During the holiday season the Cox family is at their happiest. It is the time of year that all 18 cousins are together to bond, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company. As everyone gets older traditions are changing and not everyone is in one place at the same time.
This year, the youngest two Cox daughters brought their children together to decorate gingerbread houses with their grandma, who they call “Nana”. The night was full of jokes, excitement and lots of candy.
The night began with three large pizzas and 2 colas that were gone within 30 minutes. The aunts set up the table with a variety of candy for the five cousins to use and consume.
Nana’s youngest daughter had prepared the gingerbread houses in the early morning so the activity went over smoothly.
Nana joins the kids at the table and asks what gifts they put on their Christmas wish lists. They tell Nana their big aspirations for the big day.
Jermey’s creativity sparked as he looked for the flattest and least cracked home. No matter what angle someone looked at his house from he hoped for no reason to loose the competition ahead.
Concentration and determination to have the best house, Maggie starts the process by securing the house to its stand.
Nana decorated her house with icing, smarties, and junior mints while the kids used up all the gummy bears, dots, and m&ms.
The boys take a break when the football game returns to the big screen. However the girls and aunts share stories with Nana, as they use the rest of the candy to decorate their unique homes.
When the college football game concluded, Luc returned to his gingerbread house to replace the candy took off and ate. The more candy on the house by the end of the night the more they can eat off it until Christmas.
When the decorating concluded, the cousins went to the basement to bond over their shared interests such as Fortnite and sports. Nana and her daughters relax upstairs while listening to Nana’s favorite Irish music.
Being the Photojournalist
Of the 157 photos I took, I selected these nine helped visually represent the new Cox family tradition of decorating gingerbread houses. Eman Shurbaji’s defines a photo essay to be a collection of images that string together in order to form a big picture of a specific topic or theme. I aimed to capture how important creating more memories with each other as everyone grows older is important for such a big family, like mine. Activities are a great way to strengthen the bonds within not only my family, but others as well.
Tim Stout, a writer and editor, explains how the three-act story structures can be utilized to tell a story, no matter which form of media you are doing it through. I structured the photoessay above to display the event in three acts.
- Act 1: Context of where, when, who and why the family members are together in the house.
- Act 2: The goal and conflict created by the “best gingerbread house” competition is displayed through the working cousins and near empty candy bowls.
- Act 3: The night comes to a close as the boys return to watching football, cousins add finishing touches to their houses and go to the basement to hangout.
My cousins are not used to me taking photos of them with a camera other than a phone lens. With this knowledge I took many photos from a distance and let them become focused on the activity and conversations they were having. I wanted the photos to make the viewer feel part of the moment and candid photos do this best. Mike Montalto, a writer at Amplifi, explains that “Candid visuals are the best way to reveal the reality of your work and your story. They will capture your donors’ attention and make your message more memorable as they open a window into your world”. Candids also help the viewers connect to the story the photojournalist is telling, so as a photojournalist you will want to think about what motivates your intended audience. Capturing emotions evoke the viewers to feel a specific way too. Ellen Lupton wrote “We express emotion through physical gestures, these actions communicate feelings to the self and other creatures, making emotion life as profoundly social as it is individual”. I captured the emotions that the event attendees expressed through range of angles and framing. The aunts showed signs of caring as they help set up the activity and help the kids with the frosting bags. Nana was smiling in many of the pictures I captured, but the seventh in this photo essay. The cousins are all showing emotions of joy, determination, and excitement while they go through the night of fun.
In this photoessay viewers can relate to the values of quality family time during the hectic holiday season. I applied my knowledge of the Gestalt Principles when taking my photos. Carolann Bonner defines Gestalt as a way to “expresses the idea that the whole of something is more important to our understanding than the individual parts”. Principles such as proximity and figure closure are included in my photoessay which helps the audience understand the importance of different elements. Saul McLeod, the Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology says, “A lot of information reaches the eye, but much is lost by the time it reaches the brain”. The first shot is a wide shot which sets the scene and all the elements are perceived to be part of a group. I used the principle of figure-ground in the close up photos that have softened backgrounds so viewers knew which element to look at. The photographs I took have examples of strong composition and depth of field, more specifically the depth cues of overlap, atmospheric perspective, and relative size relationship.
Being a Cox Cousin
Spending time with family is not always the first activity that comes to mind when you someone says a college student doesn’t have plans on Friday night I wonder what they’re up to. However, I am happy to say that’s what I was doing. I won’t say thats what I’m doing every Friday night but when the opportunity to spend time with my cousins I tend to take it. I hope you felt a part of my families holiday activity!
Happy Holidays!
Maeve Catherine 
Leave a comment