Public Obsessions
We went camping over the weekend. I took this photo of my youngest daughter taking a photo. She really wants to be a photographer when she "grows up". Or rather, she is a photographer now and wants it to stay that way.
When I took this photo I instantly thought about how children now have an opportunity to make public their obsessions: the things they love, want to learn about, want to do as jobs maybe. Those things were very private when I was younger; I doubt that even my parents really knew how much I loved photography when I was a child.
So, my daughter wants to share her obsession(s) everywhere. She has a 500px account and she loves it when I share photos she's taken. As she gets older the internet will curate a trail of all the things she cared about, regardless of whether they were passing fads or constant threads through her life.
I want to help her do it the right way (whatever that is) but I also want to learn from it myself. I feel recently like I've retreated a little from just "putting out there". I've maybe exercised a little too much editorial control and overthought things. Some of the most enjoyable things I've done on the internet have been more about finding any route to sharing what I was into at that precise moment than building up anything coherent. I've learned more about myself (and others) that way. I hope to find that feeling again.
My parents knew about my obsession for photography because I kept pestering them for kit :) But they probably never saw any of my pictures - I had to ration the amount of film I could use and then most of them would die in the darkroom, too shit to be printed.
I think most of my photos got those stickers that Boots used to put on them with suggestions for what you might have done wrong. :)
I've never thought about it before but you're right; kids now are more open about what they like and want to pursue than ever before.
It's certainly that culture of sharing that has changed it.
Good on your daughter for knowing what she wants to do and for knowing what she's good at.
I was the same; obsessed with video cameras in my early teens - and now made a career from shooting and editing with my own business.
It's a good life, take it and run with it.