Every year PDN receives a variety of holiday cards from many photographers. Susan Seubert‘s card this year featured an amusing photograph a palm tree that appears to be wearing a Christmas tree.

Suebert has used her holiday cards as an opportunity to experiment, she explains. “It’s a great way to free oneself from the normal constraints of image making because it can be serious or whimsical. It’s also a great way to reflect back on the year and reconnect with clients and loved ones by sending a hand-addressed card.” Seubert’s holiday experiments have included an entire set of original tintypes of pears, an elaborate table setting, and a wet-plate collodion Ambrotype. “Winter, feasting, celebration, darkness and light have all been themes of Christmases past,” Seubert explains. “This year, since I was in Maui until the end of November, I decided to make my card there…. As we passed by this tree, we noticed that if you stood in just the right position, the tree looks as though it’s topped by a palm, which to me resembles a star, the typical tree-topper ornament.” The play on perspective and tropical theme, Seubert says, were a good way to “send a little bit of sunny Maui to everyone who might be suffering from the winter blues.”