Creative Photography With Kids: An Interview With Ann Texter

Photographer Ann Texter gave her daughter Grace a digital camera for her fourth birthday after she expressed interest in shooting with her mother. Now five, Grace shoots regularly with her mother and is beginning to work in alternative photographic processes like cyanotypes and Polaroid transfers. Ann was kind enough to explain to us how, exactly, it came to this.

Z Recommends: Tell me how this all got started.

Ann Texter: When Grace was about three and a half, I had told her one day that today was her day, and we could go do anything she wanted. I was expecting a fun-filled trip to Chuck E. Cheese, but she surprised me with “Mommy, I want to go take pictures!” Of course I was beside myself with joy in hearing her say those words. I decided to buy her a one time use black and white film Walgreen’s camera, that way she could shoot and I could advance it for her, she is a bit shutter happy with the clicking. I decided to take her around Austin to places that had large, oversized signs of animals and objects. I headed downtown towards a big chicken, and next a big bunny rabbit. We also found large cowboy boots and so much more. It was a game to her, and she was so excited. I thought it would be fun to take some of the same photos and see the different perspectives.

Photo by Grace

Photo by Ann

When I got Grace’s film back I showed the images to some of my photographer friends, and they thought the images were mine, when I told them Grace had taken them, they were so amazed. It was a fun day, and we’ve made a tradition of shooting together now and again, all depending on whether or not Grace wants to. Some days I get the “Oh mommy, no pictures today.”

I can’t afford her film habit on top of mine, so for her fourth birthday I bought her a cheap Polaroid digital camera. It’s small enough for her to work on her own and didn’t cost a lot so I don’t worry if something were to happen to it, if she dropped it etc… She’s taken really good care of it, and I on the other hand must be watched very closely. One day I accidentally deleted all of her images from the day. I was so upset and she said, “That’s OK mommy, I can take more pictures on another day." I still felt horrible about it, but it sure makes it easier that she was very understanding.

On top of taking photographs together, she is my most highly paid model as well. I’ve had to pay in Barbie dolls and trips to Chuck E. Cheese to thank her for helping me by posing. I took a Holga diptych of her last year. I had her pose how I wanted, but then she came up with her very own idea as well. She stood in this field with her arms wide open and when I got the images back, her pose was my favorite, and she was so very proud of it. I submitted that image (click here to view it on Think In Pictures) to the 26th Annual STAC Photography contest juried by Joyce Tenneson. It was selected to be in that show in New York earlier this year. She was so excited about it.

ZRecs: How did you get into photography? Did you start young?

Ann: Growing up, I remember always having cameras made available to me to use. Recently my dad brought a dusty Windsor Diana clone to me that he found in the garage, and I remembered that I was actually sent off to church camp at the age of 8 with that toy camera loaded and ready to shoot. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I truly realized photography was a passion for me. I was given a Pentax K-1000 by my mom and aunt to take on a high school trip, and I’ve been in love with photography ever since.

More recently, in the past three years have I truly started shooting with multiple formats: 35mm, medium format, large format, Polaroid films and alternative processes.

ZRecs: Is it difficult including her in your work with alternative processes, considering the harsh chemicals involved?

Ann: I have been hesitant to try a few simply because of the chemicals and Grace gets very curious and always wants to help me do things. I have to watch myself with chemicals, let alone both of us at the same time, but I’ve managed to figure out a few processes that she and I can do together. I had purchased a Cyanotype kit to try and decided to coat the paper with the chemicals one evening while Grace was asleep. They were stored in a dark area and ready to use the following day.

As I started exposing the cyanotypes, Grace watched as I washed the chemicals away to reveal the beautiful blues of the process. I had gone through a lot of trial and error since this was my first attempt at them, but had saved a few pieces for Grace and I do together. She loves picking flowers, so we went outside and got some of her favorites and I took her upstairs in our dimly lit bathroom and let her arrange her flowers on the paper. I then covered the paper and flowers with glass and we took them outside to expose them. Once that was complete I washed both of the prints with her standing on a chair next to me in the kitchen. She was so excited to see her image turn blue and reveal the outline of the flowers. [AlternativePhotography.com has a great tutorial on making cyanotypes.]

I’ve been doing Polaroid image transfers for more than three years and Grace is always begging to help me with those. So a couple of weeks ago I let her pick out some slides and make her own. She chose one slide that I had previously done a while back. She didn’t know I had done that one, so I thought that would be great to see the two compared. [Polaroid has a step-by-step walk-through of the image transfer process.]

ZRecs: Do you own or rent a darkroom? How active is your daughter in the post-shooting phases of her photographs?

Ann: I generally drop off my film at a lab in town, and I have recently belonged to a community darkroom. It’s a bit of a drive for me to get to so I finally figured out how to set up a small enlarger in the spare bathroom this weekend. So, now we will have a small darkroom at home. I haven’t involved Grace in that part of the photographic process up to this point, but as she is all of the ripe old age of 5 now, I think she might enjoy watching a photograph being printed and I plan to get her involved in that soon if she is interested.

ZRecs: What is it like shooting with your daughter? How does a five-year-old approach this kind of thing?

Photo by Grace

Photo by Ann

Ann: Over the past couple of years I’ve started to notice that she has watched me more closely than I thought when I photograph. I will catch Grace lining up a shot, or squatting down low to get a better view of something. It’s really funny to see a little version of yourself. I’ve also taken her to places that I’ve shot before without her, and she chose to photograph things that I had when she wasn’t with me. The Anderbock sign on the building wall was an image I had made last year and it was so incredible for me to see her eye zoom in on something I had previously photographed without having said anything.

Being a daughter of a photographer, she gets involved into my work a lot. So she has days where she wants nothing to do with it. You know, the whole, “Not again, mommy!” As much as I’d love for her to be as passionate about it as I am, I won’t push her. When she wants to join in, I’m thrilled, but when she doesn’t, that’s OK, too. It’s about spending time with each other, and enjoying each other.

Ann and Grace Texter live in Georgetown, Texas. View Ann's photos on Flickr or on her website, www.anntexter.com.