I’ve been photographing my son Donovan for five years now and not once has he ever shown even the slightest interest in photography… until now. Well yesterday afternoon to be exact, we were just sitting around in the kitchen and as I tested out a new prime lens on my Nikon (D3), Donovan asked to have a go. To my delight within about 60 seconds he’d already found the correct way to hold the camera (not that easy considering the size of the thing), mastered the concept of pressing the shutter half way to autofocus and managed to rattle off a few shots. A proud moment! So (resisting the excuse for another expensive trip to Jessop’s), I immediately set him up with one of my ‘old’ Nikon DSLR’s which had been knocking about in a drawer in my office since it’s retirement. This clearly inspired him into action, as he carried on snapping relentlessly for the rest of the day, even finding time to knock next door to take a (somewhat surprised) portrait of my neighbour! Today’s favourite subject has been his younger brother (Jefferson) and I’m pleased to report that Donovan has already shown a natural grasp of composition (the foundation of good image taking). Looking forward to many more photography tutorials to come!
