With no disrespect at all to talented and professional photography and video documentarians, I have made a discovery. If you want a completely authentic, unvarnished, uninhibited portrayal of your family life, simply give a camera to a five year old. Seriously... well, mostly seriously ;) I mean, you may have a finger over the lens half the time, but it will be authentic!!!
Since Lily got her camera for Christmas (which also takes video), she has been an avid little documenter of family life (in fits and start of course because...five). Whenever she fills the camera up (very quickly, with her many video snippets), I download it and cannot stop laughing, gasping, and shaking my head in bemusement at the things she captures. All manner of interactions, scenes and moments. All completely uninhibited by the participants. Her videos are just random little videos of daily life, me putting meals on tables, kids to bed, cleaning the kitchen. Ok, maybe boring to others but a true reflection of this life that I rarely see through external eyes. Driving in the car somewhere. Lily making up songs in her room. Her and Eli chatting and rolling around with Miles. No video or photo I have taken comes close to capturing the essense of everyday life around here like hers have! Its hilarious and impossibly cute. However, we have had to introduce some guidelines about asking people before she starts filming (don't want anything incriminating filmed, haha).
So I thought I would share a little collection here, that Lily and I have selected together. Trust me, there are 500 more blurry selfies but I will spare you most of them ;) I love how a five year old doesn't crop out the mess, or care about what they (or anyone!) look like, etc. The most mundane items and moments seem so fascinating through the lens of her very own camera. It's been eye opening to see the things she thought to capture!!
Now, this is probably going to be nowhere near as enchanting to anyone else... except maybe the grandparents??! ;) But, hey, it's my blog and I wanted to collate them in one spot. Feel free to skip or skim... I will never know, haha ;) The random little videos are for me the best bits... she tells stories, makes up songs, captures Eli singing, unstacking the dishwasher, Miles eating and climbing. Listening to myself getting the kids ready for bed is a strange experience indeed!!! Seriously.... these will be the truest records of our days. It's most hilarious to watch her videos, one where Mark and I are buzzing around in the background and never stop our continual movement, wiping benches, washing dishes, moving food in and out of the fridge as we are peppered with questions and requests from our little people. Oh yeah, I thought, we really never do stop. I guess that's why I'm so tired ;)
Thank you Lily, for this amazing record of life through your eyes at five. It's a beautiful little world :)
PS these pics are the best of the bunch from several hundred taken from Christmas Day to a couple weeks ago!
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| platter of yummy buffalo cheese on Christmas day |
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| checking out her cousin's new toy |
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| their view from the backseat! |
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| the bow on her dress |
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| mama make Christmas day phone calls |
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| facetime with cousin alaia :) |
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| eli, unstacking dishwasher! she took a five minute vid of him hard at work, so funny! |
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| the dishwasher, in the middle of being unstacked by the kiddos! |
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| kettle. love seeing the world from her (significantly lower!) point of view! |
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| waffles |
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| glamourous pile of washing! |
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| Mum's necklaces - a forbidden fruit! |
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| She must be a hipster blogger - photos of her feet already! |
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| then she discovered the selfie. there are about 500 of these!! |
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| just noticed me in the background, helping eli get his tshirt off, haha! |
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Pirating already??! She has taken several 10 minute videos of just the TV show she was watching, haha! This here is
Wallace and Gromit. |
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| capturing a completed puzzle |
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| nature collage |
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| Her and Eli's 'how to tidy your room' guide. It looks huge from this angle but is only A4! |
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| he really really really wants to get the camera! |
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We had an evening bible study with a few sweet treats. Of course Lily had to take a wistful photo of all the delicious
snacks they missed out on!! ;) |
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| the 'town' she has been creating from an old box |
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| daddy home from work |
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| E needs a break from the paparazzi! |
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| random 'doll on top of my head' shot!! ;) btw she also worked out how to add borders! |
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| awww! a shot with Bel and Blake - what a treat :) |
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| admiring her own school shoes |
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| after school selfie ;) |
Oh, Lily. The world through your eyes is a fascinating and very funny place!
PS These photos were taken on a Nikon Coolpix. A fantastic camera for young kids - better quality than a toddler camera, and super hardy and easy/fun for kids to use. We have been so happy with it! Drop-proof against the usual kid drops and falls. It can even go underwater :)
Oh. My. Goodness! The child is a GENIUS! Please please please post more. Or better still, set her up with her own blog. I can't be the only one who wants to see the world through Lily's (brilliantly clever, artistic) eyes. And be sure to tell her that Tarnya says she thinks Lily is a VERY GOOD photographer :)
ReplyDeleteawwwww thanks tarnya for being so encouraging of my little photographer!!!! :) i will definitely post more esp as they have been so warmly recieved...yes, she may be running her own popular blog in no time by the looks of it!! ;) so lovely of you to say she is a good photographer - i may be biased but do think she has a pretty good little eye for so many interesting moments and perspectives! i was surprised at how fascinating it was to see the world through her 'lens'. its been a gift that keeps on giving, loving that its bringing her so much joy and creativity!
DeleteThat is amazing. Keep it coming for sure. I had forgotten what life down there looking up looked like and Lily has reminded us oh so well. Thank you for showing us your world Lily (and Kate)
ReplyDelete. Love Nanna Jennings.
thanks marg - yes you are exactly right, its a real glimpse into the world view of a 5 year old huh!
Deletesuch a little artist!!! i gave my daughter my old camera but she's lost it at home so sometimes she picks mine :).
ReplyDeleteis Alaia an usual name in australia? because it's also a basque name wich means joyful and in fact it's the middle name of my little girl ;)
wow wendie that is so cool about your daughter's middle name!! Alaia is definitely NOT a common name in australia! my sister's partner is a surfer and aparently its the name of a hawaian surfboard brand that meant 'joy' so thats why they chose it! how lovely it means joyful in Basque too!! will be sure to let her know :)
Deletethe basque country's full of surfers, so it's maybe a brand created by a basque... blablabla ;) happy weekend!
DeleteWell done Lily!. I like them all, but especially the one of the kettle. Some great shots of Eli, obviously a man with a sense of humour. Looking forward to the next batch. Take care.
ReplyDeleteLove Grandad Jennings (Dave)
nice to have a comment from you dave thanks!! yes the kettle one seems to be a real fave - it shows her 'view' so well huh! and yes she did a great job of getting natural shots of eli in all his silly glory!!! :) will post some more soon to keep her fans happy ;)
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