Happy Holidays (Grab Your Camera!)

— This season why not take your love of photography and use it to bring some fun and joy to those around you? Taking photos is fun anyhow, but with a little creativity and initiative you can make it something truly special and memorable this year.

Here are a few ideas to get you started . . .

When the family is together, have the kids all stage a crazy dress-up fashion show while you shoot photos and everyone laughs at their antics.

Wake early and run around your house stashing Hershey Kisses, taking photos of each but only showing j-u-s-t e-n-o-u-g-h of the surroundings to make the location identifiable. (Maybe capture some of these from odd angles, or with the camera upside down!) Then wake up someone you love and invite them on the scavenger hunt, revealing one image at a time to see if they can track down each kiss in turn … and ultimately a small present at the end. (Make this much more memorable by having them POSE in some cute or funny way upon each discovery!)

Bust out some of your creative iPhoneography training (like this!) and review a video or two . . . then invite a child (or a niece or nephew) to learn how to do what you learned, so you can take some photos and create art together … maybe even “in secret” to then give as a surprise to someone special.

If you have someone you love who can’t be with you this holiday, maybe stage a series of photos to send one at a time over the holiday so they feel they’re with you after all, maybe including in each photo something funny or clever or heartfelt (maybe notes written and held up for the camera?)

Pull out that old box of family photos when you’re together with family, and sit around a table sharing them, laughing over them, remembering old times … (And be sure to grab a few NEW photos of everyone looking at the old ones!)

Invite the kids to help decorate cookies, but first have them dress up in some funny way, or have a bunch of crazy ingredients at hand that they’ll have fun adding to the “artistry” of the occasion. Put on some music. And let them get messy! Then capture the whole thing on camera, turning it into a fun slide show to share with them all afterwards.

Start a new tradition. Get some disposable cameras and hand them around for everyone to use in capturing the day. (Or just have everyone pull out their cell phones and hand those around!) Turn all the best into a slide show, which you set to music and show on a big monitor or television NEXT year, adding to it every holiday.

There ya go! Seven ideas to get you going . . .

What ideas can you come up with?

Pick one or two and take the initiative to make them happen. Have FUN with it. And be the one in your family this year to bring the JOY to the holidays!

– Sebastian

Note: The lovely image featured in this post is by AWAKE artist Debbie Keating de Juan.