Children's Photo Workshop

Dave Green, children's photo workshop by Ben

In the last week of the school holidays I led a couple of half day workshops for the children of Emma Bowler; two boys Archie aged 8 and Ben 6. Archie has a rare disability called Kniest Syndrome, like his mum, which means he'll never grow much taller than 4ft.

Archie wanted to enter the annual competition for disabled photographers 'On the Move 2013', and this years' theme is Travel & Leisure. I was very mindful of the competition, especially on our second meeting at Exmouth. The first workshop however was far more general, an introduction to the boys digital cameras. I got them to use the camera's automatic 'A' setting and to understand shutter speeds and aperture through experience of shooting under different lighting and focusing distance. This was done rather than teaching them to use the cameras manually as I often would with adults. They soon got the hang of '(shallow) depth of field' or as they called it "out in the field"; and of using the flower symbol for close-up, holding the camera steady and using a support under low light. The photo above, taken by Ben of me during the second part of the workshop in Exmouth, was a candid shot using the monochrome setting; thinking about the black and white images favoured by competition judge Giles Duley.

Duley is an award-winning and highly respected humanitarian photographer, who endured life-threatening injuries losing both legs and an arm when he stepped on an improvised explosive device whilst on patrol with the US Army in Afghanistan. I found him a great inspiration and incredibly interesting whilst researching him and his work prior to the workshops.

Both boys were very enthusiastic and made some terrific image. Best of luck to Archie with the competition. Hopefully I'll be able to publish a winning entry here!