DESIGN 17: FRONT

DESIGN 17: INSIDE
Message: “May the magic of the holiday season never end…for the greatest of gifts are family and friends,” signed under the message on the right.

DESIGN 17: BACK
Specs: Horizontal wide format 5×7 card on archival linen, folded in the middle. The card opens on the short end resulting in a unique wide format card that opens to a full 5×14 spread.

Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!What I love about this design — See the background on the front scrapbook-style photograph of the children? That’s not your standard holiday card background image. That’s their lake! And that’s the family in that boat on their lake! How do you get a holiday card more custom than THAT? It looks like a painting! I also like the wintry swirls on the border, giving the fall photographs a subtle hint of winter. I love the unique wide format layout in the center with not an inch of wasted space. But, other than the front, which I just LOVE, my second-favorite thing about this card is the classic family photograph on the back, given a timeless appeal with a sepia tone and a worn texture. Who can’t help staring back at that beautiful dog’s gaze? Love the dog!

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 16: FRONT
(The text at the bottom actually showed the boy’s name, replaced with fake type here, but I LOVE his name there!)



DESIGN 16: INSIDE
Message: “Happy holidays” was written in script at the bottom right corner.



DESIGN 16: BACK
Specs: Vertical 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in the middle.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — I feel a sense of peace just thinking about this card, and a card that gives me a moment of peace during the hectic holidays is one worth keeping out all year long. I love the richness of the front with the browns and textures and the boy’s natural smile. Love the inside with the subtle pulling back of color in that unusual but playful photo choice for a holiday card. The addition of a faux linen texture on the image enhances the actual linen texture of the paper on which it was printed. It’s the whole card design, the flow of it, that gives me that much-desired peacefulness, but the back is my favorite panel. It’s just — *sigh* — a sweet layout for a beautiful family.

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 15: FRONT

DESIGN 15: INSIDE
Message: “Have an awesome new year!” (The card was signed within the framed photograph in white ink.)

DESIGN 15: BACK
Specs: Vertical 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in the middle.

Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!What I love about this design — FUN FUN FUN!!! I love this one for how colorful it is, showing off the beauty of this mom/daughter team! Non-stop energy with these two during our shoot and they were so sweet together, I wanted to make sure all their friends and family would see it and feel the love as much as I did. The inside is designed like a movie poster, complete with a pretty white-ink autograph (not shown here) within the bottom of the framed image. They both talked about what a good time they have sitting on the couch watching movies so I wanted to give their card a distinct MOVIE feel. I love it!

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 14: FRONT



DESIGN 14: INSIDE
Message: “Let our children’s joy surround us all throughout the year” (The card was signed bottom right.)



DESIGN 14: BACK
Specs: Vertical 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in the middle.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — I love all the different colors on the front, in particular, the hats, but more than that, I love how the faces show so many different expressions. I think it’s cool that mom and dad made it on the front of the card as well. I get so many comments from people who have been a recipient of one of my cards saying how much they loved seeing the entire family in the presentation. I really like the inside design too though. The string of lights drapes through the design, giving it a nice Christmassy feeling, and when combined with that adorable photograph of the children smiling at each other, it’s just priceless. The family photo on the back is one of my faves too. (See it big in the “family” gallery of my main photography site.)

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 12: FRONT



DESIGN 12: FRONT FLAP
Message: “Warm wishes for safe and peaceful travel this holiday season.”



DESIGN 12: INSIDE SPREAD
Overall size: 15×5.



DESIGN 12: BACK
Specs: Horizontal 5×5 tri-fold card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in thirds.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — The travel theme that is built into this card is timeless! That picture on the front inside flap is one of my all-time favorite pictures. Why? What is it about kids in the car that we can all relate to? I guess it’s a ritual of childhood to be loaded in a vehicle of some sort, sitting dangerously close to your siblings, on a trek over the proverbial river and through the woods to grandma’s house. It just EEKS family, and that’s why I LOVE this card! The family travel theme is echoed on the outside of the card, with images that resemble standard travel snapshots. Then open the card to its full 15×5 spread and you are invited, literally, inside. Oh sure, the texture is nice, and if you study the actual card carefully, you might notice a very subtle post-mark motif and hand-writing, like a postcard. And truly, the background image of the children wrestling on the couch (yet another timeless childhood ritual) is charming, but it’s THEIR EYES that really draws us into their world.

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 11: FRONT



DESIGN 11: INSIDE
Message: “May your new year be filled with everyday miracles. Happy holidays” (The card was signed underneath the family picture.)



DESIGN 11: BACK
Specs: Vertical 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in the middle.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — When you are holding the actual card, your brain tells you you’ve got a swatch of suede in your hand! The faux texture on the front, combined with the rich luxurious feel of the archival linen paper leads you to wonder about the “fabric.” You can’t help running your fingers over the card and noticing how wonderful it feels! This contributes to the drawing-in effect of those adorable photographs on the front. For the inside design, I drew from an earlier creation in which I used a large image of the baby measuring a full 5×7. Extended family members who receive this card could frame that portion if they wish to, so for the price of a card design, this family also got to send out frameable 5×7 images. His eyes are so sparkly in that photo and I love the one little tooth poking out of that gorgeous smile! The message was no accident either, given this little boy’s history, and certainly the majority of people who would be receiving this card would have prayed for him, and would appreciate that message all the more, for this little boy truly is a miracle!

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 10: FRONT



DESIGN 10: INSIDE
Message: “Warm wishes for holidays filled with laughter.” (The card was signed in the lower right corner.)



DESIGN 10: BACK
Specs: Vertical 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in the middle.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — I don’t often get the chance to photograph families with older children, because for some strange reason, people seem to think that if their kids are beyond toddler age, they’ve missed the window of opportunity for family lifestyle photography. That’s SO not true! I would love to have photographs of my family back in the days when we were all teenagers and young adults still living at home, playing Frisbee in the street, piling up on each other in a game of tackle-the-man-with-the-ball, helping mom in the kitchen, reading the comics on Sunday afternoon in the big gold chair with dad. That’s what I love about this card — it captures those moments! And I love how COOL the back of the card is with the added texture. It takes this design to a level beyond the typical family holiday cards that show younger children, and that’s the point. These are college kids! They needed a sophisticated card!

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for Eileen and AJ’s slide show. When the show is over, it will automatically jump back here where you can leave a comment and answer a question to win Eileen and AJ an 8×10 print!

A little aside here: I love that picture above! I feel that it represents how my photography has evolved. When I first started, I found it difficult to get parents involved in the shoot because they only wanted pictures of their children. But I’ve come to realize that parents THINK they only want pictures of their children!

Once parents see the pictures of the entire family, and especially the pictures that show mom and dad as a couple — and they see their children’s reactions to those pictures — it becomes obvious that pictures of mom and dad together don’t happen nearly enough.

And I’m not talking about posed shots, but shots like the one above, where all I’ve done is said, “Hold hands. Slow dance. Snuggle. Kiss. Whisper something sexy in her ear.” Wow, things often do take off after that, and I get some great couple shots of mom and dad, the kind that married couples usually only get at the wedding and at a big anniversary now and then. So what’s my point? My point is that my family sessions are not going to be just about the children! Because as much as children love to see pictures of themselves, they also love to see pictures of mom and dad loving each other.

It is so hard to get a family with three children under 3 all looking generally in the direction of the camera. Usually, it’s mom and dad who are not looking because they’re trying so hard to get the kids to look! But Eileen and AJ were great! This picture is so cool in black and white!



Here’s another cool black and white. I can totally see this shot as a large print under a wide white mat and a simple black gallery frame, finished size of 20×26, hanging on the wall in any room in their home. They have such great taste in wall colors! The black and white print would look so cool against it!



Here’s what the wall actually looks like. (I love that father/son shot!)



Here’s another black and white that I love! He’s looking through the bridge of his train set.



We were lucky it wasn’t too cold that day to get outside for a little while!



I heard great stories about all the fun they had in summer on this slide. In full sun all day, the slide would need to be cooled before a child could slide on it, so they got in the habit of turning the hose on it, and putting a little plastic pool at the bottom. Sounds like the kids had a blast sliding into the pool all summer!



I love this shot.



Love this one too!



Cheers!



LOVE the reflection!



That bowl of fresh lemons looks beautiful, doesn’t it? But what makes the picture interesting is the curious little girl checking me out!



How cute is that? I love how the m&m’s are blurred from the motion of the pouring!

This picture is what my new camera is ALL ABOUT! LOW LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY! It was a cloudy day. There are two windows on the far side of the room. The wood blinds were drawn shut for nap time. It was dark in there! But I was able to get this shot with no flash thanks to my fantastic new Nikon D3 using manual settings of super high ISO and a slow shutter speed. It was so dark in there in reality that I couldn’t see if his eyes were open or closed. (Upon close inspection in the editing room, they were open!)

To win Eileen and AJ an 8×10 print in your name, be the first person to leave a comment correctly guessing either the ISO setting of the picture above, or the shutter speed. (For hints, there are lots of photos in other posts (here’s one and here’s another one) that list the camera’s settings for each shot. Have fun and thanks for playing!)

Thanks Eileen and AJ! I really had a great time with your family in your beautiful home!

Until next time, be on the lookout for more Christmas card designs in the winter contest coming soon!
jules

DESIGN 9: FRONT



DESIGN 9: INSIDE
Message: “Happiness and cheer from our family to yours.”



DESIGN 9: BACK
Specs: Vertical 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread, folded in the middle.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — You know, sometimes an image speaks louder than words and in this case, I almost don’t know what to say. The children are so photogenic! I have this card design as my screen saver — does that tell you how much I love it? Plus, I’m really into red right now so when the red scarf and hat came out during our shoot, I was in heaven!

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!

DESIGN 8: FRONT



DESIGN 8: INSIDE
Message: “May everyday miracles fill your heart with warmth.”



DESIGN 8: BACK
Specs: Horizontal 5×7 card on archival linen with the inside design spanning the inside spread vertically, folded in the middle.
Do you know this family? Help them win a prize by leaving a comment about their card design!

What I love about this design — the old tin and faded wallpaper make me think of scraps from an old house, like a true scrapbook from the days when my mom was a child. Did you figure out yet that this is the third card design featured in this space from one session? It was a photo shoot concentrating on six boys, all cousins around the same age. Their grandmother asked if I could do a design for her featuring all six boys. The only specifications were that it should be simple in design and through captioning, somehow, it should be easy to identify who each boy is. No problem! Under each boy’s inside picture: his name!

The reason I chose to design a card with a distinctive scrapbook feel was because the grandparents moved into a new home recently, and I thought it would be fun to give the card the look of having been thrown together from stuff out of the old house. Of course, all of it is fake, from my own head, and not actually from their house. (That would have been fun!) Still, I love the look of the old scrapheap frame on the cover, the rustic swirls like an old found Christmas card from the 50s, and my favorite part — the back, where it says, “Our grandsons” atop an old silver tin. How sweet is that?

Click here for contest details, but be sure to click your browser’s “back” button to get back to this post so that you can leave a comment about THIS card design, especially if you are commenting in order to help your friends win the prize!

Cheers! And thanks for visiting the blog!