What's the harm in a happy snap?
I love to take photographs. I love capturing the light. I love focusing on nature's tiny details. I love seeing a moment become frozen in time, knowing I can come back to it whenever I want to. And I love capturing the joy of children's play and exploration.
When my own children were small, I took thousands of photographs - some days I would have 400 new photos on my SD card. I have photographs of their tiny hands grabbing hold of a leaf, or their tiptoes as they stretched out to reach something they probably shouldn't have. I have photographs of their box forts, and of my toddler who had draped herself in 3 scarves, two jumpers, gumboots and a sparkly hat. I don't regret any of these photographs, and now (as tween/teenagers) it's much harder to capture these tiny but important moments in their lives.
In my years working with children I've taken lots of photographs too, capturing all kinds of moments of play, exploration, connection and wonder. I've shared those moments with their families, delighting in the joy that it bought them too.
But, in recent months and years, the idea of taking photographs of children at play has challenged me. We are in a digital, online world, and children are increasingly appearing in it. We use digital devices to record, share and store their images, and while our intentions may be pure, the impact of these images ending up in the "wrong" hands, is anything but.
Around two years ago, I listened to a podcast called "The Children in the Pictures". It's a hard listen, but an important one. It's a wake up call about the misuse of children's images in an online world.
Now, as we see the introduction of regulations relating to the use of digital devices and the protection of children's images (such as outlined in the National Model Code), the idea of taking some happy snaps is fraught with challenges.
Who can take photos?
What should we take photos of?
How do we store them?
How do we share them?
There are so many questions, and still so much to ponder. Are my days of capturing children at play over? Or do I just need to rethink what that looks like?
Last week, I delivered a two hour face to face training session on this very topic, here in Newcastle. I had previously delivered a one hour session online (and there is another one coming up later this month) and wondered for a brief moment if I could really talk about this topic for two hours. Turns out - YES. I could have talked about it all day. The reflective, thought provoking discussions with the small group of educators that attended was incredible.
If you would like to discuss this topic in depth with your team, we are doing a special offer for the month of August. Book the session "The Connection between our Image of the Child and The Child's Image" in August (to be delivered by Dec 31) and get 6months free access to our Educational Leader Membership. Request a quote HERE