Annie has been fascinated by my camera for some time now. Whenever I take a picture, she immediately wants to see the image on the back. She loves sitting on my lap when I upload photos – she shrieks and claps and is super-happy.
During one of my 87 pre-Christmas trips to CostCo I saw one of those little kid cameras marked down on a special sale. I knew Annie would love it so I threw it in my cart.
On Christmas morning, Annie unwrapped the camera and shouted, “Oh boy! Pishures!” I opened the box and handed her the camera, and she was off snapping immediately. I tried to give her instruction, and then I realized it was unnecessary. She’d already figured the thing out. Kids these days, man.
She was pointing her camera at things and yelling, “Cheese! Smiiiiiiiile!” It’s like she is imitating someone or something.
I was finally able to wrestle the camera away from her yesterday to look at her pictures. I was excited to see her point of view. And, it turns out her point of view is 90% black screen. OK not really, but there are a LOT of pictures of the ground.
She did actually get some good shots. The camera has 1.3 megapixels, which makes the quality pretty bad. On top of that, Annie doesn’t really understand the whole, “holding the camera still” part. I think it all adds to the charm of the pictures. If you think “feeling seasick” is charming.
Christmas day Daddy
Uncle Kyle
grown ups
painting with light
Elmo
piano keys
When I uploaded these photos onto my computer, Annie clapped and cheered. “Annie pishures! YAAAAY!” She’s her own biggest fan.
I am looking forward to the day I upload her pictures and see a real gem in there. In the meantime, I will spend all my free-time deleting pictures of the ground. They don’t make it easy to delete photos! I should ask Annie for help.
MissyK says:
Ok I just laughed out loud at Annie’s “Oh Boy! Pishures!” That was just too adorable. That “Painting with Light” photo is pretty cool.
Kylee says:
Same. I giggled at her enthusiasm. She is just the cutest little person. I adore how confident she is. Please keep doing what you’re doing as parents, the energy & joy you extend to Annie is such a precious gift. Agree with MissyK, the ‘painting with light’ photo is really cool. I just love, love, love her
Shan says:
Lol, I loved how you described her excitement as well! Funny this morning I was thinking…did every electronic device the kids get come with a USB cable..my computer desk is covered with them…get ready girl!
Briana says:
Love it! What is the name/brand of the camera? I would love to get my daughter one for her 2nd birthday!
Heather says:
It’s by V-Tech. It’s fabulous!
Andrea says:
How sweet! I love the wrold from her eyes. Too cute.
Chris says:
It’s scarey how kids know instinctively how to use the electrontic devices, my granddaughter knew how to work the TV remote at Annie’s age, it’s just amazing, and where will all this technology be when she’s a teen!!??
Kristin says:
So cute!!! That is fantastic that she is so excited to see her pictures. My son had one of those cameras and yes, they are a pain to delete the pics. He took pictures of some crazy stuff, but it always made me laugh watching him walk around the house taking random pictures. Makes them feel so in charge! Save some of those for when she’s older!
Jackie says:
I Love the one of the piano keys! Great story!
Jen says:
From the voice of experience, I recommend you make sure she doesn’t have the camera when you are showering/getting dressed. You will be deleting more than just pictures of the ground. When you decide to get her a better camera, may I recommend going to a pawn shop. That’s where we got my son a fairly good quality point & shoot and it was cheap enough that I don’t worry about it. I love looking at the pictures he takes, and there are some gems in there.
Meg says:
That’s an awesome idea! How interesting to see what matters enough to her for it to be documented. I’m sure you eventually will see a treasure of a shot, and Annie could be the next Annie Leibovitz. All the greats start young!
Glenda says:
Loved seeing it through Annie’s eyes… it!!!
Erin says:
You could (and should) totally frame that picture of the piano keys. Love it!
Expat Mom says:
She’ll get better! When we moved up to a better camera, we let our sons use the older one. My now 6 year old has taken some pretty awesome pictures, but his favorites are still closeups of the sofa and floor tiles (he says he likes the textures). The 4 year old prefers up-the-nose shots of himself and his brother.
Dawn @What's Around the Next Bend? says:
I say those are pretty awesome for her first go around!! YEA Annie!
Karen says:
My cousins have the same freaky ability to take amazing photos. I know they’re blurry, owed in part to the low quality of the camera and probably the strength of her hands and unawareness, as you say, but unless you have cropped an enormous amount, they are very well-centred. I can see a combined hobby for mother and daughter here!
Megan says:
Gosh, kids these days! My dad first handed me his camera (the same non-digital one he still uses now) when I was about 9, and I thought that made me pretty smart, taking pics at age 9. Mine weren’t a whole lot better than Annie’s.
These have a certain charm to them. I think Annie just may follow in her mom’s footsteps. If your hard drive permits, keep the ground ones. You’ll enjoy embarrassing her with them someday.
Wendy says:
Very cool! I got my daughter the same camera…and she loves it! Thanks for sharing Annie’s pictures.
Lanie says:
Love Annie’s photos! Our twins seem to fill up the memory in their cameras in no time flat – I am constantly deleting pictures. I cannot seem to delete them fast enough for them to get back to taking their photos of the floor :-). If I figure out a trick to deleting them quickly I will report back. Happy New Year!
AmazingGreis says:
These kid cameras are such a great idea. Glad Annie loves hers. Can’t wait to see more pictures through her eyes.