Marry Christmas to all the Camera Clips readers. At the end of the year it is nice to send an electronic Christmas greeting, either on the webpage, by e-mail or Facebook, Instagram or pdf christmas letter, or whatever social media platform you prefer. I am a amateur photographer and so it is a bit of a challenge. Ideally I like to send a personalized greeting that represents my life. There are no snowy landscapes with reindeer drawn sleighs around our part of the world at this time of year. I feel it must also contain the symbols of Christmas, and a feeling of good will to my friends. Above is my Grandson Jimmie making playdough reindeer. This certainly fits the bill for my close family.
Underlying this task there is a tension between a Northern European Christmas tradition and a hot dry summer in Australia. However this has created fertile ground for defining an “Australian Christmas”. With this in mind I went searching for iconic images. What does an Australian Christmas look like? How do other photographers do it?
The classic white Australian Christmas refers to the white sand of the beach. (Often Bondi Beach in Sydney) Santa is dressed in red and white but wears thongs, bathers, a tank top and drinks beer from a stubby. Perhaps my favourite iteration of this image is Santa surfing:
Another strategy is to mix famous Australian scenes with christmas icons. Like Ayers rock, or the Harbour bridge.
You can have a lot of fun on your Australian holiday if you remeber to bring along a few christmas props. Perhaps closer to the real experience for me is to look at what we are eating for Christmas.
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Not only Pavlova, but it is a time of Summer fruits, like cherries and watermelon and Mango.
Another common thread is to portray Australian Animals.
or a wreath made from Australian native flowers.
In particular the Waratah flower has a particular christmas.
I think it is the combination of deep red and green that creates a particularly striking christmas image. Perhaps it would work with a king parrot.
Another theme is to tell a particularly Australian Nativity scene
Or perhaps just record what happens on the day.
I hope this gives you a few ideas. Best of Luck with your Christmas greeting.
An after thought – perhaps a little cheeky – you can mess around with these ideas.
A nativity – unto us a child is born – using cleaning products as the characters.
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