Hand a (Grand)Kid a Camera

Having grown up a few states away from my own grandparents, I vividly recall those long “summer vacation” trips from Wisconsin to Ohio and West Virginia…and back. Three sweaty siblings elbowing each other in the backseat of our sedan in the years before our family car had air-conditioning. I loved seeing my grandparents, but the trip, not so much. Memories of that once a year trip make me feel particularly blessed to have our daughter Beth and her family living about ten minutes away from us and able to stop by often.

One night last week we asked our son-in-law Jason if he could come and help us with a home project which required more muscles than Wayne and I could muster. I’m not going to lie. This grandma wasn’t disappointed when the whole family piled in their van after supper and tagged along for a little visit. While the guys did the heavy lifting in the house, the rest of us sat outside and enjoyed a warm spring evening. My granddaughter Violet and I sat on the front porch glider chatting while her little brothers chased one another around the yard.

I loved watching them enjoy the garden. Charlie, age 12, sidled up to me to give me a hug and told me he really liked my garden and thought it was very beautiful. Ten year-old Henry spent a little of his boundless energy crawling around on his knees enjoying our “soft” grass. George, an inquisitive age 8, was particularly enamored with all the intricate details of the bleeding hearts (dicentra spectabilis). I remember looking at these grandkids of mine and wondering how on earth they grew up so fast.

At some point during the evening, I pulled up my camera app on my iPhone and handed the phone to George, challenging him to take some photos of his favorite flowers. I showed him how to focus on a flower’s detail and told him I would feature his six best photos in an upcoming blog post. I was amazed at the photos he took. I mean, look at this spectacular photo of his favorite flower.

And a little slideshow of a few others George captured as well…

Henry wanted to get in on the fun too, so Violet gave him her phone and he set off on the same photo challenge. I love this little group of pink tulips against creamy daffodils.

I loved watching Henry getting down on the ground to get just the right camera angle for the photo he wanted to take. Here are a few more of his photos.

Then Charlie took his sister’s phone and put his own little spin on the photo scavenger hunt. Rather than focusing on the flowers, he photographed two structures he found to be interesting.

I’ve never really thought of this lamp post in the front yard as art before. Pretty cool, huh? The next photo had me baffled for a bit. It took me awhile to see that it was a from the ground up view of the street light on the edge of our property. I love his creative mind.

I didn’t notice Violet taking photos, but was quite pleased when she sent me a photo that she took. I will end my (more-than) Six-on-Saturday post with Violet’s photo of her own hand holding a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers she had picked from my garden.

My challenge to you this week: Look at your garden through the eyes of a child. Go ahead…hand a kid a camera.