Christmas Portraits in Clayton California
Christmas Day 2014
Clayton, California
To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up
Oscar Wilde, from The Importance of Being Earnest
On Christmas Day, I visited a mother and her daughter in Clayton, California. I brought my camera and received the gift of their company. During the drive, I wondered whether I should spend part of my holiday away from my family. The images confirm that I chose wisely.
On Christmas morning, my children opened their presents in our home. In the evening, our family was together again in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After I photographed Christine and her daughter, they left Clayton for their family dinner. Still, I became aware that many people do not have family to visit on Christmas. We were lucky.
I hope that I can articulate how much I enjoyed playing with Christine and her daughter. Christine held a container designed with an Oscar Wilde book cover. Oscar Wilde has some quote – and I am probably ruining it now – about how he always carried his diary with him on a train so that he would have something interesting to read.
Watching Christine’s daughter jump from the slide to the train to the statues was more than interesting. My words fail where my pictures begin to describe the little one’s brilliance. She was such a joy.
I have known about Clayton’s historical downtown for about ten years. I have been near it many times, but never visited. Sometimes it is necessary to look at the world as if we are young again… to believe that we can put on antlers and become something magical.
Perhaps it is even more important to remember to rinse and repeat. Sometimes the magical antlers fall off our heads, but since the antlers are magic, we merely need to put them back on again.
Is there anything more magical than the love between a parent and a child? Christmas is the season to buy stuff, but money can’t buy this type of magic. Love is not a farce, even if it fails us occasionally. It’s the importance of being Christmas.
When we were finished, I took two pictures with me. I think the little princess is wishing us peace. Peace, Love and Christmas.
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love this! another genuine experience – you, mother & daughter – amazing!
[…] you want to read a decent post, you might want to read my last year’s blog post about photographing Christine on Christmas Day. It was so good, I published a book… and then […]
[…] Each year I photograph them around Christmas. It has become our tradition. The first year, we met in Clayton, California on Christmas day. The last three years, we have met in the East Bay. I create a photo book and give it to […]