Christmas Eve is just around the corner! With this in mind, it is appropriate for some Santa photos from the 2015 Santa Breakfast on the blog. Although I have come across a few versions of the big guy, the one at Tysons Corner Center is the real deal! As well as being patient with all the work obligations, he continues to do an amazing job every year.
Santa Claus holding baby – Tysons Corner CenterThose Funny Little People and Fairfax County Police officers – Tysons Corner CenterThose Funny Little People perform at the Santa Breakfast – Tysons Corner CenterBuffet line at the Santa Breakfast – Tysons Corner Center Santa greets children – Tysons Corner Center2015 Santa Breakast at Tysons Corner CenterSanta and friends at Tysons Corner Center
Santa HQ
Arrival at the Santa HQ in Tysons Corner Center
In addition to the Santa Breakfast, there were many sightings of him around the mall this year. In order to open the Santa HQ, where is sat for may family portraits this holiday season, there was an opening ceremony for the set. When he opened the set, a band played, Tommy McFly from Fresh FM opened the set, and gifts were given out. Merry Christmas!
Santa Claus at Tysons Corner CenterHoliday pies and Santa Claus – Tysons Corner CenterTysons Corner Center Santa at LPQ cart in Tysons Corner Center
Are any of you familiar with this Black and White Challenge that was spread throughout Facebook late last year? At this time, I had seen a few of my friends post up some incredible images. Overall, I thought that it was a great way to push you to make some new monochromes images for sharing. It works by posting up images 5 days in a row. With each submission, you nominate another person to the challenge which keeps it proliferating online. I’d like to thank Jae for nominating me to participate, and I enjoyed sharing the images! Luckily, I had some client-work coming up, so I did not have to look far for some situations in making some new images.
Santa-Claus-waving
I was scheduled to photograph a bar mitzvah that had some great lighting setup by the event planners. The uplighting created a nice contrast to my flash which always makes for some nice black and white images.
The other schedule shoot was at Tysons Corner Center. They had an outdoor Christmas market setup on the Plaza. They wanted to get some nice overhead views of the plaza and ice rink with lots of people doing their holiday gift-shopping. I thought that evening would work best with the light as is usual for most landscape photography. The best angle was to go into the new Tysons Tower to get an overhead view of the shopping with the expanding northern Virginia area as a backdrop. I was just lucky to get that nice colorful after-sunset sky. Although there is no color in the submitted photo, there was still a nice gray gradient in the empty upper right of the frame. I enjoyed the chance to photograph from such a great vantage point, and to be lucky enough to see it at a perfect time of day.
The wintry weather started in earnest the day of the Santa Breakfast at Tysons Corner Center. The early-morning event was well attended by many kids and parents. Who wouldn’t want the chance to see Santa Claus just before Christmas?
The mall was still decorated with lots of colors for the holidays. Adding to the scene were face painters, balloon makers, and other performers to keep everyone in the holiday spirit. All of these made for some great holiday photos. Santa arrived by train, then he sat in his chair big enough to fit him and children with the Christmas wishes on the ready. I had a really great time taking photos of the whole scene – the lines were long, but everyone did their best to get everyone their holiday treats, and time with Santa.
There was also an appearance and show with the Funny Little People. Santa got a break, and was front and center for the performance. They sang Christmas carols, and some unexpected songs thrown in too!
At the end of the breakfast, Santa headed off to his normal spot in the mall for photos. It has been a busy season for him – so many children to meet, and so many wishes to remember! The next holiday event on the calendar was the opening of the German Christmas Market. Today is the last day, so head out there to shop in the popular European outside marker. The weather looks great today!
