I was six when, lucky child that I was, I received my first camera. It was Christmastime, only one gift left under the tree. My “Aunt Norma” picked up the gift, held it up to my brother, sister and me and said, “This gift goes to the child that guesses the number I am thinking of.” We had just received so much from Santa Claus and our parents, dare we think there could be more? Well…I wanted that present. Selfish little girl, wasn’t I? My favorite number was “3″ and I blurted it out before my siblings could say anything. The numbers were spoken… And then Aunt Norma said, “The number was “4,” Janet comes closest so she gets the gift.” Yeessss! I tore off the paper and held a box, a rectangular box in my hand. Wow…uh..what is it? ”It’s my old Brownie.” Norma said. My dad was a novice photographer. He’s the one that told me that it was a camera. My first. I carried that thing around for months. With and without film. It was exciting to me then, to see what a little box could create, what I could create. And it is still such an amazing thing to me, the creation of such magic images from these boxes.
Through the years my cameras have gotten smaller and smaller until I decided to l make photography my work. Now they’re getting bigger and bigger. Just like my dreams. I love that my imagination can match itself through the photographic art. So I suggest you get cameras in your kids hands, see what they can create. Let them show you what they can see right before your eyes. It’s magical!
By the way…my favorite number is now 4.
by Janet Andersen
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