Whether they are too young to know what a camera is yet, or they already have their own Instagram account, everyone will get into photography at some point in their life. It could be a hobby that passes with time, but it could also lead to a future career. Find out below what to do if your kids are interested in photography.

First Steps for Photography

There are all kinds of cameras that are specially made for children to use, but these days it is more likely kids will use a smartphone to take their first photograph. This is a great starting point, and it's one that you probably already have access to right now. However, for kids under 10 or so, it may be better to buy a fairly cheap camera such as the Instax Mini 9 that can handle being dropped a few times.

Photography requires a steady hand, so start by teaching your kids to calm down and collect their thoughts before running off to take some snaps. This can also be a great way of dealing with hyperactive kids, as long as you can keep their attention. One of the best ways to keep them interested in photography is to simply have them take photos of things they like. So, if they like building with Lego then that's a good subject for a photo shoot.

Video Editing

Being able to edit a video, even if it is only to do some basic cuts here and there, is a great skill to have and should be a benefit to your kids in the future when they're looking for a job.

As with the introduction to photography mentioned above, you can also use just about any modern smartphone to teach your kids the basics of video editing. You may need an app such as iMovie for Windows to ease the transition between Apple and Microsoft products but for the most part there should be no major problems.

Once the video files have been transferred to a laptop or desktop computer which has video editing software, it will be time to look up a whole lot of tutorials to learn the basics. If you are not familiar with the software yourself then you should take a quick look at some YouTube tutorials ahead of time so you'll be more ready to help your kids with any questions that come up.

Project Ideas

You could talk to your child for hours about photography and they still wouldn't learn as much as they would from some hands-on work, so you will need a few photography projects to do in between reading and watching tutorials.

A simple photo journal is a good start for an ongoing project. There is no need for a theme or too many rules on this one, and it could be very basic such as having your child take 15 photos per day over a week.

Another idea is to take what your kids are being taught in school at the moment and turn that into a photography project. This will hopefully keep them interested because it's a fresh subject in their mind. Specific projects will vary based on age. For example, younger kids could focus on learning about colors and numbers, and then move on to other topics for older children.

In summary, it's important to keep it interesting and tailor the experience to the likes and dislikes of your children. It is also good to do as much as you can as a group, particularly during the early stages where there will be lots of questions, and then there will be time for solo projects later.