Tiarnan's way with the camera.

In recent months, Tiarnan, three (though he began this when he was two) has been doing something funny in front of the camera. Whenever a camera is pointed at him, a change comes over him. He drops his childishness, and adopts a serious demeanour. His face becomes all composed and mature and he looks into the camera, with wise little eyes. It is quite astonishing to see the fullness of the change. Then, when the picture has been taken, the usual Tiarnan returns: playful, fluid, mischievous and he rushes over to see the picture.

"Can I see? Can I see?" he will demand, then will study the image at the back of the digital camera, intently.

In the image, there will be this serious little boy with the wise eyes - and Tiarnan, seeing this will be quite happy, even though this doesn't express his inherent playfulness at all. It seems that Tiarnan is image conscious and has, in mind, a particular image that he wants to portray.

There are days, however, when Tiarnan is determinedly camera shy and refuses to be photographed, at all, as if he were some big star hounded by paparazzi...he will hide from the camera, or obscure the lens. Of course, when he is in such a mood, we give up on trying to photograph him. The pity of it is, that we miss good photo opportunities, at such times.

Photographing Tiarnan is like photographing a little actor. He poses for the camera, controls his image in it, decides what he wants to portray - then does just the right things to portray it. He even monitors the results closely, checking to see if he has succeeded in putting across his "public image". On those days when he doesn't like to be photographed (which are random and have no discernible pattern), he is again behaving like an actor - only this time, one who is in a private mood and doesn't want to yield to the paparazzi. Or perhaps he is just being shy, at times, for reasons of his own.

So, we have a mix of photos of Tiarnan. In some he is putting across an image he wants to portray. So, in a sense, these are not authentically him, of that moment - they are just how he wishes to be seen. The others are ones captured when he is not in a posing mood, or is unawares: these show a wider range of expressions and behaviours and embody him more fully.

I only hope that, many years from today, we are able to tell the posed photographs from the unposed ones and see in them, glimpses of the little Tiarnan he once was. It would be a pity if we were unable to see him as he really was, and were only able to see him as he wished to be seen (though, of course, this expresses part of who he is, as well...for how he wants to be seen, is a manifestation of his own self-image).

What is notable about his photos, though, is that he has a very expressive face. There are so many different "airs" to be seen in his images...so many different emotions, thoughts and expressions. On the evidence of this, it is telling that he poses as if he were an actor doing a publicity still, for he may just be one, one day. We will see.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Are children image conscious?

How image conscious are children? How influenced are they by the world of gloss and advertising, image and image-making?

I wonder at this because of something Fintan, three, said, over three months ago. He saw a rather plain, non-descript Chinese woman of no particular age and no particular allure, getting into a shiny, jet black, flashy sports car.

He pointed across at her and said: "Look at that woman, so funny…so pretty."

She may have been funny, in her own way, but she was definitely not pretty. Fintan, three, had had his perception overwhelmed, it seems, by the glossy item of the shiny black car. The woman had, in his eyes, become "pretty" by association with a beautiful car.

It is funny to think on it - but does this work with adults, too? Does a shiny, flashy, expensive sports car make someone more attractive? Is there a prettiness by association? If anyone should research the matter, they should credit me, here, for asking the question.

Fintan is only three, but already he has proven that the world of image-making has a hold over him. His reaction shows that it is possible to create quite a strong reaction in a young child, just by the gloss of an image deployed.

An unattractive woman became "pretty", by the simple expedient of buying an exotic car.

That should give people something to think about. It might even influence their car-buying decisions!

Perhaps that is why young men like to drive sports cars around. Perhaps they are not hunks after all - but plain joes, whose cars make them look good.

(If you would like to learn more of Fintan, three, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and six months and Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)