The seeing eye

Five hundred and seventy-seven pictures.

Yep. As of late yesterday, that's the number of pictures my great-nephew Carlos had taken with the digital camera I gave him for Christmas.

His little sister, Milagros, is in a lot of them, including the one above. As a model, she's close at hand, and she works cheap. I asked Carlos to send me his favorite picture so far, and that's the one he picked. (The skateboard she's sitting on was a present to Carlos from Santa.)

But in terms of raw numbers, Milagros is running second to the tree in his front yard, cars parked in his neighborhood, and, for some reason that only Carlos understands, close-ups of license plates.

In short, he's become a photography fanatic at the age of 7.

I gave Carlos the simple digital camera for Christmas because I remembered how much fun I had when my mom gave me her old Kodak box camera and a roll of 120 black-and-white film when I was about his age. I doubt very seriously, though, that I ever shot as many as 577 pictures when I was 7. Film, flashbulbs and processing cost money. That was a limiting factor indeed in 1949.

But in the digital age, Carlos doesn't have that problem. He can shoot whatever strikes his fancy and never give a thought to what it will cost to see the results. Because there is no cost. And when he fills up his camera's SD card, his parents can transfer the images to the family computer, erase the memory card, and he can fill it up all over again.

I hope he saves each and every image he takes as he discovers the joys of photography. Even the silly ones. The rules of composition and lighting can come later, and still later he'll learn how to break the rules for effect. But for now, just shooting what's around him is what's important.

Carlos doesn't realize it yet, but he's learning to see, to observe life as it's happening. And to preserve memories.

So, Carlos, here's an assignment -- should you choose to accept it. Identify the most interesting thing in your yard. Shoot lots of pictures of it. In a week or so, send me the one you think is the best. I'll post it here for all to see.