Behind-the-Scenes (Christmas Card Edition)

Most people enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes. Sure, it’s nice to see a final polished image, but there is something about seeing an idea in process that is just fascinating.

So although the hustle and bustle is over (can I get an Amen?) I wanted to share some of the behind-the-scenes action for the creation of our 2018 Christmas card.

Now before we dive in, let me be clear that I am in no way advocating that anyone else engage in this type of madness. Most people select a lovely photo or two of their family, upload it to one of the many fine websites that offer Christmas card printing and call it a day.

Ours is a bit more involved and, while we enjoy working on it as a family (for the most part), it is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. This tradition started 17 years ago when we were unsuccessfully trying to get a photo of Gwen as a baby for a Christmas card.

She was a bit of a fussy one, but rather than fight our circumstances we just went with it and took a photo of her screaming at the top of her lungs, and transformed it to look like she was singing a Hallelujah chorus. (It was a real turn-lemons-into-lemonade moment.)

From that point on, we have created a different card every year, always with the caveat that if no ideas come we won’t do a card. Of course, once the kids became old enough to contribute ideas they have never let a year go by without doing one.

Here is the final card. In some ways it’s a simple concept. We each lay on our driveway, took a few pictures, added some graphics, and, voilá, you’ve got yourself a Christmas card.

However, there is a bit more that needed to happen. First, we had to come up with an idea for a scene. We had previously done a chalk drawing on the driveway, but we wanted to see what else we could do with it. Plus, we wanted to work in some lettering and graphics.

We started off by taking some pictures to see what kind of scene we could create. As you see, the first thing we had to be aware of was taking the picture later in the day or on a day when it was overcast, because those shadows were determined to ruin anything we wanted to do. So while I was atop a 10-foot ladder, we see Dean being a real trooper about taking direction from me.

Of course, I am just as willing to look ridiculous, so after the sun went down it was my turn to lay down on our driveway to see what kind of poses would work for our scene.

Once we finally figured out each person’s pose, we determined what sweaters, scarves, boots, etc. everyone should wear. Unfortunately, our coats looked way too bulky so we had to leave those in the garage. And yes, our cement driveway is just as cold as you would think.

In order to make sure each photo had the same proportions we used the hat for the snowman as a consistent element in each picture. That way if any angle had changed between the different photos, we could see how to adjust the photo.

We ended up going outside to take photos three times. Each time there were little tweaks we decided to make after seeing how all the pictures looked. For example, adding my holding a carrot in my mouth or Dean’s hat flying off his head.

Once we felt good about all of the photos compiled together to make one scene, then I created the various graphics and lettering to accompany our photo.

I hope you enjoyed getting a peek behind the curtain of our Christmas card. Would love to hear any thoughts or ideas this may have sparked for you. Or if there is a particular topic you would like me to cover for a future blog post, drop me a line.