As a photographer, I love to take photos of kitschy things….. and this one takes the cake. This “vintage” Santa has freaked me out for the ten years that I’ve lived here. Maybe it’s retro, or nostalgic, but this Santa who always poses at the edge of Elm St. at the Easter Seals Christmas tree lot, is a holiday staple here. I’ve always had a strangely horrified reaction to this Santa, like, “Really!!!!??” He’s pretty creepy.
In fact, it bugged me so much that I actually made two attempts at photographing him this December. The first day was so warm and sunny that he had a big shadow straight across his face, which actually added to the insane smeared-lipstick clown expression that he has. Another time the light was much better so that’s what I worked with. Either way, he’s still “freaky Santa” to me.
