By: Chuck Miller
Photography

But honey, I did put the Christmas tree away! Honest I did!

I’ve had this idea for a photo composition for a while, and thankfully someone could help me out with this project.

The idea was to photograph a fully-decorated Christmas tree. Sounds simple, right? But what if you could take the “tree” away and just leave the ornaments and lights and tree topper behind?

I did it.

Well, thanks to my friend Betsy.

Betsy and I knew each other from college, and her family still had their tree up. I made arrangements with them to photograph the tree, help them disassemble it – you know, take down the lights, pack away the ornaments – and then photograph the space where the tree once thrived. Then, I wanted to combine the images into a display that would show the ornaments and lights, while leaving the tree missing.

You know, the same way someone takes the request a WEE bit too literally. “Honey, did you put the Christmas tree away?” “Yes I did, darling.” “But what about the ornaments and the lights?” “Oh, those? Well, you just asked me to take down the tree. You said NOTHING about the lights and ornaments, so I left them where they were. Didn’t I do a great job following your directions?”

Yeah, that dude is spending the next three months sleeping on the couch. In the basement. Near the water heater.

I brought over the Nikon Df dual stereo combo. We photographed the tree – it’s a very nice tree, nice hand-made ornaments and pretty lights – then we carefully took the tree apart and packed away all the decorations. Now for a few extra shots of the empty space.

Okay. Get everything home.

And although I haven’t yet finished the 3-D experience for this project …

I sure as hell got a 2-D image to work with. Check this out. Definite short pile for 2023.

But I DID put the Christmas tree away! Nikon Df camera, Vivitar 19mm f/3.8 lens. Photo (c) 2023 Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

Once I get the full 3-D assemblage on this, I’m sure this will get a LOT of attention this summer.

Yeah … this is fun. 😀

UPDATE: This morning, I created the 3-D image, and it’s presented here, both in a “relax your eyes” image and as an animated GIF.

I also gave it a new name, “Ran Out of Firewood.”

Ran Out of Firewood. Nikon Df camera (2), Vivitar 19mm f/3.8 lens (2). Photo (c) 2023 Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

Yeah, Short Pile for sure. And I’m moving this to the 3-D submission pile for that contest in April. 😀 😀