The most wonderful time of the year gives us plenty of opportunities for fun and heartwarming photography projects. Creative holiday photos that show the season’s cheer and celebrations are among the most popular. If you’re still looking for ideas for holiday portrait sessions, here’s a simple but playful take that should inspire you.
Titled Pole Express, the project was put together for the 2020 Christmas campaign of Les Petits Raffineurs, an online French brand that sells original, high-quality toys and accessories for young children. According to Paris-based Barbara Weill, the project’s art director and set designer, the creative team took pride in making the beautiful set by hand and with passion.
Harmony of simple visual elements
Weill also shared that the inspiration behind Pole Express was Christmas villages crossed by a toy train. To create a playful, kid-friendly atmosphere, paper artist Gwendoline Ribardière crafted gift boxes and paper Christmas trees for the sets. Together with another art director Joanna Rosaz, Weill showcased the toy products in the most fitting visual style: simple yet fun, minimalist but also creative. Finally, Paris-based photographer Ombeline Le Gendre-Martin set to work to translate the ideas and art direction into photography aligned to the brand and the campaign itself.
The harmony of visual elements in this project is likely to inspire you to have the same effect in your own holiday photos. Put together a minimalist color palette, carefully curated props and a fun concept centered around Christmas. Explore fun scenarios and poses that your subjects can get into. Collaborate with other artists and creatives who can help add a unique touch or dimension to your project. The possibilities are countless!
Clever use of holiday colors
Of course, use of color is crucial to setting the look, mood and message of any photography project. When it comes to holiday photos, reds, greens and gold are typically used to match the festive mood of the season. The Pole Express project used this classic palette. However, it did away with really vibrant colors. Instead, it made clever use of subdued hues. This choice gave the entire series a retro and nostalgic vibe that fit the design of the toys really well.
This project is a great example of how the spirit of collaboration and clear art direction can bring a fun, solid concept to life. Likewise, it showed how simplicity can actually let the subjects shine. So, if you’re still looking for some ideas for a last-minute holiday shoot, hopefully you find some creative approaches to try from this series!
- Brand: Les Raffineurs
- Year: 2020
- Art direction: Barbara Weill & Joanna Rosaz
- Set design: Barbara Weill
- Paper art: Gwendoline Ribardière
- Photography: Ombeline Le Gendre-Martin
- Graphic design: Panpan
All photos by Ombeline Le Gendre-Martin. Used with Creative Commons.
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