A method and apparatus for controlling an operation of a camera that allows a user to conveniently control a camera apparatus according to a gesture of a subject input through a lens of a camera, and the camera apparatus are provided. The method includes receiving an image input through a camera lens; generating an image frame; detecting a motion of a subject included in the image frame by comparing the image frame with at least one previous frame stored before the image frame is generated; determining whether the motion of the subject is a User Interface (UI) gesture; and performing, if the motion is the UI gesture, an operation corresponding to the UI gesture.