Season’s Beatings Holiday Cards

Holiday Season, Year Two in California….This is where Todd and I started getting more creative with our Holiday Card Themes!

As I had mentioned in my previous post on our Holiday Cards, each year Todd and I would pick a “theme” for our Holiday Card and then find the perfect costumes and props, to fit that theme.

Since we had originally agreed that we disliked the photo cards that had people sitting with their family, in front of their fireplaces, with “Seasons Greetings” displayed on the wall behind them, we decided to base our “theme” on that EXACT concept, only take it a step darker!

So we decided on the theme of “Season’s Beatings.” We had no real plan on “what” we wanted to shoot so we just decided on the outfits and props, and started shooting.

Our concept here was there could be one person or a couple, who didn’t know that there was this “sinister” presence, behind them or next to them, just waiting to ruin their day with violence!

Looking back at this Photo Session, I’m surprised to find that we talked Greg Martz into being in the photos. Greg and I ended up being good friends, down the line, when we ended up crewing on sports video shoots together, but I didn’t remember that I knew him that early on in my Cal State history, yet there he was at the photo shoot dressed in a tux no less!

Again, he didn’t really know Todd or me but he went along with our crazy ideas and schemes as well as our superb photographer, Linda Lazar.

We laughed until we cried shooting these photos, and I think I even had to reapply makeup once because I cried all my mascara off!

When I look at these photos now, it’s funny to see that Todd is having a hard time NOT smiling in the photos. More often than not, he is cracking up at what we are doing. I especially like the series of photos where I have the wrench in my hand and I’m going for Todd, and he gives me this “quirky” look in the next frame, and by the third frame we have collapsed into laughter! (See all the photos in the video.)

The photos came out magnificent AND hilarious! As usual, we couldn’t pick which one we liked the best. I would like one image because I looked better in it and then Todd would like one where he looked better. We eventually choose the one image that fit the theme we had originally come up with, which was the two of us sitting in front of the fireplace with “Season’s Greetings” hanging on the wall behind us. In “our version” of the card though, the “S” is crossed out, and we hand wrote in “B’s” on every card we mailed out and I am handcuffed to Todd, while I am sipping my cocktail and he is holding a huge wrench in his other hand. We hand printed all our cards on Black & White postcard stock and mailed them out.

Funny thing about our Season’s Beatings card…when I went home to Chicago for the Holidays, and proudly brought my family copies of the card to show them, I remember my Dad saying: “What in the hell is she learning at that school in California?!”

Enjoy a few of the photos below and be sure to watch the Season’s Beatings Holiday Card Video that I put together with all the images from the shoot. Blue Monday, by New Order, was the perfect sound for these images!

We even had our own “stamp” custom made for this card!