Festive cheer
I named the December assignment of my still-life photo project for 2025 “Festive cheer” and, as you may have already guessed, it was meant to reflect Christmas and its magic.
From my perspective, Christmas is a multi-faceted feast. It relates to Christianity when celebrating the joy and gratitude for Christ having been born. It refers to humanity reflected in people being — or trying to be — more generous. And last but not least, it involves traditions that keep our lives rooted.
Over the years, my family has developed our own tradition for the Christmas Eve, which we consider the main Christmas day. Sometimes circumstances force us to alter this or that; sometimes we make changes as deliberate decisions, but the tradition always stays in the heart.
One part of the tradition is a Christmas tree. Each year we buy a real tree grown and cut for that purpose. I don’t feel bad about it, as some people say one should. Do I feel guilty for buying a cut flower? No — they are both grown for the same purpose. I don’t like plastic trees. They don’t smell right, don’t look alive and well. Isn’t there too much plastic everywhere anyway? Moreover, after Christmas, we often use the tree branches to cover plants in the garden and burn the trunk in the stove. Thus the tree serves on more levels than just as decoration.
We used to buy quite a tall tree but this Christmas I thought about having a smaller one and putting it on a wooden stool. So we did, and it looked lovely.
Another part of our tradition came about with that change. A few years back, my husband had bought me two decorative wicker reindeer with a cavity for a flower pot on their backs. When the flowers grew too large for the space, the reindeer were placed on a bookshelf to decorate the living room. When I was looking at the tree sitting newly on the stool, it occurred to me they could be used for Christmas again. I filled the cavities with wooden sticks and cones and placed the reindeer under the tree.
See the resulting start-to-finish documentary photos below. I really liked how the whole idea turned out.
With this last assignment, the photography project for 2025 is complete. If I evaluate it briefly, I can say that I fulfilled each month’s assignment, although I should have made more effort to show up and to plan settings, lighting, and techniques. On one hand, I wish I’d got more results; on the other hand, I’m rather glad the assignments are over.
The experience was beneficial though, even with all the ups and downs. I like the still-life genre and intend to pursue it further in my photography endeavours. I may even return to some of the topics and ideas, to work on them, and learn from the experience. Photography has its unique view of things, and that would be a shame to miss.
