THE MOST EPIC CHRISTMAS CARDS.

One of the reasons I love Christmas is that it is the only time of the year when we still get paper cards in the mail. I know, I know, many people send their Christmas by email. I’m guilty of sometimes doing it, too, because I run out of time to get mine printed with all the craziness of the holiday season, but let’s be clear, printed cards get the cake! BUT there are regular Greeting Cards, there are photo Cards, and there are epic photo cards. Ok, I may be a little biased because I actually helped create the cards I’m going to show you in the post below, but for me, what makes the whole difference when it comes to epic Christmas cards is the theme, the uniqueness, and the anticipation we get every year waiting for those cards to arrive. The family I’m going to introduce you to wins yearly in my book.

2019's CHRISTMAS CARD.

Back in 2019, I was approach by one of my neighbors at the school bus stop with an epic proposal. Her husband and she had been brainstorming about Christmas pictures for their Christmas Cards that year, but didn’t want to do anything traditional. They were familiar with my work and asked me if I could help them recreate rock album covers for their Christmas card, and I immediately fell in love with the idea. 

The challenge for that year was recreating Motley Crue ‘s “Girls Girls Girls” album cover by photographer Barry Levine. 

 After giving it a lot of thought on how to approach this new creative challenge and the fact that I don’t own a big warehouse or any motorcycles for the photoshoot I decided to use my Photoshop skills to build the background using Adobe Stock images. That way, when my neighbors arrive at my house to have their pictures taken, I would know exactly how to pose them and even layer the images together to make sure everything looked perfectly fine.

I wasn’t prepared to what I was going to see! Everybody showed up all dressed up, with wigs and even makeup on!

From that day on I knew this was going to be my favorite annual creative collaboration! 

 

2020's CHRISTMAS CARD.

The first Christmas card was a hit!  so the next year, my neighbor approached me once again with a cheeky smile, telling me it was time for our creative collab! The challenge that year was recreating U2’s  Joshua Tree Album cover by Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn.

Since I’ve never been to The Dead Valley or Coachella Valley I relied on  Adobe Stock for the background. Something that impresses me year after year about this family is their dedication to the project. By the time they come here, everybody, including the kids, have already mastered their poses and expressions, not to mention their outfits!

 

2021's CHRISTMAS CARD.

After dressing up as a boy for two consecutive years for the Christmas Card Picture, the family’s little girl decided it was enough! So only imagine my reaction when mom pitched to me their idea for that year and told me that dad was going to wear a dress to recreate Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love Album. Again, this family’s commitment to their epic Christmas Cards is beyond amazing! It was extremely hard to stay serious while looking at dad struggling to find his balance while wearing heels and a tight dress. We laughed the whole time!

2022's CHRISTMAS CARD.

Another year, another Christmas Card. This time the theme was Van Halen’s self-titled album. I already knew the drill. As every year, I impatiently waited to see how my neighbors showed up. This time, besides getting all dressed up, they showed up with a set of drums, a guitar customized with black tape to make it look like Van Halen’s, and of course, all the energy and disposition to make the best Christmas Card yet. 

The lighting on this project was so much fun to recreate, and for the first time in the project, I didn’t have to rely on Adobe Stock for a background. Instead, I used a black savage seamless paper, got my light gels out to play, and even got to drag my shutter for some of the shots.