Creativity in children. We can learn so much by listening and observing them in everyday life. They allow their imaginations to just flow.
She’s my 7-year-old and her world is a fascinating place. Her daily needs are simple; food, sleep and adventure. Her notebook is full of friendly monster doodles and has a clockwork morning report of her nightly dreams. In one particular instance, she woke to tell me that she dreamed that she could fly. And she had a simple request. She wanted to do a photoshoot of her dream.
The creativity of a photoshoot with a 7-year old
Now, you can guess what I did next. I looked down on my abilities to fulfill her photoshoot request, told her that I didn’t know how to do that. It had been a while since I’d taken photos, but I wasn’t good enough or that it would be too hard. I thought about my equipment and how my camera was old and I didn’t have the right lens. Excuse after excuse after excuse.
She was sad and utterly confused. But she did something that I will forever appreciate. She didn’t listen. She opened her doodle book and drew a photo of her flying above her bed. Then she started putting together the necessary items to “produce” the shoot. A stool, books, pillows, her bed, a ladder, etc. She was persistent and had no doubt that her vision could somehow come to play.
What a ridiculous example I was. My daughter had a vision and a concept she wanted to at least try. But, because of my own expectations and insecurities, I was the naysayer, the negative influence and the wall that was holding back a productive artistic expression for a child. So I bucked up, slapped myself around for a bit and grabbed my camera bag topped with dust from months of inactivity. And under her direction, the photoshoot began.
Let children use their creativity
She grabbed a stool and placed it on her bed. Since I knew I’d have to do some photo manipulation in Photoshop, I placed my camera on top of her dresser since my tripod was absent. (By keeping the camera in the same place on each shot, it makes it easier to composite photos together later.) I started by letting her direct and pose to see what exactly her vision was. She knew the picture wouldn’t be believable if her hair wasn’t moving so she directed her lovely sister assistant to flip her hair.
And of course, what would flying be without some gush of massive wind from “her powers?” We then removed her from the shot and took separate frames of the bed curtains moving.
Once the short youthful attention span started kicking in, I knew it was then in my court to make her vision come to pass with some compositing and photo stacking. So I had to choose a plain photo of the background without her in it so I chose the movement of curtains photo as my background or base image.
The post-processing details
In Photoshop, I then started layering each of the photos on top of each other and created masks on each of the layers to bring out the elements that I wanted to show or the elements I did NOT want to show. During my editing process, I realized a few things that were needed. Since I removed the chair from the photo, I needed the illusion that she was sitting on something so we took another photo of a pillow to add that to the composite.
The results
Magic. Absolute magic. Not because I took the photo or because of some incredible editing technique. It was magic simply because it was her creativity, her concept and her execution. There was nothing in this world that could convince her it wasn’t possible. I showed her the final image in Photoshop and she jumped up and down with excitement and pride in “her work.”
Admittedly, she was a catalyst of igniting a passion and reimplanting the bug of absolute love for photography back into my soul. She didn’t listen to me when I told her it was too hard, too time consuming or that I didn’t have the skills to implement her idea. Continuing forward, she did not allow my negativity to stop her from turning her dream into pixels and proving that this baby girl can indeed fly.
How many times have you had an idea and had no doubt in your mind that an idea was possible? When is the last time you allowed yourself to just be creative? How long has it been since you did something without listening to the naysayers or the negative influencers?
If you are in a creative rut, let a child inspire you. They will likely inspire your creativity in more ways than one. You might just learn something. I know I did.
This is a great story! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Christie! I appreciate your feedback :)
Amazing post Melissa, Even though I read it from a dad P.O.V. Children are always amazing. Bet your kids are having a amazing time ;)
Well done!
Means a lot coming from you. Thanks S!
This story is great! Indeed we have allowed our negativity limit our capability to ‘fly’. Thanks for sharing! :)
I agree with Spectraoflife, and your pots, negativity is such a limiting agent, and turning things into a positive causes more waves of positivity and opportunity. Excellent post!
Very well stated and so highly appreciated. Thanks Imsupersaiyan!!!!
In the words of Miranda “such fun”, seriously good job! You have composited all the photos together very well.
Thanks Photo Retoucher! I’m sure you have a few tricks yourself!
Wow!!
This is great! If only there were a “magic wand” in that right hand.
Hmmm, maybe I’ll give this idea to the 7-yr old brains behind the shoot. :) Thanks Kaboss!
Beautiful Melissa! Love the story behind this amazing picture. Oh, and I love the choice of top she chose to wear for the shoot (tee hee).
Darcy! All 3 of my girls have worn it! We need more Darcy Allen originals in our home :)
This is such in inspiring story.. thanks for sharing!
Aww thanks Ashraf!
That’s so awesome melissa! Love it! Love those cute girls!
Okay, I’m on pinterest and I see THIS picture. No way–I KNOW that girl! That is totally Melissa’s daughter!!! Click, click…yup it IS! I LOVE this story, and I LOVE her! Way to go momma!!!
No way Debbie! That’s hilarious! If you have the Pinterest link I’d love to see it!
Your daughter’s got a gift. I’d like to see what she comes up with in the future. Maybe she’ll be an award-winning film director or photographer. You never know.
I’ll be sure to pass along your support for her, thank you Rami!
No thank you. It was entertaining. Thanks for giving me something to read.
She is lucky to have a mom who appreciates her creative passion!
Well she definitely had to push against my stubborness and I’m grateful she did! Thanks Jodudu!
I love this!!! Thanks for sharing the process too :D
More parents need to do things like this for their children. It would definitely make the world a better place, just as this image has. Kudos!
Melissa, I found this post really touching, and I’m not usually a sentimental bloke! I adore her pose, it’s very fierce.
Thanks!
I am amazed. Great work.
Simply beautiful what children can do and make us do :)
Creativity at its best! Smart girl with a wonderful imagination. Thank you for sharing I can’t wait till the day my son starts doing this as well.
I’m impressed by your daughter’s persistence, and it clearly paid off.
I was teaching songs and games to some Girl Scout Leaders on Saturday and had to remind them to think like children instead of adults. They were being to analytical and orderly, and it is very important to engage in imagination and silliness. Fortunately, being Girl Scout leaders, they immediately brushed off any curmudgeonliness and joined in the silliness.
Don’t you just love the way their amazing little minds work…. Oh to be a child again!
Your daughter sounds beautiful; imaginative and intelligent. Yep children are amazing and innately creative. Then we kill that creativity and talent with school. It is very sad. So pleased you learnt from your child. Adults seem to forget that children can teach us anything and do everything to crush their dreams
Wow!~ So glad you listened to your girl! She has magic powers to inspire and banish negative thoughts!
I love this story! And thank God for parents like you who persist in making their children’s dreams come true. I swear, if every adult took the time to listen to kids every once in a while, we would all be better off. Reminds me of a phrase I try to live by: “the creative adult is the child who survived.”
Beautiful story to match an informative photo tutorial of sorts. I’m showing this one to my daughter. This is her world too.
Reblogged this on dcjaguar – Reiki and psychic readings and commented:
This is a wonderful story of rediscovering your true passion through the eyes of a child, be yours, someone else’s or your own inner child.
So sweet! great story! really made me think.
Love this, thanks for blogging !
I love this post (and the picture!). As adults, we have lost our ability to think beyond what we can physically see at times. I love the perspective of children. It is full of imagination, heart and soul and is completely unconditioned! Great story!
Great!
Children have plasticity; they absorb information and they haven’t adapted all of our expectations, so they see the world in a more creative way.
Wow… wow… I love this post. The pictures are wonderful. And your daughter also wonderfully creative. She’s lucky to have you as her mom. And I believe that you are also lucky to be blessed with a wonderful daughter like her.
what a great mom you are. continue to be blessed!
What a great and inspirational post! Thank you
Reblogged this on Actsof[KIND].
Fantastic :-) Thank-you so much for sharing this story, and reminding me that NOTHING is impossible, out of the mouths of babes, we learn. I am re-posting this, and look forward to seeing more of your awesome work :-) Great blog
Reblogged this on Australian Artists United and commented:
Through the eyes of a child NOTHING is impossible Great blog well worth the read :-)
Love love love this story. I hope I can be a motivator to my kids even when I’m not feeling so worthy. Thank you for this.
Reblogged this on thisoldtoad.
This is beautiful.
Hi Melissa, I think that your daughter will really love this! You have brought her dream to life by using your creativity!
That is amazing how you created that picture. I am truly impressed. I do find that for myself I get a lot of my inspiration from my daughter.
Reblogged this on kayeslittlethoughts.
Reblogged this on The Cheshire Smile and commented:
“The creative adult is the child who survived.” – Ursula LeGuin
They say ‘the creative adult is the child who survived’. Your daughter reminds me of myself when I was her age. I hope she never stops dreaming (and doodling)!
Reblogged this on 4S' Space and commented:
I wish I could be a kid again!
Quite amazing.
This is awesome! Congrats to you and your daughters!
I loved this story Melissa. I’ve been thinking about the power of pursuing dreams, and your experience with your daughter has just reinforced that for me. I’ve reblogged your post on Flourish!.
Good photo~!
Reblogged this on TED.