Every year I am tasked by my wife to produce a family picture for our Christmas cards.
So like I do every year for our kids’ birthday invitations, (although that didn’t happen this year because of Covid-19), I always come up with a theme for the shoot. I’m not a fan of the boring, “huddle together and smile” type of portraits.
2020 has been rough for everyone, physically and emotionally. For me, I’ve barely touched my camera this year. I have been unmotivated, uninspired, and just overall ”meh” about it all. No birthday parties meant no invitations, which meant no themed shoots.
I had thought about just the standard family pic that I expressed I was not a fan of, just to get it over with and send out cards to the family. Unfortunately everyone has come to expect magical and amazing cards from me. I really shot myself in the foot lol.
So the year is steadily drawing to a close. I’ve got to at least have ONE thing to show for it. I started brainstorming ideas for a theme. Cutesy? Not in the mood... Happy and cheerful? Eh, can’t spend time with family, no big social gatherings, not too keen on going out to restaurants or to the movies, what’s to be cheerful about? Our holidays and birthdays are spent over video chat with family instead of in-person.
What kind of crazy things has this pandemic stirred up this year? Hoarding. Hoarding of personal protection equipment such as face masks, hygiene products such as hand sanitizers, cleaning products such as disinfectant sprays and wipes. Let's not even talk about toilet paper... Virtual learning? 'nuff said... I figured if anything, our Christmas card should reflect all of this craziness in some way or another.
So I began designing my set. This set was entirely virtual. I picked and prodded over several websites that have license-free images such as deviantart, unsplash, and cleanpng. I think in the end, I had around 30 or so different layers. The wife was happy with it, which is what matters right? :)
Happy holidays everyone!
