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How to Photowalk with Children

Photowalking with a child can be a lot of fun. Give your child a camera, and double the fun.

If you are a parent you know how difficult it can be to persuade your child to get up from the chair and go outside. They would rather sit in front of the television or play a computer game.

Smile

One way to get your children out of the chair, is to invite them to come with you on a photowalk. Or even better, give them their own camera (it can be an old phone camera, or your old digital camera) and watch them take their own pictures.

I have been on several photowalks with my daughter. She is five years old, and whenever we go outside she always brings with her paper and pens. Or a camera.

It was pretty difficult to get her to go outside with me. But not that much anymore. She looks at her surroundings in a completely different way. She looks, sees things she must take a picture of, and clicks away.

Here are some assignments for a photowalk with a child:

1.    Tell them to photograph flowers
2.    Tell them to photograph square objects only
3.    Tell them to photograph round objects only
4.    Tell them to photograph when walking or running
5.    Tell them to photograph just one color (red buildings, red cars etc.)
6.    If you go to a family party, tell your child to take a picture of the guests

Give them the opportunity to postprocess the photos (depending on how old they are). My daughter loves to remove or add things in Photoshop. Their photos sometimes look completely surrealistic, but hey, it’s how they see the world. Since her father works with photo development, she can also get her photos on paper or any other product.

Self Portrait

You can see it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baardoa/sets/72157622412704282/

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