Well, you get what you pay for. I went for the cheapest and smallest digital camera they had thinking that resolution and pixels and all the things that I would normally pay attention to in my work, really
wouldn't make a difference for a two year old with his first camera. Okay, I admit it -- I WAS WRONG (wow, that hurt -- I think my husband is somewhere gasping and holding his heart in disbelief). Yeah, I was way wrong. While his interest in this little creative project is exactly what I had hoped for, the images are more representative of abstract Warhol or maybe a wild cat on drugs. It’s quite possible that my son see’s the world in a dual tone haze, and if this is the case, then I making an appointment with a pediatric eye doctor as I type. However, I really don’t think his vision is the issue here, but rather my lack of judgment when considering quality. Personally I think some of the images turned out . . . interesting is a good word, and, while I expected the odd angles and the consistent blur effects, I rather hoped for at least something that he might be able to look at and recognize so that he could be equally as excited about the outcome of using the camera - not just the pointing and shooting. After the first round of images, I was a little concerned, but tried to remain optimistic - after all, he is only two -- but the second and third photographic journeys prove to be disastrous to all hope. While I was able to capture him enjoying all the different things outside that he could take a picture of -- rocks, trees, flowers -- both times his images just simply disappeared. The camera apparently forgot it was digital and failed to record the images my son was so excitedly pursuing. Maybe Brae was just doing it wrong?? It’s a little difficult to do this camera wrong. No adjusting anything, no modes to be chosen or focusing to be done. It even gives a little beep after each picture taken and trust me there was a lot of beeping going on. From the camera, and finally myself after I realized that we were not going to be able to see what my son was able to capture. Now I am no stranger to equipment failure and operator error, but this is simply beyond ridiculous. I even took a few myself to make sure that the camera did in fact work -- I succeeded in making some beautiful portraits of the screen of my laptop -- such a pretty laptop. So, my picture entries for today consist of my favorite Warhol representation, our resident ninja kitty sporting a blurred aura, and a few images of Brae taking pictures outside paying homage to the images that might have been. I am actively looking for a replacement camera, so in the mean time we will continue with the evil spawn of the Kodak demons until I have found our saving grace. Stay tuned for hopefully what will be more abstract photography -- if the camera will keep it’s end of the bargain for just a little bit, then I will happily put it out of my misery.
