments is very limiting and doesn’t fully capture what I wanted to illustrate. Possibly by using a better camera with long lens or editing these photos, the purpose can shine through more.
One question after shooting: Why does a zoomed image from a smartphone look so bad?
Answer: The zoom function on most smartphones is just in-camera image processing. When you use a digital zoom, the camera enlarges the image area at the center of the frame and trims away the outside edges of the picture. It’s not a “true” optical zoom.
Teacher’s Comment: I agree that this may not be the best use for smartphone photography and perhaps you should have picked a more appropriate story to tell. I do like that you are telling stories from your corner of the world.
In the next segment of this three-part article, I will post images and comments from Lesson II, using a mirrorless camera. Hopefully, their story choices will evolve with the gear they are using.
Let us know your thoughts on teaching photography, and check out the many books B&H offers on the basics of photography.