Thanksgiving portraits by a 5 yr old w a film camera :)

My son has had a pretty rough life. I was diagnosed with Crohn's just before his 1st birthday and struggled to live normally for a few years. At 2.5, my wife, his mom, was diagnosed with one of the worst brain diseases out there. She lives in a constant state of pain (not nagging pain, rather emergency level pain that brings about stroke/seizure/heart attack risks and a handful of scary, daily symptoms), is disabled by it, and cannot perform regular tasks most of the time. Most of my day is spent keeping the two of them apart, and helping our son, who turned 5 a couple months ago, cope with the constant separation.

Finding ways for our son, Clive, to cope have been challenging. Photography has been one of those ways. He's been loading and shooting his own film since he was 4 (both instant and 35mm). It's been a great way to bond the two of them together when they are apart as he knows he's taking pictures most of the time to show his mama when he gets home. Most of the time, we're photographing street/homeless/skate culture, as we spend most of our time skating the streets of Escondido. We've since made a "bucket list" of people and animals I/he/mom want/wants to have little portrait sessions with. All in all, alongside his greater love for skateboarding, we're finding ways to help him through these hard times.

On Thanksgiving, I gave him the task of trying to get everyone's pictures at the family dinner. Here's some of the images


1.
Second cousin taking a cigarette break.

2.
Me (dad) and my cousin.

3.
Great Uncle, a karate instructor.

4.
Grandma saying grace with Grandpa.

5.
Great Grandma and great Uncle telling stories after dinner.

You can see the full set here, if you're interested

Any other parents of kid photographers out there? Or know of any to direct me to? I'd love to see other parents' ideas on how they implement photography with their children

Bobby