Holiday Photos

It’s that time again. Time to get the kids dressed up in their holiday outfits and bring them to target to get their portraits taken for the holidays. It’s the one time of year where we take pictures of our kids and send them out to friends and family (other than Facebook).

Some people spend a fortune on these pictures when it comes to getting professional studio pictures and holiday cards printed. The idea is nice, get the kids dressed to impress, go to the studio and ask them to smile. Sometimes, you can even find a studio that has a nice holiday muslin backdrop that makes it look as if you are taking the photo in the North Pole in front of Santa’s workshop. Hopefully this works, but it doesn’t always. It would be a shame to spend all that money on a professionally taken photo and not get the expressions you get from the kids you know they’re capable of. Try smiling in the mirror when you are not in a great mood. It just does not look right.

I do think these studio photos serve a purpose, perhaps an 8x10 and a couple of 5x7 prints or the grandparents. I personally prefer photos that are more natural. My son doesn’t provide a genuine expression when we get these photos taken, but my wife always insisted on getting them done. My daughter Mackenzie is only 11 months old and is the silliest person I know. I would hate not to capture her true expressions in a photo like this. I even thought about getting studio backdrops so that I could take them myself, but that would be a huge waste of money for me, because I would not market these types of photos and the equipment would never get used.

Even though we still get these photos taken, we never use them for the holiday cards and my family still prefers more natural images. Every year, we go through the process of electing a photo for holiday cards and we either go with a seasonal outdoor shot showing the autumn colors, or we will take a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree that we all helped decorate and brightens up my living room with Christmas spirit. Who doesn’t feel great after putting up their Christmas tree.

Sometimes taking these pictures in the familiar surrounding of your own home is perfectly fine (and can save you a lot of money). I have quite a few clients that contacted me to come to their home or a familiar location to take photos of their children for Christmas cards. It is always better this way, because you can coach them and wait for the expressions you need, cause you don’t have a line of people behind you watching and waiting to get their photos taken. No pressure there….

I look forward to seeing all the updated pictures from the cards I receive this year and I plan to take plenty of photos between now and Christmas, so I will post more holiday photos soon.

Good Luck!