Every year in October, we begin to receive emails from prospective clients inquiring as to whether or not we offer sessions with a holiday theme. The simple answer is no… although we wouldn’t be writing this blog post if we didn’t have some ideas to offer! Since our style leans more towards realism, our strength is more in capturing authentic moments in real places and less in staging backdrops and sets. Also, we find it difficult to cater to everyone’s different tastes and needs when it comes to predetermined backdrops. However, we and our clients have found ways to weave holiday looks into fall/winter portrait sessions, and we wanted to share these ideas with all of you who want to have some holiday-themed photos for cards. All of the clients below had either outfit or background changes during their sessions to capture different looks. We love providing our clients with photos that can be used for various purposes.
Idea #1: Use the pines of Central Park as a backdrop
Evergreens are a universal harbinger of winter and the holidays, and there are beautiful groves of them in Central Park that can add that additional holiday feel to your photos.
Idea #2: Incorporate some strings of lights
There’s just something magical-looking about bokeh, which is the effect that is achieved when little points of light appear blurry in the background. If you want to try this, please make sure to consult with us so we can discuss if it is possible at your home. There has to be a good amount of distance between the people and the background to achieve this result.
Idea #3: Throw on matching pajamas
Nothing quite says the holidays like pajamas with skiing reindeer and bears with scarves all over them or plaid from head to toe, does it?
Idea #4: Have an urban session with a stop near Rockefeller Center (or other site with holiday decor!)
Idea #5: BYOB (Bring Your Own Backdrop, of course!)
The Christmas photos below happened as part of a regular session. Beforehand, this family communicated to us that they had bought a holiday backdrop off Amazon that they planned to use for some of the photos. ilir gave them tips for placement of the backdrop with regard to the light so they could have it ready when the session began. He grabbed some photos of them with their backdrop for a portion of their session and then they spent the rest of their session outdoors capturing some natural moments and ‘all purpose’ family photos.
Idea #6: Include your Christmas tree or Christmas/Hanukkah decor
This is a bit of a no-brainer, but in the process of figuring out where to do family photos, sometimes the obvious escapes us. There’s something so cozy and personal about being captured with the family holiday decor.
We hope this gave you some ideas for how to commemorate the holidays in your family photography sessions.
Like what you see? Contact us with any questions or to schedule a session!