Our story begins long before Christmas. It begins a few years ago when I saw ads for a cheap, toy digital camera online, and I bought it because I thought it was really cute.
The camera is adorable, and its low resolution reminds me of the photos I used to take with my Pantech cell phone during my high school years. I do not use it often because I usually prefer to use devices that take higher quality photos to capture memorable moments. However, in between using my phone and Sony digital camera, I took some "B roll" shots of the holiday season starting with Thanksgiving Eve.
My husband and I contributed to our family Thanksgiving dinners this year by bringing sweet potato casserole. I took a photo of the casserole sitting in our refrigerator the night before Thanksgiving.
It was rainy all day on Thanksgiving this year. It was also very late in the month of November, so people were bursting with anticipation for the upcoming holiday season. In the photo below, you can see some of the Christmas decorations that were already out on Thanksgiving day.
Christmas preparations and festivities were quickly underway once Thanksgiving was officially over. I took a break from taking photos for the first couple weeks of December because I was busy with work and finishing out my first semester of graduate school.
It was eleven days before Christmas when my husband and I went out to do most of our Christmas shopping. Shopping plazas, like the one seen in the photo below, were bustling.
Two days later, it snowed! It snowed just enough for several businesses and school districts to operate on a delayed schedule. Outside temporarily looked like a beautiful, perfect Christmas card.
The final full week of work before Christmas was fun but exhausting. I hardly had time to catch my breath let alone take any photos.
That Saturday, I volunteered to help my grandparents put up their Christmas tree. I love spending time with them, and I was excited to help. As I decorated the tree, my grandmother told me stories about their ornaments. Some were made by my mom and uncle when they were kids, some were acquired by my grandmother when she traveled for work, and others were gifts from my great-grandparents. I enjoyed learning about my grandparents' past while listening to Christmas music and admiring the unique qualities of each ornament.
Later that day, I went to a Festivus party, inspired by the famous Seinfeld episode, with old friends who were in town for the holidays. I felt uncomfortable bringing my mini camera to the party, so I left it at home. I therefore did not take any more photos until the following morning.
My husband and I could not stay for all of the Festivus festivities because we had to get up early the next day. We were up so early that we caught the sunrise.
I did not take any photos on the actual day of Festivus, December 23rd. I was okay with that though because the next two days were going to be very busy.
Christmas Eve arrived, and it began with a brunch date. I met up with a few friends from high school who were in town for the holidays.
After brunch, I went home to get ready for dinner with my family. It was fun and chaotic, which is to be almost expected when celebrating Christmas Eve with my family.
We got home with enough time to relax before bed. I took a moment to sit in our quiet living room and savor this special night. It was the first Christmas Eve in our new home. My heart was full of peace, joy, and gratitude.
Christmas morning was sunny, a stark contrast to Thanksgiving almost one month prior. I focused on using my Sony camera throughout the day, so I neglected to take many photos with my mini camera.
The photo seen below is one of the only photos I took with my mini camera that day. Here you can see the little bit of snow we had that morning and the radiant sun against the blue sky.
Overall it was a nice Christmas, and I realized a few things from using the mini camera to capture the four weeks or so leading up to Christmas:
1.) Even though these photos are smaller and of lower quality than my usual content, Blogger still limits the number of photos I can share per post. I have discovered this through trial and error. I originally had several more photos to include, but Blogger would not let me update and share the post as it was. Oh well.
2.) I felt more embarrassed using the mini camera than I did my regular camera. I think that's because the mini camera is technically a toy camera, so that makes people question what I'm doing a little bit more.
3.) Taking photos of people makes me really uncomfortable. Notice how none of my photos intentionally include people. I don't include people in a lot of my work because I do my best to respect people's privacy and I feel deeply uncomfortable asking people to take photos of them. I even get a little awkward when people see me taking photos of non-human subjects like plants, animals, and general scenery.
4.) Photos that are of lower quality are more likely to evoke feelings of nostalgia. This is because, as I mentioned early on in this post, the pixelation, lighting, and other characteristics of my mini camera photos are reminiscent of those I took during my teenage years. These photos remind me of a time long gone, and the lower quality makes these photos seem older than they actually are. Plus, the lack of sharpness distances each image from present day reality.
Thanks for taking to time to read this post, and I hope you and your loved ones have a happy, healthy, and safe new year.
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