How do you know when it’s time for your kid to get his own camera? When he starts stealing yours out of your hands.

My stepson Atticus tagged along with me on a quick trip to the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. It was a last minute decision, but I’m glad he was able to make it. I wrote a couple months ago about an even quicker trip Atticus and I took to our family prairie, and that trip should have prepared me for his camera thievery…

As we were walking around some hills north of the river last night, we came upon a big cicada (I think it’s a bush cicada – Megatibicen dorsatus) that was just pulling the last of itself out of its larval exoskeleton. Fascinated, we stopped to examine it and I got my camera out, even though the light was pretty flat (thick clouds).

I managed to get a couple photos taken before I felt Atticus edging nearer and nearer to me, clearly hinting at something. Before I knew it, he had my camera and tripod and was lining up his own shots – just as the light started to improve. Sure, no problem – help yourself! I gave him a few tips on focusing and some camera settings, but let him do all the framing work on his own. He came up with several really interesting compositions before I wrestled the camera back from him and we moved on.

I can pretend to be offended, but of course I’m really pleased he’s interested in macro photography. Atticus is clearly a science-oriented kid (reinforced by all the time he spent in Kim’s high school science classroom when he was younger), and I’ll obviously do whatever I can to encourage his interest in nature and insects. After he went to bed, I called Kim and we agreed that it’s probably time to get him some of his own equipment. I have enough old gear laying around to outfit him pretty well, so we can see how serious he is before investing any significant money. My only fear is that he’ll start a competing blog and put me out of business…