Throughout the week I am photographing with many cameras for the Imagelogger program. Right now I’m shooting at least 5 photos a week with three different cameras (NX3000, NXMini & NX30). Sometimes the week gets away from me a bit and I don’t get the best chance to get out and shoot. Today I took Andrew and all three cameras for a walk around the Audubon trail at La Salette. I was primarily shooting with the NX30. Andrew was interested in taking pictures today so I let him use my NX3000. He was so excited to walk around taking photos.

Eva was about 2 1/2 when I first let her use a camera. She was so excited about it. Andrew was also excited about getting his hands on a camera. We walked around the trail and he was shooting all sorts of things. Most of the photos are out of focus because he was taking photos while walking.

When we arrived, Andrew walked around the wood structure and decided to have a seat. I shot this photo below because I just loved how he looked. He looked like he was just waiting and wondering what was ahead. His curious nature is so wonderful.

The trail is a short one, it is completely groomed and an easy walk. We go there as often as we can for a quick outdoor walk. I love getting there when there were frogs and turtles. Looking for wildlife to photograph is fun and exciting. The vernal pool was all dried up and it was pretty cold so there weren’t many animals around. We saw a few birds but no ducks.

As we walked around I was using both the NX30 and the NXMini. Andrew was using the NX3000. He was shooting tons of photos. I kept hearing him clicking away. I never heard anything happen to the camera but later I looked at the camera and there was a yellow moss or something all over the lens, smudges and more. I took the camera away from Andrew. I was frustrated and that is because I forget that he is not even three years old. Then I shut the camera off and the lens made a clicking noise. I turned it back on and yeah, even more clicking. Ugh. Andrew was not happy that I took the camera away. But I gave him the NXMini to use instead.

And this is where a terrible moment happened. I am pretty upset over what I did. I showed Andrew the camera and told him not to put his hand over the lens. I showed him where to put his hands and then handed him the camera. He immediately put his fingers right on the lens. So I flicked his finger. Just a little flick to make him move his finger. It wasn’t hard, or at least I didn’t think it was. He bust out crying and the look of confusion and hurt on his face crushed me. I took him into my arms and couldn’t stop apologizing to him. What made me feel even worse was that each apology he told me “Thank you for the Apology”. I took his poor little hand in mine and it was cold. So that flick of his finger, which wasn’t hard, hurt even more because of cold little fingers.

We got past that moment. Hand in hand we walked the rest of the trail. The next time we go out with cameras Andrew will have an old camera that can be banged around. He can smudge up the lens all he wants and I’ll clean it for the next trip. I want to have more moments like the one captured directly above this paragraph and no more like the one above the previous paragraph. I want him to love photography and exploring with me. I know that my patience is the biggest factor here. My patience with this excitable, curious, charming and lovable little boy. Maybe someday he’ll be hitting 3500 consecutive daily photos like his dad.