New research from photo printing company Cewe has mapped Britain's festive photography habits – and most of the findings, to be honest, aren't that surprising.
The data, drawn from a survey of 2,000 UK adults, shows that 45% photograph their Christmas dinner spread, 35% capture present-opening and 25% shoot extended family group shots. No huge shocks there.
But here's what really drew my attention. The same research shows that nearly 40% of families take exactly the same festive photos every single year. So are Britons suffering a collective failure of creative imagination?
Actually, I'd argue it's the opposite.
For most families, Christmas photography in Britain (and no doubt elsewhere in the world) functions primarily as visual documentation, rather than artistic expression. So choosing the same shots, year on year, isn't laziness: it's about creating a visual timeline. Families are building archives, not portfolios.
The dinner spread, the tree and the decorations all act as anchor points that provide continuity across the decades. The details that do change (kids getting taller, grandfolks getting older, new additions to the family) are more visible precisely because the framing remains constant.
Perhaps the most revealing finding from Cewe is that 74% of families prefer classic Christmas traditions over newer trends. And this conservatism extends directly to Christmas photos, which remain firmly traditional in their subject matter, even if the equipment and distribution methods have modernized.
The main takeaway
If you're a professional photographer shooting family sessions this Christmas, then I'd say that this data offers a useful reality check. The main takeaway is that clients aren't necessarily looking for innovation. They want the dinner table, the tree, the group shot… just executed well.
From the pro's point of view, the creativity comes in making these familiar scenes feel warm and authentic, rather than reinventing them entirely.
People photographing the same moments annually isn't a failure of imagination. It's more a collective memory, based around the notion propagated by Greek philosopher Heraclitus that "You can't step into the same river twice". His idea was that change is constant: not only is the water in a river always new, but you are always a changed person too.
This is the real reason British families want to photograph Christmas dinner ever year. Not because they want to analyze the crispiness of the turkey, but because it represents a specific moment of family gathering that happens once a year… and will never look the same again.
That's documentary photography in its purest form. And sometimes, the most interesting angle on a story is realising it doesn't need a new angle at all.
You might also like…
Check out the best photo books along with 25 of the best Christmas gifts for photographers if you're looking for gifting inspiration.
