Home of a web & design adventurer and general purveyor of awesome.
Merry Christmas 2011
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2011 was a great year. I am totally writing this in 2013 while checking Facebook for the cliff notes, but *trust me*, ha ha, it was awesome.
2011 was our first full year as a married couple and we fully enjoyed it! It was a big year for our hobbies, spending lots of time with the Jeeps (Dianna's 2010 Wrangler we bought right before the year began), the dogs (we got our adorable Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Bean, this year as well), and the bikes (in addition to the '84 Honda Shadow, Geoff also bought and fixed up an '85 Honda Rebel so we could ride together!). Pretty much a his-and-her everything!
Geoff also started a new position as a Web/Multimedia Designer at The Fletcher School of Tufts University. Short commute, casual dress code, nice office, wonderful co-workers and a beautiful campus made for a wonderful transition (though he did miss the wonderful team he had at MCPHS).
With plenty of hiking, canoeing, and backpacking trips the family kept busy on weekends having a grand time together!
Combined two photos, adjusted levels, and removed "stuff".
So this was the first time we decided to try and do a family Christmas picture, but because things were a little nuts, we didn't get around to doing it forever. We had gotten all the ugly sweaters needed, but hadn't put any thought into having a decent camera, lighting, where to shoot, etc. In fact, we finally realized we had run out of time and it needed to shot like....now.
Like...nownow.
So because we finally got around to it at like 9 o'clock in the evening one night, we didn't have *any* good light in the house, and especially not next to the Christmas tree where we wanted to shoot. So instead of delaying it further and aggravating my wife (and animals) further, I just said "whatever" and shot it with the abysmal lighting. You can see the results....."
So being that I do this kind of thing for a living, I took the time and carefully adjusted the various levels in photoshop to bring them back to looking like they weren't shot with a potato.
Being that the wife was already growing impatient with me, I didn't get a chance to shoot a lot of images, and none really ended up being a good photo of everyone. Well, since I'm kind of awesome at photoshop, I found two different photos where everyone was good in at least *one* shot, combined them and...bam. Everybody looks good.
However, this was not enough for a *truly* cheesy ugly sweater Christmas card. It had to look like a studio shot, not like a messy living room. So once again, being that I do that sort of thing for a living, I photoshopped out the various cords and furniture and shadows until only studio cheesiness remained.
Lastly, I threw a couple towels on the basement couch and gave the animals the same studio treatment I gave us as a whole. Came out completely yellow again, but the same processes fixed it right up. Threw them on the top of the image and *voila*! Christmas card.
.....but it just *still* wasn't cheesy enough. It just needed a finishing touch. Can you find what it is? I warn you, it's pretty subtle. So subtle that Dianna didn't even notice (or consent) to it until it was too late....
The Cheesy Bow!
So with sufficient cheesiness established, out went the card into the world and started a trend of themed Christmas cards which should hopefully entertain people for years to come.
