ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Many thoughts...where would the Reggio Approach be without digital photography?

Why were there so many misspellings in the comments promoting fast forward technology ?

Try to take a picture in a classroom without children hamming for the camera. It is difficult to take a natural picture.

I know a teacher who turns off the screen in her digital camera...the children can't understand why they can't see the photo immediately. They do learn to ignore the photo taking.

Once my brother said to me at a family gathering, "Would you stop trying to capture it all? Stop trying to suck it all in like some big anteater. Just sit down and enjoy the moment."
Photography does take the photographer out of the experience. Something to think about.

I also have heard thrilling stories of photographers in third world countries whose digital camera provides a child with the first image of themselves they have ever seen beside a reflection in water. This is good.

I do love the quick sharing of images. As families live far away so often now, we can celebrate the little events of life "as if" we were there.

At least the next generation won't have to paw through the boxes of photographs I have of my children. They will have their own library of ditital images. Which is better? The limited images seem more precious.

I do hope families take professional photographs now and then in a child's life. The care and attention, the visual relationship between the family members in a professional photograph transcends the generations.

With all the sexting...have kids run out of interesting images, so now they turn to alarming images?

Ah...to embrace the future, and hold on to what is precious. This is the challenge.

Utter and complete nonesense. The times they are achanging, as the troubador sang, and if you cannot deal with digital photographs, how do you cope with all of the other electronic doodads out there? You probably would have bemoaned the passing of the hourglass when whatever technology that replaced it came along.

Hello, Virginia. There is certainly a dark side to turning photos of children into a home version of create-a-superstar, but I also see some positives. The first thought that comes to mind is how happy my boyfriend is when he receives a new picture of his granddaughter....on his phone! Has it been "corrected, cropped, captioned, organized, categorized, albumized, broadcast, turned into screen savers, and brandished on online social networks"? Not necessarily. Your closing statement that "Before long the family has become a multimedia publisher, and consumer of digital tools, gadgetry and broadband" presupposes financial wherewithal beyond the reach of many families; but millions of people have a cell phone and truly do use it to stay in touch. So, let's say a family does have a wealth of digital tools. They are probably creating family treasures in a format that, not so long ago, was impossible. I mean, gosh, Virginia, you used a technological platform to complain about a use of technology. And, like it or not, competence with tecnology is a component of education, being competitive as a nation in a global economy, and connecting with the world as people.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! As a mother who has vacationed with her beautiful children without a camera, I know the memories we carry in our hearts of the uninterupted time together have much greater value than any posed, cropped, edited photos would.