Behind The Frame, part vi [holiday edition]

The winter holidays are filled with so much inspiration for me as well as a need to document all of the aspects that are involved with the winter holidays. I’m going to share some behind the frame thoughts and information about five winter holiday images from over the years.

And, if you’d like to check out the other posts in this series, here are the links:

Behind The Frame i, Selection of Personal + Client Images focusing on color, composition, and joy

Behind The Frame ii, Selection of Client and Personal Images

How The Photo Was Made, Behind The Frame iii, Selection of Personal + Client Images

Behind The Frame iv, Self Portrait Edition

Behind The Frame v, Travel Edition

Holiday Lights

Holiday lights are one of our favorite family traditions. We hang up these colorful balls in the trees in front of our home each year just after Thanksgiving, and leave them up until Lunar New Year. We typically hang them up during the day, which I photograph, but it’s not nearly as lovely as how they look at night. By utilizing the largest and more neutral colored ball (white lights) I was able to lite my young subject while getting a sense of the vastness of the holiday lights.

Holiday Books

Over the years we’ve collected a large number of winter holiday books that we pack up during the rest of the year. It’s always exciting to pull them out when we’re decorating our Christmas tree and to read them multiple times during the holiday season. We even read the board books although my kids are 10 and 12! Spreading out the book collection was a fun way to document this holiday tradition.

Holiday Photo Props

We were at a family gathering one year in Florida and a family member brought these fun ‘photo booth’ style holiday props. I love the little bit of added cheer and holiday pizzaz that they add particularly since we were in warm weather clothes. I included a larger amount of negative space in the image, ensuring that all vertical lines were straight, to really make the holiday colors in their pants and the props to pop.

Holiday Decorations

In addition to decorating with lights, many families have items that they decorate with each year. For example, i have a large collection of music boxes from each Christmas when i was growing up. One year my daughter was helping her Grandfather to decorate his golf cart for the holidays. I thought this was funny because she is wearing Christmas themed pajamas while they’re doing the decorating. They’re also taking a break on the job! haha. I also like how they are framed within the space of the golf cart and that the area in the garage is dark and in shadow so you are drawn right to the subject.

Holiday Baking

Each and every year my girls and I bake the same cookies and fudge. But, I’ll be honest that it’s hard for me to photograph these activities WHILE doing the baking. Now that my girls are getting older this will become easier, but when they were young it was definitely easier to document the story of holiday baking when they were doing the baking with another family member. Here my daughter is baking with her grandmother. I love how the overhead perspective really shows their activity, and the juxtaposition of the older and younger hands doing the work. There’s similarity in the colors and tones of the image giving it a soothing feel, just like baked cookies, and there are interesting leading lines and shapes which elevate the interest of the photo.

I hope that this behind the frame look at a few holiday photos will help to inspire your photography this winter holiday season. Be sure to tag me on instagram when you share your holiday images so I can check them out!!

Here are more ‘Behind The Frame’ Articles for you to check out as well as photography tips and tricks. Anything you’d like to learn or read more about? Let me know in the comments!