Explore Photography

Photography is a great hobby, and frequently produces kids and their grownups can explore photographic art this summer in lots of ways!

1. Experience some of the collections at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago  virtually. Grownups should preview the content, just in case there is anything you don’t want to share with your littles.
2. Read a book that uses photography as illustrations! My little one loves Foodie Faces by Bill and Claire Wurtzel, with faces made out of food and photographed for the illustrations. The I Spy collection  also showcases photography, and the Walter Wick Studio website lets you “Go behind the scenes ” to learn how the author sets up and shoots the images you see!
3. Get tips on how to start taking pictures and try projects to help kids learn techniques and skills with Photography by Suzie Hubbard.
4. Join one of the 5 fun photography challenges for kids . Examples are a photo scavenger hunt and an activity where you gather and photograph items of all colors and arranged in rainbow order.
5. Print your photos and put them on display. If you’re like me, you take a ton of pictures, but they never make it off of your camera. Put them in a frame, an album, or a scrapbook!
6. Learn How to do Better Mobile Phone Photography – 7 Easy Tips . I worked at The Picture People (a long
   time ago), and besides working here at the Glen Ellyn Public Library, it was probably my favorite job. I got to say silly things, use funny tools like a “tickle stick” to direct attention to where we wanted our subject to look, and make moms cry because they loved their pictures so much. It was a great feeling because people appreciated the pictures I took, and I had a blast doing it.
7. Have fun! No matter how you decide to explore photography, make sure you say “fuzzy pickles” (or “cheese”) and take some silly selfies. I like to play with the funny filters on Snapchat, but #nofilter funny faces are great too!