The Story Behind My Christmas Cards

Welcome to Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter that explores what it means to be a modern-day creative. It inspires, encourages, and empowers readers to take back their creative power.

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For the last issue of the year, I wanted to tell you the story behind my Christmas cards. 

This story starts as a Christmas story should: with a Christmas tree. 

Growing up, in the park across from my neighborhood, someone would put lights on a random tree every year (it was always the same tree), so when you’d drive by it in the dark, you’d see these lights shine out of the darkness. Every year, I’d drive by that tree and tell myself I would photograph it. Finally, in 2020, I did. 

This was the photo that kicked off my annual Christmas card photo series. I created photo cards with this photo and sent them the following year, in 2021. 

Then, in 2022, I had the brilliant idea to take some of the best photos I had taken throughout the year (let’s be honest, if you are a photographer, you have a collection of your favorites) and create a Christmas card photo series. 

The idea was inspired by a family friend who is a photographer and would always send us photo cards featuring her work.

The idea was simple: I would curate a collection of 7-10 of my favorite photos throughout the year (mostly from my travels and adventures) and create photo cards to send. The best part? The recipients don’t know which card from the collection they’ll receive, so everyone gets a different photo. It’s like my version of trading cards. Everyone also gets a little write-up with all the photos in the series.

Here’s what my last few series looked like: 

I traveled a lot in 2022, so my cards reflected my trips to Florida, Nashville, NYC, and Vancouver. It was also fun to include some of my local adventures during the year: the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, seeing the cherry blossoms at UW, and a trek to Kerry Park.

The money shot from 2022 (aka my favorite one from the year): sunset in Clearwater (although the sunset in Harlem is a close second).

2023’s series featured photos from my trip to Spain and Portugal last October. This series was cool because it was where I really started to discover my photography style, which I would describe as bright, vivid, and saturated, with a heavy focus on lighting and shadow.

The money shot from 2023: Sagrada Familia, hands down. One of my GOAT photos.

Finally, 2024’s series features photos from my trip to Greece this past summer (I'm sorry for the spoilers if you’re on my mailing list and haven’t received your card yet.). I think it’s my best series so far, and some of my favorite photos, from the composition to the “recipes” I used to shoot them and the final edits. I had so much fun experimenting with the white balance, color saturation, and grain so they have this more film-like, vintage look.

The money shot from 2024: Oia, Santorini. It’s currently my desktop wallpaper.

While the project is a project that takes me a few days to complete, I look forward to it every year. It encourages me to take photos throughout the year, work on my craft, and push the limits to improve my work. 

This project is so special for me because it allows me to share my art with my friends, family, and colleagues. I never want to monetize my photography, so it’s cool for this to be a way for my work to see the light of day instead of sitting on memory cards and in my camera roll (one of my goals is to be better about sharing my work).

My cards have also been a fantastic way to recap the year and reflect on everything I did, the places I went, and the people I shared these memories with. As much as I love Christmas letters, a picture is worth a thousand words. Even as I write this newsletter, I look at the past series and am brought back to each moment when I took each photo.

Each year, my distribution list grows with new friends I make, new professional connections, and people who impact my year. Sending these cards is something I look forward to, and I know everyone else does, too (I can’t tell you how many of my friends and family have told me how much they’ve loved my cards and look forward to which one they’ll get every year! It makes my heart so happy.). 

So consider this your virtual holiday card. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. As always, thank you for your support this year with this newsletter! I’m so grateful! 

I’m taking a few weeks off the newsletter, so I’ll see you in your inbox next year! 

CREATIVE CORNER

• 🎞️ What I’m Consuming: Hallmark Christmas movies. IYKYK.

• 💡 What I’m Loving: I had my brand photoshoot last week, which was so much fun. I can’t wait to see the edited photos.

• 🎨 What I’m Working On: Memory keeping the rest of the year so I can start a fresh journal in January.

• 💭 Weekly Musing:

Thank you 💕

If you liked this newsletter, I’d love it if you could forward it to someone who you think would like it, too!

I’m so grateful for all of your support!

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder and Chief Brand Architect at Bright Eyes Creative, a creative studio that helps creative entrepreneurs build media-first brands to lead conversations and deeply connect with their audience.

Where to find me:

• Check out my new offer, Media Multiverse Plotting Calls, where I can help you plan your entire media ecosystem for 2025 in 60 minutes.

• Listen to my recent podcast episodes here.

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