I gave my older DSLR to my daughter{{1}} so she can learn more about photography. I thought I could teach her what I know, but when we went out last weekend, it was me who was learning from her creativity.

I won’t say I was in a rut, more like a groove, but going out with someone who still has a fresh eye, and no preconceptions on what will or will not work, was very refreshing. My daughter was trying things I would otherwise have not bothered with. While we were in Goldstream Park, she was experimenting with angles, points of view, and even subject matter that I would not normally give a second thought. Of course many, if not most of the images did not work, but a few stood out and I may have to go back and try to refine her approach.

Later that night, we set up a tripod by the highway so she could record car light trails. I haven’t thought of doing that for years, but it gave me the freedom to experiment.

So the take away lesson is twofold. First, let go of your preconceptions and experiment. The second, and possibly more important lesson is that you can (and should) learn something from any and everyone.

[[1]]Actually I LOANED her my old Fuji S2… Since my new camera came with a 24-85 lens, I also loaned her my 35-70 and 24mm. These are both very good lenses, but they are both older then she is (and she is quickly coming up to her 17th birthday)[[1]]