Behold, a little project that combines being with your kids, photography and rainbows. A Holy Trifecta.
I’ve been wanting to do something photography-related with Lainey for a while now–some fun project that we could do together where she could start learning some basic lessons of photography like cropping, zooming in and angles, but mostly something that would encourage her to enjoy the true rewards of taking pictures–looking for light, framing colors, smiling with satisfaction when the picture you take captures that beautiful something you saw before you framed it.
We started a photo challenge last weekend with the simple goal of capturing rainbows. I told her I’d keep her camera in my purse and for the next several days, we’d together keep our eyes peeled for scenes that held rainbows–multi-colored beauty. Whenever she saw a good rainbow, she asked for her camera. We’d each try and take photos of different things and would combine our results to make a collage. (You could easily do this with a phone camera too)
You know how much fun this was? Way fun.
She turned into a rainbow detective–upholding the family legacy.
We combined her rainbows…
…with my rainbows…
…added some inexpensive frames and canvases (4×4 canvases for hers, 4×6 frames and one thick block 5×7 canvas for mine–small wooden blocks hot glued to give a raised 3-D look)…
And the result? A small wall collage and a little girl who came home from school today to find the finished project. I heard her literally catch her breath and watched her smile the proudest, sweetest grin.
“It’s a Mommy/Lainey gallery,” I told her. “You’re a real photographer.”
“Can we do things that are blue next?” she asked.
We’re going to go through every color in the book.
Teaching your kids something you love to do is so rewarding. To more of this.
Kelle….
“Teaching your kids something you love to do is so rewarding.”. Awesome!! 😉
–Raelyn
What a great idea! I will have to do this! My 10 year old loves to take photos. We will have to take turns and go down the line with all 5 kids getting a chance!
What a fun idea! I love it! 🙂
I absolutely love this!
That is really awesome, Kelle! Tell Lainey that she’s got a real photographer’s eye and that I love her work!
I’ve done several photo challenges but I’ve never done color ones that I can recall, so you two gave me an idea for something to do in the future! 🙂
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Love Love Love!!!!!
What type of camera does Lainey use? I’m sure you’ve said before, but I missed it. My daughter would LOVE this project!
Inspiring – amazing – beautiful.
Totally and utterly lovely.
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Beautiful!! Such a sweet project!
A wonderful idea 🙂 I love her look when photographing the gum ball machine !!!! She’s going to be a pro one day !!!!
Please share what type of camera Lainey is using. My son would LOVE to do this.
Kelle,
I love, love this idea. For me, it is not cameras but writing. My Claudia, who is the same age as Lainey, constantly wants to “write” too. This is just such a sweet post. I hope you tuck this away in her childhood book:):) Anne
Beautiful idea & I love the finished gallery too:)
beautiful in so many ways!! and learning while having fun and spending time with mommy!!
🙂
Beautiful Kelle!! You are such an inspiration, and your kids are so lucky to have you as mama. <3
That. Is. Awesome!
I.love. This. Period.
Awesome. Pretty much says it all.
Holy moly. This is so cool!
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What a sweet project to work on together – and I love Lainey’s photos!
Kelle,
You never cease to amaze me! You are a beautiful mother of children. I love it! I love this idea! Each of my girls would love this too. Keep being amazing! Live is this wonderful journey, and knowing people like you exist, makes it even sweeter.
Kelli G it’s a Instax
http://www.kellehampton.com/2013/12/christmas-in-photos.html
And the white one is on clearance at drugstore com for 64.99
Love, love this! So intentional and special for her–you rock, mama!
Just Beautiful. Reading your blog always makes me feel content, motivated and happy. You’re inspiring.
This warms my heart!!
Fantastic idea, love the gallery. Am going to do this with my girl too.
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What a fab idea! I think I’m going to try this out. I love the idea that rainbows are everywhere,a nice thing to teach youngsters….rainbows are everywhere,if you look for them and know how to spot them 🙂 x
this is so cool! i would love to try it with my future kids!
Simply precious! That is all!!!
Awesome idea, thank you so much!! I look forward to trying this out with my girl!
Happily as I just looked this over with my oldest, he spotted the camera on his own and said “Look at that camera” “can we get one of those cameras?”
I feel very good about the prospect of playing cameras with my son! yay.
great gallery wall plan, also!
That is such a sweet idea!
So sweet. 🙂
I love this reminder to look for the beauty in the simple things we pass in everyday life. Thank you. Beautiful wall gallery and I love that you suprised Lainey with it – she must have been so excited and proud. What a great mama you are!
On a side note, I miss your music and your playlist. Any chance you’ve got a “return of the music” planned? 🙂
Loving this. Can’t wait to try this with my daughter some day.
Julia // picture::happiness
I heard her literally catch her breath and watched her smile the proudest, sweetest grin.
“It’s a Mommy/Lainey gallery,”
Absolutely adorable!!
xo
Such a neat idea. My kids steal my camera and it’s so fun to see what they take photos of. Next you should encourage her to take photos of what makes her happy.
My almost-two-year-old has just discovered rainbows, with this song on youtube called “It’s a Rainbow!” this project with Lainey is so sweet and I love how important you make her feel. xo
I love this idea! Sharing something you love to do, teaching them to look for beauty, and proudly displaying your combined work…I can’t wait to do this with my girls! Thanks so much for sharing!
What a great idea, Kelle. Thanks for sharing this. And I adore your photo of the bike. So creative.
I LOVE this idea!!
What a great idea! Love the outcome, the best part is how you described for us the taken back breath and the huge smile to a perfect beginning of the next PHOTOGRAPHER in the Hampton family! Great job Lainey!
Why are yours so much bigger than hers lol? Cute idea, aside from that.
That is so heartwarming! I love your wall collage.
THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!!
That is awesome!
That is so cute!! I too wondered for a second why Lainey’s were so much smaller… then I remembered hers come out of her camera that way!! lol the different sizes make the “gallery” a bit more appealing 😉 Great idea for things for me and my oldest girl to do this summer. Thanks!
This is perfect! 😊
THAT. Is the greatest!
It’s weird that -you- had to take pictures for this project, too. Why couldn’t it just be about teaching Lainey? Why do Mom’s obviously better photos have to be right there next to Lainey’s on the finished product? It reminds me of the scene in Mommie Dearest when Crawford challenges young Christina to a race, wins, and says “Life’s not fair, Christina. I’m bigger, faster, and stronger, and I will always beat you!”. I GET doing a mommy and me activity, but this is just bizarrely narcissistic. When Lainey draws crayon pictures to put up on the fridge, do you draw an even better doodle to pin up right next to it? Just odd. It’s like you can’t just celebrate your kids, it’s more about celebrating yourself.
I sort of agree with Moissanite and was reluctant to say anything because I am such a huge fan. But this post brought back memories of my over achieving Mom who always made me feel inferior to all the fabulous things she was capable of. When I became a parent I was very careful not to be a helicopter Mom and just point our what my child needs to do and then step back and let them do it…errors and all. There is a fine balance in letting your children learn on their own or striving for perfection by either helping them complete everything or showing them how wonderfully you can do it. I think that beautiful display wall would have meant so much more to Lainey had it only displayed her achievements. Don’t mean to sound harsh but just my own opinion. I honestly feel you are such a loving mother and are doing a fabulous job with your kids so I hope you won’t take this the wrong way!
Kelle I adore this little project you and Lainey did! My 4 year old has just discovered my camera and I created a folder on our computer with her pictures. Sometimes they turn out great! She also adores rainbows so I am going to try this project with her. Thanks so much for sharing!
Kelle….
An afterthought. Three days later!! I love, love, love rainbows!! Who doesn’t? 😉
–Raelyn
LOVE!
super precious…so special to be able to share that “hobby” with your little protege.:)
Hi,
I am interested in buying a camera for my daughter. Can you please make a recommendation as to what might be a good starter camera?
Thanks!
We did something like that but we took pictures of things that looked like letters (ABCs) while we were on vacation.
Please tell us how you so effortlessly hang a picture collage without losing your mind. How do you get them space right and not all crooked and odd?
This is such a fabulous project! And I love how you put it all up before Lainey got home from school, what a cool surprise for her! She must be incredibly proud of herself!
I can relate as I have also been struggling with the fact that I recently purchased a very expensive coral red lipstick that I think makes my teeth look yellow. Ha!
I can relate as I have also been struggling with the fact that I recently purchased a very expensive coral red lipstick that I think makes my teeth look yellow. Ha!
I love the rainbow picture with the bikes in it 🙂 What a cool project!
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