Photography Prompt: Inner Child

Week of 2025-05-31- to 2025-06-06

Aminus3 Photography

and

Jason Kravitz

May 31, 2025

The photography prompt this week is: Inner Child

l'émerveillement des enfants - kinderlijke verwondering -"kindliches Staunen - 子供のような驚き - asombro infantil - asombro infantil - laste imetlus - شگفتی کودکانه -

Create and share photos inspired by this week's prompt on your Aminus3 website, Substack Notes, or linked in the comments on this post.

Substack community can tag

Aminus3 Photography

in your posts.

Those of you posting on the Aminus3 community, add tag: #am3-prompt-202523

Be Inspired and Learn Something New

A younger and perhaps wiser(?) version of myself once wrote, “It’s easier to think outside the box when you don’t draw one around yourself.”

The prompt this week is about embracing your inner child by seeing the world from the perspective of “beginners mind”

After spending the last few years teaching youth photography, I still enjoy the joyful moment of seeing a kid picking up a camera and creating a photo for the first time. Along with the shutter, something in their mind clicks as they unlock a little magic in the box.

I’ve found two distinct happenings that nearly every student universally enjoys.

The first realization is when they create a photo that looks totally different in the camera than it did in real life. Long exposure, panning, painting with light. All of these techniques which transform something ordinary into something else, can be a mind blowing experience. What they see on the little screen is much different than what is in front of them in the real world.

The other distinct reaction is when their first (or fifteenth) print rolls out of my little Canon Selphy printer. That moment when a photo that they made in the camera on a tiny screen is now a physical thing that they hold in their hands, that when looked at long enough, transports them into the imaginal realm created.

Continuing on from the “dreamy” prompt from last week, this idea of something real and concrete deconstructing into something more imaginal and abstract is a good way to consider the prompt.

This fantastically filmed humorous video from

Chris da Canha

perfectly describes how “playing with your photos” can unlock new creativity. He mostly describes printing and sequencing your images after the photography is done, but a similar child-like joy could be applied to the act of creating a photo.

As with other prompts, you can go a few different ways on this one.

If you prefer, you might simply document the fun of children doing something playful and carefree.

Or perhaps more relatable to some of you, photograph how we adults connect with our own inner child to enjoy the world of play and imagination.

If you’d like to ponder the idea a little deeper, think about the notion of “Beginners Mind”. There is a Japanese concept from Zen Buddhism of Shosin, which describes this state of being. It is about seeing the world with new eyes or making new connections and interpretations that may not have existed before.

If you want a good primer on applying these principles to photography, check out this thoughtful post from landscape photographer Mikko Lagerstedt.

Photo by James (Deconstructing reality from this week’s Dreamy prompt)

So there’s three pathways that you might explore this week :

Photographing children at play
Adults embracing their inner child with joy
Seeing things in new ways and making new connections that you had not considered or deconstructing reality into something more strange and abstract

Maybe the “Inner Child” prompt inspires you in a different way that has not yet been considered. It’s all up to you to give some thought, create some photos, and of course, don’t forget to share a few with us on Substack Notes or on Aminus3.com.

Last Week’s Prompt Photos for “Dreamy”

The prompt for last week is a good segue into the world of child-like wonder, and seeing with fresh eyes. While the overall theme for last week was about creating “Dreamy” images, there were also several people who thought of the idea of nostalgia and fond memories in the mix of dreamy pics.

I encourage you to check out the thoughts, impressions and dreamy images shared throughout last week by clicking through the photo links below.

Here are a few highlights of photos that were posted for the Dreamy prompt.