Some Christmas cheer on New Year Eve

As I have promised, here are some of my favourite outtakes from my Christmas card shot. I will share my whole process with you, so a little warning, this post has a lot of photos! .

I really wanted to shoot outside, unfortunately it was quite cold so we had to shoot twice, that's why there are two different outfits. Both times were very short, literally 15 minutes each.

Carly, who won the comtetition, sent me this most amazing e-mail packed with ideas and even images to show what she meant. I loved her idea for my girls to hold a blackboard with a chalk writing on it. I have tried practicing and soon realised there is no chance they will hold it together. So I needed two! Well, Lucy being an angel, tried her best to help me, but Klara had other plans. Very cute though J!

 

 

Another idea which I was doing at the same time was to try and shoot as they decorate the tree. Since we went there twice, it has became "our big Christmas tree". We had a very small one this year so if certain someone tries to pull a decoration off it, no damage would happen.

And I really wanted to get a shot of both of them walking and holding hands:

I found two quotes about Christmas that I really liked and they helped me to choose the final image. Well, it was a tie between two images:

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." - Burton Hillis

And here is my chosen "official" image:

"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" - Bob Hope

I'm glad I found time to do it even though December was so busy. I shoot almost every day and A few of those images will definately be framed and we had a great time decorating "our" big Christmas tree.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas and I wish you a great New Year! I am looking forward to it and everything it will bring all of us!

Merry Christmas 2011!!!

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? - Bob Hope

Merry Christmas, everyone! Have a wonderful time with your families this Christmas and all year around! Thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me.

And a special thank you to all those who sent me Christmas card ideas, especially Carly :) I will be posting lots of my favourite outtakes next week.

A wee bit of heaven...

A wee bit of heaven
drifted down from above-
A handful of happiness,
a heart full of love.

The mystery of life,
so sacred and sweet-
The giver of joy
so deep and complete.

Precious and priceless,
so lovable, too-
The world’s sweetest miracle,
baby, is you.
~ Helen Steiner Rice

My favourite part of the session was watching the little tiny 10 days old baby fall asleep in her mum's arms... The way she looked a her - so much trust in her eyes.. Newborn babies are so amazing, so fragile but so strong at the same time. So dependant on their mum and dad, they find comfort in being next to those whose voices they have been listening to for many months..