2013 Christmas Video

Merry Christmas!

A little late, but we finally wrapped up our annual Christmas Video {in lieu of sending out cards}. We chose to go in a different direction this year, drawing inspiration from our  love of musical instruments, small towns, and Wes Anderson quirkiness.



As always, we send it out hoping it brings you a bit of cheer and finds you safe and well. I, especially want to thank all of you for your friendship and prayers. There aren't words enough to express how much you mean to me.



God bless us, every one. :)


I Saw Three Ships from Jared Foster on Vimeo.

PS-- If you'd like to see all of our past Christmas Videos, the links are in my sidebar---->

Christmas Video 2012!

Once again, Merry Christmas from the Foster Family! Five years ago, we started making these Christmas Video Greetings in lieu of Christmas Cards, and it's become one of our favorite traditions! We sure love and appreciate all of you for the way you've been there for us, especially last Christmas while J was unemployed, so we hope this helps 'give back' a bit and spread some Christmas cheer. ;) Enjoy!

Music by Kay Starr

Good News

J got the job!

He's now the Digital Video Producer/Editor for a growing company that supports and promotes small businesses. It has a family-friendly culture {reasonable work hours}, is located not far from here {no three hour commute!} and great salary + benefits. We're all very excited and proud of him. :)

The last few years of self-employment have been challenging at times, but I'm so grateful for the experiences they provided. J's constant presence made it possible for me to survive my last difficult pregnancy, while the kids have spent much of their young lives with their daddy working in the next room. They've been able to join him when he films trains or shoots timelapses, and have soaked up every minute as he patiently explains both his profession and hobbies. Plus, we went on the best road trip ever.

Thank you all for your prayers, well wishes, and support. I don't know how we'd have made it through these recent months without you. Times will still be tight for us for a little while, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, and I can't wait to pay it forward. Again, I'm so grateful.

Happy weekend, all. :)

Thanks!

 Many thanks to Gabby at Design Mom for featuring our Christmas video again this year...

 ... as well as Ohdeedoh, who had such lovely things to say about our work!

And if you can't get enough of the Foster family, you can watch an interview we had with a local news show yesterday. {Little Miss C thinks she's famous, E acts like he's too cool to care, and L says "I on tv like The Wonder Pets?!"}

Thanks for your support!

Behind the Scenes

We first started making these Christmas videos back when Jared was working for a local tv show. He put in long hours and used state of the art equipment, but became frustrated by how little creativity was valued in that particular corporate world. Craving artistic expression, we decided to collaborate and allow his talents to benefit our own family.

Ever since then, our main goal has been to make the family video a tradition that the children look back on with fondness. We want it to be fun, not a chore. We ask them for ideas, have them help set up {they helped string nearly all of those cotton balls} and most of all, let the camera roll to capture the spontaneous moments that inevitably end up better than our planned shots.

Using our living room as a studio helps greatly with this. When the kids are fed, rested and happy, we let the cameras roll. The minute they become bored or cranky, they're allowed to take a break for a while {like eating a snack at the kitchen table shoved into a corner of the room!}

They've actually become quite the helpers! They toss snow, move lights, make the baby smile, run the music or push 'record' on the camera.

Much of the time, our scenes are actually shot amid typical family chaos. In the above photo, Jared's doing a lib-dub while the baby clings to his feet and the other children shout and laugh over an episode of Wizards of Waverly place. {There's a reason our videos don't feature live audio!}

Jared is king of the camera, but I love the art direction. I couldn't wait to set a wintery scene with cotton balls and twinkle lights. We used 800 cotton balls strung on thread {though I'm sure fishing line would have worked as well} then taped to the ceiling. I was up until 1:30 a.m. stringing and taping. They were EXTREMELY easy to tangle, and we were terrified that the baby would run through the whole set and tear it down before we'd even begun to film! 

We used a large canvas drop cloth from Home Depot {originally intended for the play teepee I'm making for Christmas} as the backdrop, then dug out every set of twinkle lights we had and stapled them to the ceiling. One or two strands placed right in front of the camera gave it a nice bokeh.

It took one day to set up, two days to film, and three days to edit. While most people were out shopping on Black Friday, we were occupied with costume changes and lighting. I know it's not for everyone, but for our family, it's the perfect tradition and it makes me happy to know that so many love the results.

PS While the cost of hiring Jared to make a video like this {several thousands of dollars} would be cost-prohibitive for most families, he IS a freelance videographer for hire. If your corporation or small business would like a creative video for television or internet, you can contact him at www.jaredfosterfilms.com

Let the Season Begin!!

Happy December 1st! To kick off the holiday season, I offer you this: the eagerly anticipated 4th annual Foster Family Christmas Video!

Once again, in lieu of Christmas cards, we spent Thanksgiving weekend creating a family video 'greeting' instead. It's become one of our favorite traditions. In fact, I'm not sure it would feel like Christmas if we didn't spend at least one day vacuuming fake snow out of the rug! Check in next week for some behind-the-scenes photos. ;)

Merry Christmas!

{For past years see the sidebar, or click here for 2008, 2009, 2010 and a Tetris Christmas}

Thanksgiving Weekend

Good morning! Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Ours was wonderful-- plenty of food, family, and relaxing while grandparents took our kids to The Muppet Movie {they've been quoting it ever since}.  Then we hunkered down and spent the weekend living off of turkey and stuffing while filming our 4th annual Christmas Video.




Nothing ushers in the holidays like blanketing the living room in fake snow, cotton balls and tinsel, even if I will be digging it out of the crevices of the sofa for the next five weeks. :)

What about you? Did you put up the tree this weekend? Participate in Black Friday madness? Or simply relax and eat pie for breakfast? {If so, good call!}

Gig Harbor

I purposely didn't tell the children when J would be coming home, so that when he arrived at the train station, I'd be able to pick him up and have some alone time before they swamped him with their love and affection. I found that I loved the idea of meeting in a train station-- like something out of a movie from the 1940's.

After 40 days {and nights!} away from each other, we were both eager for a reunion. As I made my way downtown, I nervously checked and re-checked my reflection. I had so many butterflies in my stomach! But all that evaporated when I saw him-- it was like when we first met. Being with him puts me at ease.



My parents generously agreed to watch the kids and J secretly booked us a bed & breakfast in Gig Harbor. We had a lovely room with doors that opened right up to a view of the water.



We walked to a restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the perfect weather while eating outdoors on the deck. It was gorgeous-- we could see a hint of Mt Rainier in the distance, the food was excellent, and I grinned at J so much that my face hurt.



In the morning, we ate breakfast in bed, then went kayaking. We had the harbor to ourselves, as most people were avoiding the fine, misty rain that had been falling since the early hours of the day.



















We rowed out to the tiny lighthouse that stood at the mouth of the harbor and combed the beach for beach glass and seashells to take back to the kids. It was nastolgic to take a photo next to it-- our honeymoon was spent along the Pacific Coast Highway 101, and our albums are full of photos of us next to lighthouses. :)



After a hot shower {it was chilly out there!} we enjoyed seeing a movie in an actual theater-- something that is rare treat for us nowadays. Then we ate lunch and reluctantly headed home. It was a good thing we had four very excited faces to come home too, or we may never have left our little retreat.

Oh, Gig Harbor, I will forevermore have a soft spot in my heart for you!

He's home!

And we couldn't be more thrilled. I have stories and pictures to help elaborate, but that will have to wait-- right now I can't get enough of my man. Happy weekend, everybody!

The Long Way Home

J decided to take the train home. It's a four-day trip cross-country, but it's something he's always wanted to do. As eager as I am to see him, it's been fun recieving his daily updates on where he is and what he's seeing.



He started out from Penn Station in NYC.



The next day he was in Chicago, enjoying deep dish pizza and taking photos of the fabulous train station.



He had a few hours, so he went to the top of the Sears Tower.



This morning he sent photos of the sunrise from North Dakota.



We were worried about delays from flooding on the tracks, but the waters have receded and all looks well.



By this time tomorrow, I'll be standing on a train platform in lipstick and heels, waiting to kiss the man I haven't seen in forty long days!



Travel swift and safe, love!

J's Adventures

Every summer for the past few years, J has been hired to film Summer Camps back east for promotional and marketing purposes.




The camps are primarily in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine. Usually, J gets at least one free day in NYC, for which I am always a bit envious.




We still have more than 2 weeks left until J joins us here in Washington, but he's been really good about sending us iPhone pics of all creative ways he's mounting cameras and filming. He jumped off the diving board with a waterproofed GoPro camera...




... Used the ladder of a fire truck as a crane...




... Mounted cameras to dirt bikes...




... and a radio-controlled helicopter...




And even spent some time in a cherry-picker. :)




Each camp is different and offers a view of lifestyles we've never imagined. Before, "Camp" was only something I saw kids in the movies do.

Now I know that there are Day Camps and Sleep-Away Camps; Relaxed, artistic camps and intensely competitive sports camps; Camps where kids are immersed in nature and camps where every minute of the day is scheduled. Last year, J even spent time at a camp that taught trapeze arts!

{With the children and I in Washington for the summer, it rather feels as though we've all 'gone to camp'!}

What about you? Did you go to camp as a child? Do you send your child to one?

In the Middle

We ended up with a little bit of extra Kodachrome film {RIP} after our family portrait shoot, so J took Little Miss C to an old mining town and filmed this music video before overnighting it all to be processed-- barely making the Dec 30th deadline.


Little Miss C is a natural on camera. She has a bright, overly dramatic presence in life that just happens to translate perfectly to film. 


Last week she tried out for a local production of "Annie" and was so sad yesterday when she found out she didn't get a part. J edited this together and used it to comfort her. "At least most kids don't have their own music videos!"

Never put off til tomorrow....

When we first moved out here, J and I drove past this tiny, dilapidated building by the side of the road and said to ourselves, "What a great backdrop for pictures."

 It was so rich with texture: the peeling paint, the crumbling bricks, the broken windows....

We must have driven by it at least a hundred times in the last 6 years, always with the thought that we should really take advantage of such a great natural setting.

Fortunately, at the end of a long day in January, J stopped on a whim and snapped a few shots as the Little Miss C and E ran around and explored.

Just in the nick of time! The very next week, the entire place was boarded up and fenced off. Not only was it inaccessible, but the look was completely ruined! It's probably going to be torn down and replaced with some fast-food monstrosity. 




Thanks to J's impeccable timing, we won't be kicking ourselves over the lost opportunity for the next 6 years. *whew* Close one!

What I Thought of You

Last month Jared was contacted by Holly Throsby. She'd seen his work on Vimeo and wanted to use a few clips of his Super 8 film, Swing It, for her new music video. And here it is! What I Thought of You is a beautiful song from her album, Team. The official music video is comprised of Super 8 film taken by 20 people from all corners of the world between 1974 and 2011. {Jared's clips can be seen at 2:19 and 2:45} Check it out!

The Foster Brother Tennis Tournament

How appropriate that today, when invitations have been on my mind, my husband makes this 'invitation' of sorts for the Foster Brothers Tennis Tournament. They've been emailing back and forth for days, trash talking and psyching each other out. As J says, it's now come down to this: winner takes all. :)

Farewell to Kodachrome

You may already be aware that Kodak stopped producing Kodachrome film last year. Now, the worlds last remaining processor has announced that they will discontinue Kodachrome processing on December 30th.

J especially loves the look of Kodachrome-- it has a unique color palate so familiar to photos from the 50's and 60's. {Reds really pop.} Needless to say, when he heard about the end of Kodachrome processing, the race was on to shoot as much of it as possible.

He gathered up a cache of film, booked a photographer, and enlisted the help of his brother to run the super 8 camera. I assembled outfits and props, and over the weekend we all dressed up, drove to a location with vintage trains, and shot away.

Everyone was surprised at how strange it felt to be using film again. It seemed that every five seconds, we were hearing, "Wait! Don't move! I've got to change rolls!" Also, the photographer kept looking at the back of his camera, forgetting that there wasn't a screen there see what he'd just shot.

{the state of my heels after our photo shoot}

After the sleek vintage trains, we drove out to the desert and shot until the sun went down. Now we cross our fingers, send it out for processing and hope that it all turned out.

Goodbye Kodachrome. We will miss you.

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