Written by Alyssa Banko
Published in SCV Health &Family Magazine December 2012
A publication of The Signal
One of the things that my family anticipates about the holidays is receiving the holiday cards. Sure,it’s a great way to be able to keep in touch with family and friends and see what everyone is up to but honestly,it’s all about the holiday photos for us. There are days when the entire family fights over who is going to get to the mailbox first and be the one to rip open the cards. As we huddle around the kitchen counter to look at the holiday photo cards,battles often take place when the cards don’t get passed around quick enough!
For years,those that shared their family holiday photo focused on the perfect traditional family portrait. Those are the photos that cost them a boat load of money due to hiring a fancy professional photographer. Yeah,they’re nice,everyone is matchy,matchy in their holiday outfits with their coiffed hair and the family is overly posed waiting patiently for the photo session to end. More often than not,that holiday card is viewed by the recipient for about a second and tossed into the pile. And think about all the stress it took to get that picture.
- Finding the right outfit and the ridiculous amount they cost,
- Getting everyone dressed in that outfit was a feat in itself,
- The aggravation of getting everyone together at the portrait studio in a good mood,
- The crying kids and the ones not willing to smile,and
- Arguing over who is going to stand next to who and mom yelling,“just put your hand on your dad’s shoulder already!”
In the end,how many people were truly happy with that picture anyway?
The holiday photos that we love the most in our house and are becoming the norm are not the formal portraits but the ones that stand out and are a little wacky and crazy. For example,some of our favorites we received last year were a photo card where everyone was holding up a little black mustache to their face,one where the whole family was pushing their Christmas tree out of a field on a Little Tykes plastic car,and one where the family used their bodies to spell out the word ‘PEACE’.
These are the types of cards that show that the family put some time and effort into making their holiday photo special. Often,those are the photos that spark the memory discussions in my house and lead us to re-connect with those old friends whether it be through a phone call or a Skype session. And believe it or not,those families that move away from the traditional portrait and try something different really have a lot of fun with it.
Fun holiday photos allow the entire family to get involved and come up with some great ideas to really bring out the family personality during the holiday season. There is no need to stress over the perfect photo. Go out on a limb and have a good time with it. You will be surprised how much enjoyment your family will have rather than have them cringe at that dreadful yearly photo shoot.
I’ve created a list of some simple tips to help increase the odds of getting a great holiday photo that you and your family will love.
Enlist a friend (one preferably familiar with a camera) to take your photos rather than deal with the self-timer. If no one is available,be sure to bring a tri-pod and let different family members set up and take the shot to get different perspectives.Pick a theme that fits your family and find the right setting. From baking cookies in the kitchen with aprons on to the kids taping each other up with wrapping paper around the Christmas tree. There are some fun situations that can easily be set up,if you aren’t very creative,just do some searching on the Internet.Match your clothing to the theme of your card and use lots of props. Have the kids wear matching PJ’s as they read holiday books in mom and dad’s bed or snap some shots of the kids having a snowball fight in their bathing suits.Play on words or phrases of the season. Take a photo of your family members each with a milk mustache and have the card say,‘Got Eggnog’? It can be as simple as dressing the kids in Santa hats with shaving cream beards and writing ‘Ho Ho Ho’ on the card.Play with different settings on your camera. Shoot photos in black and white,sepia or monochrome to get a vintage look. Capture different angles,move in really close or even shoot the photo off-center. Take individual or mini group photos instead of one large group photo and be sure to shoot a ton of them. Get those candid shots instead of all the fake smiles.Most importantly,keep it light and simple and everyone will enjoy the photo session. Let the kids come up with poses,allow them to make funny faces,be creative and show your family’s goofy side. Let the scene unfold in front of the camera,there’s no need to force it.So I urge you to go and try something different this year and see how much easier and fun your holiday photo will be. Take some time and talk with your family to come up with some great ideas. In the end,the stressful holiday photo will become enjoyable and you will be amazed at the amount of comments you will receive once your holiday card starts arriving in mailboxes this season.
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