3 out of the 8 photos in this article were taken by 7 and 8-year-old photographers. Can you guess which ones?
by HOGC Stories Team
Saturday, 1:30 pm, in church: as the lights dim and the praise song begins, the 7-year-old photographer perches on a stepstool to snap photos of the youths worshipping God with all their hearts. Although small in stature, he raises his arms and holds the DSLR camera with practiced confidence. Next to him, his trainer murmurs a word of encouragement.
Then, he snaps this photo:
Our photography trainers don’t just see the age of their young trainees – they see what these kids are capable of doing today.
The kids in the photography ministry are rostered to serve on a Saturday afternoon, where they will take photos of the church service.
In the hour before their duty begins, the trainers give them a crash course on colour theory, teaching terminology such as “temperature,” “warmth,” and “coolness”.
In between, there’s plenty of play. And the trainers join in, laughing as the kids climb all over them.
For Jordan, one of the volunteer photography trainers, the photography skills are secondary to what he truly sees in the kids.
“I want to see the kids with the eyes of a carpenter…that taking photos is a platform to mould their character.”
So Jordan involves the kids in more creative ways…
After going over colour theory, he encourages the kids to plan their schedule for the day and to share ideas on what scenes they may want to capture from service. Here, a 7-year-old is already working on teamwork, time management, and creative thinking.
Then, service begins — and the kids snap away, applying what they just learned. They choose the angles and sights they want to take. Jordan and the other trainers are never too far from them. Sometimes they help them angle the camera. Other times, they release them to be creative or offer gentle feedback on the kids’ attitude when serving and, when they do, it’s always through questions that get the kids to reflect on their actions and values.
Wrapping up the training, Jordan and the trainers gather the kids to run through the photographs taken, patiently answering their questions, and offering plenty of encouragement.
The training ends with the kids picking out their top photos, each capturing a different point-of-view of the service.
Here are a couple of their photos:
After training, we asked Jordan why he volunteers as a photography trainer on the weekends, despite his busy work schedule. Turns out, he was deeply impacted by his experience as a trainee in the photography ministry.
“I first saw how my leaders trained me and I saw their care. I wasn’t just being trained to become a competent photographer. I was being trained in my character. Then I was being trained to lead.”
Jordan’s leaders trusted him with an opportunity to train some of the youths, where he discovered his own strengths in teaching and empowering others. From there, he went on to train the teens and the kids photography teams.
At the end of the day, it is not just the skills that the photography trainers want to impart to the kids.
They want the kids to grow in their character and learn that photography is about capturing what captivates the heart. As Jordan rightly puts it, “Our photos reveal a lot about our heart because what captivates our heart, we will take photos of.”
