About the Project

Jacques-Henri Lartigue, a renowned photographer of the twentieth century, was given his first camera in 1904 at the age of eight. He had already been experimenting with his father's camera for two years. Some of Lartigue's most famous and most fascinating photographs are the snapshots he took in those early years. These images show typical daily events in his life from the non-subjective, innocent, and spontaneous perspective of a child. 

Lartigue's photographs are a unique insight into childhood vision, for a child will take a camera places an adult never would, and capture things an adult of the time would not consider photogenic.

Perhaps the most intriguing insight of Lartigue's vision is the way he captures the things that are most important to him. His photograph, "In My Room" is no cheap shot of his childhood play things, but a captivating image of his precious toys, as if he is about to begin playing with them.

In a time when the arts are quickly becoming less valued as a part of standard education, it is easy to forget the power it can wield in the hands of a child. In reality, art is not just about creating something beautiful. It is about opening the mind to creative expression, interpretation, and problem solving. By that definition, everything is an art, including math, science, and language. As Dana Gioia once said, "The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society."(Stanford Commencement, 2007)

Through this project we hope to establish a database of images taken by children that will serve as evidence on the power of the availability of art in a child's life. We do not expect these photographs to be incredible works of art, but we do believe that we will all be surprised by the things that children choose to photograph compared to what we would expect from an adult in the same situation. In that way, we do expect these photographs will be profound.

To participate, simply hand a camera to a child for the course of a day, or for one event. We are looking for submissions from children between the ages of 3 and 12. Please send your photographs to giveachildacamera@gmail.com along with the child's name and age. Photographs will be published to this blog. By submitting photographs, you are granting permission for the publication of the photographs to this blog. Any further publication will be prefaced by further permission by the submitter.

As our collection grows, be sure to keep up on new images, feel free to comment on what you see, and pass the word along to friends so they can follow and participate as well.