The Essentials

Santa, Baby!

What a fun way to start off a blog than to add photos of wee ones with Santa. But this is no ordinary Santa shoot. Where’s Santa’s face? Is it necessary? Or does the suit alone connotate this is Santa?

I began my first Christmas shoots this year and it is themed, “Santa, Baby!” How it works is like this:

• Have a backdrop
• Set one strong light out front
• Have one hairlight on top
• Have a Santa Suit (XL)
• Cue the Christmas music
• Kids pose with Santa, who is a loved one like mom or dad, and I snap the candid or posed shots.

It’s really quite simple! The kids don’t freak out about Santa Claus being a stranger and anyone big enough can be the one they play with. Those were the essential needs to pull of a shot like this. I saw no reason to show Santa’s face. It’s irrelevent unless it’s very authentic as to what you might envision Santa.

The same can go for virtually any type of character or persona whether a superhero, fabled character or whatever.

This image, however, was quite a twist on me. You never know how individual kids will react. The little girl here decided she wanted to have nothing to do with her dad or mom in a Santa Suit. While my wife talked with her, my wife asked how she would feel if my wife played Santa. The little girl liked the idea. So, she took to the stranger instead of her own parents! Talk about twists.

I hope you’ll think about what is essential in your photography to pull it off right.

Happy Holidays!

To see this and more of my portraiture photos, please visit Memories by Duskin.