Teaching My Kids Photography: Smartphones to DSLRs

I love spending time with my kids, lots and lots of time. And while we are passing all of this time together, I thought I’d have a try at teaching them a little bit about photography. I don’t go into this endeavor with any illusions; they are probably going to end up teaching me.
My kids were both born well after the year 2000 and, I’d argue, that alone puts their visual acumen far ahead of what mine was at their age. Their understanding of photography as a language and their consideration of what can happen inside a frame is much more developed due to the omnipresence of smartphones, image-editing software, and the proclivity to use pictures to tell simple stories on social media. Yes, I grew up staring at my generation’s version of a framed screen, and during a golden age of photography, but to them almost everything is told with a photo. My kids do read, and play, but when stuck indoors 23.5 hours of the day, they communicate with and absorb images—good, bad, and very repetitive—at a pace I still don’t completely grasp.

Binary Confusion

So, how can I teach them photography? The three lessons I hope to give won’t be about film and darkroom and f/stops. It’s going to be about story, editing, and eliminating wasted imagery. Later, maybe, we’ll get into the exposure triangle, but I want them to understand how to use the incredible image-making equipment at their disposal in a better and more meaningful way. I mean, people take a photo nowadays just to check their hair.