Put an FZ1000 Into the Hands of a High School Senior and Watch What Happens!

Intro by Skip Cohen

This is a very different Luminary Corner post, but it's too much fun not to share and it's also helping me make a very special point.

Brent Watkins has been a great friend for a lot of years. We met when I first moved back to Ohio in 2009 and since then we've shared a whole lot of experiences, not to mention meals together when we catch up on the convention circuit.He's a terrific photographer in Barberton, Ohio, with a strong focus on seniors, portraits and weddings, although there's nothing he can't shoot. During the days of the Akron Photo Series he helped me host two different hands-on workshops with Bambi Cantrell and later Jerry Ghionis at Sylvart Studios.

Last week I watched this outrageous and fun video that Brent proudly shared in one of the Facebook forums. It was created by his son, Reese and friends at Smithville High School. Brent gave Reese his FZ1000 for the project and besides being an incredible camera and so easy to use, the video makes a point I want to share.

Most of you are working professional photographers or, you're aspiring to be. In addition, many of you have families. Whether your kids come into the business with you later on or not, is irrelevant - use your skill set and inspire their creativity. No matter how young they are - if they're able to walk put a camera in their hands. Help stimulate creativity in imaging and then sit back and check out how they see the world!  

You can check out more about Panasonic's LUMIX line and meet the Luminary team with a visit to the LUMIX Lounge.  And...a big thanks to Brent for sending me the link to the video and congrats to Reese who just graduated this past weekend. What a great senior project! When I was a senior the best idea we came up with was to graffiti the school...for which we spent days having to clean up the mess afterwards!

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