Family Christmas Card "Sleigh Ride"
Each year I like to create a fun a family Christmas card out to family and friends. My wife and I try and to dream up some sort of silly creative way of sharing holiday cheer what better way to do that than create a period inspired silly sleigh ride. We took each of our four children at the time, Josiah, Diego, Elijah, and baby Lydia, and had some Photoshop fun!
I am absolutely notorious for going all out on these family projects! I wanted the card to period inspired, very Norman Rockwell. I went to thrift store after thrift store finding the right gear, everything need to be knitted or woven, shoes had to old, brown and weathered, colors had to be red, blue, grey and white. NO COMPROMISES! I also had to find an old wooden toboggan to fit the theme. Thank you Craig's List!
Next was the photoshoot. By no means am a I photographer, but I know that setting up a tripod and keeping your camera in one spot would be the smartest thing to do. We went to the park down the street that had the perfect hill to set it all up. The fact that it was overcast actually served us well, no harsh shadows and the changing direction of the shadows was not going to be an issue. First was the baby, I knew she was only going to be good for a few minutes so we had to move quick. next was the rest of the fam. They needed to act crazy to fit the theme I was going for and they killed it on the first pic!
In the middle of the shoot I had the idea that it would be hilarious to have the 3 year old flying behind the rest of the kids on the sled with the teenager holding onto him for dear life. I took many photos to try and get the right shot and one of the last ones was perfect, looking a bit weightless while having a huge smile on his face. It was going to be a bit of work post production to remove him from that first shot, but it was totally going to be worth it!
Lián Types was beautiful and so many amazing glyph options that allowed me to play with how the type could interact and weave between the different letter forms. Snowflake were a nice little touch to finish off the design.
In the end the project was so much work but totally worth it! Now, every year, The family expects something new and great for our Christmas cards, but this one will always be hard to top!
