Baby Robins and A Budding Photographer

I thought I’d share a little story before the Robins….

Several weeks ago we took our grandson camping for a few days down to the coastal Ocean City, Maryland, area. What an awesome time we had learning to ride a 2-wheeler with training wheels, cruizin’ in the golfcart, campfires & roasting marshmallows, swimming, crabbing, sand play, crafts, boardwalk fries & rides, and taking photos!

I had previously bought Benjamin a children’s V-Tech camera when he was 2 1/2 to start our ‘photography hobby’ together; cool to start with but it was toy-looking with grainy images; you know these kids as they get older, they want the ‘real’ thing like ours. Benjamin turned four just before our camping trip, and as a surprise I had a new camera for him to take with us to learn to use, a refurbished Nikon Coolpix S6800 12x Zoom, picked up real cheap, cheaper than the Lego Police Station we bought for his birthday lol. I figured I’d give it a shot, he had already learned he had to be careful not to drop his old camera. Boy, was he was in awe AND excited, “It’s a real one, Grandmom!”

His photo-taking sessions have always gone in spurts, he would mostly rather play while I take photos, but he’ll still point things out to me or he <GASP> gets bored that I am taking too long with one subject when he’s ready to move on, lol. But I keep the conversation going as I can, and we talk about what shot to take and when and how, and from where/what angle. In seven days he took 155 photos! And I am thrilled how quickly he picked up the basics of the camera and zoom. Just one thing…he doesn’t like me taking photos of him taking photos. lol

A Budding Photographer taking a photo of the beach and Assateague Island across the channel

“Okay, Grandmom, no more”

In addition to photography, I am also teaching Benjamin on identifying birds, of course. His favorite are the Mallard ducks, because he gets to feed them at our place along our bulkheads or at Fisherman’s Inn/Crab Deck pond.

Now onto Benjamin’s find…..the Robins!

When I returned from an errand while on our camping trip, Benjamin was super-excited to tell me he saw a Robin and found a nest in the tree right on our campsite. (Now, how did I miss that!) He even took photos of it before I returned. Here’s his two best photos, unedited. (Haven’t taught him that yet.)

American Robin Nest

Benjamin’s zoom shot with Pop Pop’s lift in the air assistance!

Did I mention he was only 4? Can you see why I am so thrilled?! (Might be a Grandmom-proud thing lol) 🙂 We worked hard on learning to keep his old camera steady and wow, it has paid off. Kids really do learn things fast, it is so amazing. He may have to start his own photo blog with Grandmom’s assistance one of these days….. 😉

I didn’t get any great shots myself at the time since it was cloudy (poor excuse Donna), it took two more days to get a chance with the setting sun’s rays for me to get my best. Here’s a few of mine.