His Life in Pictures

As you know, Jonah is enamored of technology of any kind, and Apple products in particular.  We are torn between encouraging and limiting his enthusiasm, because, you know, a full scholarship to MIT might come in handy, but we don't want his face in a screen all day.   Several months ago, he discovered the camera function on my phone, which meant that he was always running around with it, snapping pictures, and using up all of my available space.  I just sighed and set about deleting the hundreds of photos he had taken, before some small part of my brain said, "Wait.  Are you really going to miss this chance to see what he sees?  How he sees?" And then I started to really look at what he chose to photograph, and how, and it wasn't random at all.  He carefully selected what he wanted, and took time arranging it just so.  Please note that these were taken by a four-year-old on my crappy iphone 3, so the quality isn't terrific- the content is what I'm interested in.
Several common themes emerged:
Texture:

  Light:

Fingers and Toes:

 

 

Technology:

Motion (and these were done deliberately, often taking several trials):

Object Stills:

Noticeably absent are photos of people, of faces.  Of the hundreds of pictures he has taken, only a very few include people.  And who knows what any of this means?  Does he see in pictures, as Temple Grandin explained, and photography is a way to slow the stream of images he sees?  Is the camera a way to distance himself socially?  Whatever Jonah's reason for taking these pictures may be, I'm so grateful for the glimpse inside of his quick and quirky mind.  He can't always tell me what he's thinking, but maybe he can show me.