Creating Memories on a PhotoWalk With Your Kids - Guest post by Stephanie Elie

Intro by Skip Cohen

When my grandson was around six, I put a point and shoot camera in his hands as we went off to a Red Sox game in Boston. I was blown away by his view of the world. As adults we forget about a kid's perspective of things. Zachary's photojournalistic view of the world included images of peanut shells and traditional baseball litter, a couple shots of the mole on the back of the neck of the guy in front of us and only one shot of the ball field. He captured a macro version of the world - his world from forty inches or so off the ground.

This guest post from Tamron photographer, Stephanie Elie, took me right back to that day and looking at Zachary's images, but it also hit on another thought...

There's an old expression about "shoemaker's children needing shoes". I can't help but feel, caught up in the stress of maintaining your business as a photographer, so many of you are in the same boat. You've overlooked the potential for more artists in the family, your children.  As you read about Stephanie's PhotoWalk adventures with her daughter and father, think about your own house.

Here's an opportunity that just might give you one of those breaks from business I write about so often. It's bonding at its very best and with Stephanie, she's managed to bring together three generations, who just enjoy the common love of the craft, as well as each other.

A big thanks to Stephanie for planting a seed in my head for the next visit with my grand children and to Tamron for their unique level of support for education.  Stephanie, her Dad and her daughter, Myla, took three of Stephanie's favorite lenses on their PhotoWalk, the Tamron 24-70 VC,  90mm VC and 16-300mm.

Check out Stephanie's website for more great ideas at Bizzie Living. You won't be disappointed.

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 A few years ago as we packed up everything and hiked across country to Maryland. I had big plans to capture all of our adventures in this new city far away from Los Angeles. But, per usual, life got in the way as we struggled to adjust to our new surroundings and these things called “winter” and “summer”. Needless to say we spent the majority of our first year cooped up at home away from the cold in the winter and under the air conditioning in the summer to avoid the humidity and HUGE bugs California did not prepare us for.

After I saw myself drifting further away my plan I decided something needed to be done before we made a mass exit west to neutral weather.  That’s when I started taking the kids on photo walks to explore the city.

My daughter’s interest in photography has grown significantly in the past few years, she asks to go on shoots and is always asking to use the camera when we are out on family trips. It’s so frequent that I decided to keep my Canon 50d around for her to use.

Our first photo walk was last year at Brookside Gardens. Our goal was to capture the beginnings of Spring. It was fun watching her capture the different flowers in the garden. She even got down on the ground to get some close up shots. Something I shy away from because it brings me closer to the bugs.

This summer we took it a step further and included my father in the mix. He’s the one that sparked my interest in photography, which I then transferred to my daughter. It's an inherited trait!

We took to the streets of downtown DC and captured what ever caught our eye. At first we all gravitated to the same subjects, but as everyone got familiar with their surroundings we started to venture out. My father the seasoned landscape photographer captured nature and the surrounding architecture. I rarely get a chance to play with my Macro lens so I focused mostly on close up photography of plants and flowers.

My daughter on the other hand had a surprising different perspective. She spent most of the time stalking birds and squirrels and capturing the random trash left behind by pedestrians. I’m telling you she’s on her way to starting a liter photo blog!

Aside from learning that we all have different perspectives of the world around us it was great bonding experience between the three of us. While we all have very different personalities we share one thing in common, the love of photographing our lives and an appreciation of the art.

My daughter has asked to make these photo walks a regular occurrence.  So, I have started to incorporate them into our mommy/daughter time. We get to explore more of the DC area and capture our experiences just like I originally planned. Who knows, this year we may actually throw the covers off this winter and see what we can capture of the season.

Even if your children haven’t yet shown an interest in photography, take them out on a photo-walk and just see what they capture. My son doesn’t have a huge interest in photography, but when he does he spends most of the time capturing the family, which is great because I’m actually in some of the photos!

So grab your kids and your cameras and venture out and create some memories.