Our annual Christmas cards are the stuff of legend, and as always the clock was ticking as we cruised into late November. Pepper and I bantered around a few ideas but couldn’t come up with something that stuck. Finally she suggested we put together some sort of joke about a current event or cultural phenomenon. Aha!
With an idea in mind, we embarked on a photoshoot. I needed a neutral background that would be easy to remove, and it turned out the garage was a perfect place. With a work lamp enclosed in a white garbage bag as a light source (yeah, classy), the background was just what I needed.
After a handful of image searches and a lot of work on my trusty graphics tablet, our card was ready.
A brief explanation of this: we were, of course, poking fun at the jewelry heist at the Louvre a little over a month ago. So we needed a shot of the Louvre. To make sure it’s very clear that’s where we are, I added the Mona Lisa to a frame on the left. Everyone knows that painting is actually quite small, and not displayed at all like that. And while I was editing paintings, I added Ollie on the right.
Frankly, I think I did a pretty good job editing the jewelry. It was tricky finding shots of the crowns and necklace-earring set at the right angle, but I managed to keep it from looking too fake.
To hammer the point home, the back of the card included a blueprint of the Louvre– complete with red markup indicating the crime (and date!)– as well as a couple of Polaroids of the window the thieves entered, and the lift they used. Oh, and for good measure I added a little line about stealing.
Clever? I think so. Funny? Absolutely.
But then, as we started hearing from people who’d received our card, I was amazed how many had no idea what the joke was. “Oh,” they’d say, “we loved how you look like a king and queen!” Uhh…
Those who got the joke thought it was hilarious. Those who didn’t probably just think we’re weird. C’est la vie.