Not long after her fourth birthday I got Ada a camera, a little Samsung. It was a wonderful thing; while the camera itself was about what you’d expect for a camera you’d feel sane giving a four year old, the output was remarkable; not technically (although there were several photos that were actually genuinely interesting in and of themselves), but because of the view they gave into what Ada considered important. It’s a fascinating window into the mind of a four year old.
Since then, Ada has continued to record the world in different ways. A tablet camera overtook the little Samsung; while technically inferior, the immediacy of being able to look at and work with the photos on the tablet made it a winner. When I replaced my Canon 350D (firstly with a 1200D, which in retrospect was a mistake, and then with an Olympus E-M1), I handed the Canon onto Ada. She was delighted, and plowed through photos on a “real camera”, as she framed it. After a while, though, her use dropped off again, partly because the old Canon software is cumbersome, and partly because you don’t realise how absurdly big an SLR is until you compare it to a modern mirrorless unit. Thanks to some judicious second-hand shopping, I managed to source an old E-PL1 and 17/2.8 pancake - which has seen Ada much more interested in toting a camera about, since it’s now a better fit for her hands.
The thing that has remained constant, though is the window into her thinking. Walking through town together a couple of weeks ago, she began snapping pictures of “spooky buildings” as story illustrations for the stories she’s writing.
Circling back to the original virtue, though, there’s been one family member with no camera, and last week I was able to make her little dreams come true, again thanks to TradeMe: a little pink, tough camera which she adores. And when I say “adores”, I mean “takes to bed with her”, as well as “quietly packs it into her creche bag to smuggle to pre-school”. And, as with Ada it’s a window into a little mind I otherwise wouldn’t have; her perspective on what is interesting or important enough to photograph (along with her adorable monologues describing her artistic process) are a complete joy.
For both girls it’s probably been one of the best things I’ve bought them.