The holiday season is upon us so this week we’re going to take advantage of that with our next photography challenge. I want to see your holiday traditions!
If you haven’t completed the first one yet you can find it here: Holiday Photography Challenge #1 – Twinkle Twinkle Little Lights.
What are your family holiday traditions?
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or something else I want you to think about all the things that your families does to make it special.
Holiday meals and treats
Are their special meals or foods that get prepared? Then photograph that. Try your hand at food photography or even the preparation steps.
What about sweets? do you bake cookies or cakes? Leave some out with a glass of milk for Santa?
Photograph all that!
Do you make gingerbread and decorate a gingerbread house with the kids? Then tear it apart and eat it later?
Decorations
How do you decorate your house? Do you have any special ornaments or traditions about that?
Are the stockings hung on the fireplace hearth?
Do you have a tree or a Menorah or another item the represents your beliefs?
Are there carefully wrapped presents under the tree or in another location?
Do you decorate the outside or your house to make it more festive looking? How about your neighborhood of municipality? Are the squares and streets all lit up?
Do you build a snowman in the yard if you live in a wintery climate?
Have you ever made a snow angel? Well, now’s the time to be a kid again, get down in the snow and make that snow angel and then photograph it (or get your kids or grandkids to help out).
Holiday attire
Don’t forget to look in the closet too. Are there any special holiday outfits or attire that are traditions in your family or household?
Santa hats? How about the ugly Christmas sweater contest?
Special activities
What happens in your community during the holidays? Are there any special events such as parades or vigils?
Perhaps they may not be happening this year, or do so on a much smaller scale. If you participate just make sure you do so safely and follow any of the local rules.
In Granada, Nicaragua when we spend a couple of months over the holidays one year – I was grateful to have witnessed their celebrations.
Every day they paraded the statue of the Virgin Mary down a different street, complete with marching band and fireworks (bombas they call it).
They also had a much bigger parade one night which was a big event – sadly that’s not likely happening this year but people will still celebrate in their own way at home I’m sure.
Do you perhaps take the time to reflect and visit loved ones who’ve passed on. Maybe you take time to go to church, a synagogue, or mosque?
Or maybe you take part in quiet activities at home like playing games or looking through old photo albums.
That’s what the holidays mean to me the most. Time to spend with loved ones just being together, enjoying good food and each other’s company.
One thing I realized by writing this is that I haven’t taken a lot of photos of my own family during the holidays. It often feels too much like work.
But now looking back I regret not taking even a few snaps at each get together. Kids are only small for a short time. Elderly family members leave us too soon.
Make memories with your family and capture them with your photography!
Holiday Photography Challenges
Overcome confinement and boredom with our holiday photography challenge series. Choose any of the challenges from the following:
- Holiday Photography Challenge #1 – Twinkle Twinkle Little Lights
- Challenge #2 – You’re reading it
Happy holidays!
Finally, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or simply a happy holiday for whatever you have to celebrate.
Please share your photos of your holiday traditions in the comment area below. Tell us where you live and a little bit about your country or area and the ways you celebrate.
Cheers,
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https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5fc64486cb32a0400ca8a31eafba3c59a074e158d0dbd5aeeaca945dc386246f.jpg One of our traditions is the Christmas pudding. Jenni makes this a few weeks before in a traditional cloth using her Scottish grandmother’s recipe. Yummm! It is boiled for an hour or more before serving with brandy custard. The tradition includes pouring brandy over the pudding and then setting it alight. I had hoped to capture the flame and had it on a setting that creates darkness, but my memory card filled up before it was lit!!! Only captured the pour. Panasonic GX8 Auto ISO (very high) 25mm f/4.5 1/2000. Probably should have had a lower speed, but I was rushing to get the shot.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1b79a0b6eec500721dd5a44d5834adafe5939c9f1964c8cc0661d4081f97a40b.jpg I made pie. The holiday tradition in a normal year is that we gather and eat obscene amounts of dessert. Except, we couldn’t gather this year, so there is just one pie. We had a wonderful household family day together instead. The only subtle clue in the pic of which holiday this is comes from the reflection of the Christmas lights in the pie cutter. Santa was supposed to be standing guard in the upper right corner of the frame, but somehow went MIA (disappeared) after the test shots.
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It doesn’t feel festive until the aroma of holiday baking fills the home. Here I made my traditional fruitcake, shortbread and ginger cookies.