Wednesday, June 4, 2008

World Through the Lens of a Four Year Old

When my camera refused to turn on, I counted back and realized it was eight years old. Digital cameras age quicker than big dogs, so that's not a bad run. Time for a zippy new model. I laid the old one to rest in the junk drawer and when Big A found it a few months later, there seemed no harm in letting her play with it. Surprisingly, it revved back to life when she hit the power button. So now it is Big A's camera (at least until she drops it on the sidewalk and kills it permanently).

Big A is not interested in learning how to frame a shot or work the flash. She just clicks away excitedly at whatever she likes. I find her photographs fascinating. Somehow they remind me of the smallness of her body in a way that the bigness of her personality sometimes makes me forget.

Do you remember the time when the world of your hallway and bedroom and pillows and sidewalk and street seemed so wide open and so huge?
































6 comments:

G$ said...

This is seriously the cutest post I have read all day. Thanks for sharing. I hope to see more.

Man, I am short, but I can't remember what it was like to see life at that height. I love the hall and the stop sign. Did she eat all of the dinner? Or is that the new way of "playing with your food?"

Sara said...

Those shots are so cool. Thanks.

Which Box said...

These are really cool. I've read that giving cameras to kids is a fascinating exercise into their world. Have to try it when mine is a wee bit older.

Wabi said...

G, Big A is an epically picky eater. Unless it's sugar coated or covered in neon Dorito dust, feeding her is always tricky.

I think in the case of the dinner in the photo, I "raced" her eating the green beans. Mysteriously, she WON, every single time. So at least she got a little bit of veggies into her that day.

niobe said...

It's truly amazing seeing the world through her eyes.

Julia said...

These are amazingly cool shots. And it is so cool to see what they see. Monkey's shots from her little camera have been similarly fascinating.