Grooming the Next Generation...

As any parent knows, kids like to mimic their parents and, since I seem to have a camera almost surgically attached to my face half the time, it only seems natural that they should want to take photos too. So, a few years ago, we bought our oldest daughter one of these indestructible toddler cameras - yes it was indestructible, but the photo quality sucked... and I don't mean compared to a DSLR... I mean it makes the first ever wooden box cameras look like a Mamiya! However, she was 3/4(ish?) at the time, and really didn't care, so I bit my tongue, smiled that "Mummy is happy that you are happy" smile and moved on.

Life thro' the eyes of a 3-year-old...

Well, as expected, our youngest has now been bitten by the shutterbug, and was running round the house trying to find 1 of the 2 kids cameras that we own. No luck. Sad face. Big puppy dog eyes.

So, I relented and handed her my semi-ancient Kodak P&S. She watched excitedly as I loaded it with cheap double A's, a 2MB SD card (yeh... I know... even half full, the photo register was at over 1500 shots left!). Off she went on a journey of photographic exploration...

It was great to watch her... watch which subjects she chose... and the delight on her face, when she reviewed each shot!

One thing did disturb me, tho...

When she discovered that she was taking photos of her fingers, by accidentally putting them over the lens, she then decided that these images were actually really cool. She then set off to deliberately photograph them!

Should I be inspired or worried? Gifted artist or potential "Dexter"?