“I am often accused of being childish. I prefer to interpret that as child-like. I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things. I tend to exaggerate and fantasize and embellish. I still listen to instinctual urges. I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. I never water my garden without soaking myself. It has been after such times of joy that I have achieved my greatest creativity and produced my best work.” ~ Leo F. Buscaglia
I’m sure Leo loves Christmas Lights as well. I know my inner child does.
I’ve taken and posted a number of photos from the historic homes neighborhood of the small town I live in. They’re beautiful old homes in well kept neighborhoods with very high maintenance cost I’m sure. More of them are for sale now then anytime in the last five years we’ve lived here. Still they provide some wonderful opportunities for photos if you’re into that sort of thing.
During the Christmas holiday season my wife and I like to pick a nice night and walk through these neighborhoods enjoying the decorations and lights. That nightly walk this year was this past weekend.
As I was walking and taking photos I was also thinking of what I prefer in decorations and lights…what makes them special and connects with the child in me.
I like decorations and lights when there seems to be a sense of design and purpose to them. When they have been arranged with care and not casually tossed about.
I like decorations and lights when they give a sense of warmth. You can keep those solid strings of neon blue, green and red lights. Mixed colored strings with green and red are okay if well thought out and used. Warm white lights are probably my favorite…something very classy and classic about them.
I like lights that stay on better then twinkling lights…although a few twinkling lights are okay.
Good tree decorations include glass ornaments. Wooden props such as benches, sleds or rocking horses along with brass lanterns or candle sticks along with greenery and holly berries are nice.
Often as children we look forward to growing up and doing adult things. Then when we get older we seek to find the child in us that is creative and likes to play.
There’s no hidden meaning to these photos. They were made to be “pretty” and no doubt they are cliché…but no apologies made, they touch my inner child.
Your inner child must have had a ball going through the neighborhood. I, too, like the classic white bulbs but my festive inner child also like the multicolor light. It’s the all blue lights I don’t care for. The well designed displays look so welcoming on a cold night and I admire those that make the time and effort to celebrate the season.
Very nice photos, Earl. I suppose you had to walk around with the camera on a tripod to get this level of detail.
Thanks, Ken. It was a fun night for my inner child…and the outer one too. :-)
No tripod, these were shot handheld with a Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8, ISO1000 with exposure times between 1/4sec and 1/60sec — no VR. Of course for each photo here, you can bet there were many others discarded due to motion blur. Those little points of light are sure hard to keep still.
I too am into the warmer lights. Love the last image the best, it feels welcoming. We all need to stay in touch with our child-side so that we can be more childlike. Well it must have been fairly warm to handheld for these images. When the temperatures down around 25-30 degrees I have a tendency to shake more. :-)
Monte, it was certainly warm compared to Colorado standards, lower-40s. I’d liked to have used a tripod but it doesn’t fit in with the main event of walking with my wife to view them. :-)
I agree that last one looks most welcoming.
Some beautiful homes around you Earl. I love that porch in the first image.
Mark, yes there are some wonderful historic homes here and if you’re interested many of them are for sale now. :-)
Thanks