Santa's Visit to DiBella's

This was my third weekend shooting Christmas-related photos. This time it was at DiBella's Old Fashioned Submarines up in Cranberry. DiBella's is a wonderful old-fashioned looking sub shop, with a great staff (and delicious-tasting subs, I might add) headed up by Kristen and Jocelyn (pictured above) They decided to have Santa visit the shop Saturday afternoon. This assignment was a little different than the previous two weekends, because they asked me to print the photos right on the spot. I brought along my laptop and Epson PictureMate printer, and it was a piece of cake. I received many favorable comments about the quality and color of the PictureMate photos.

Breakfast with Santa

As some of you may be aware, my older son KJ has autism. So when the Autism Center of Pittsburgh needed a photographer for their "Breakfast with Santa" event at the Hyatt Regency Airport, it was a no-brainer for me to get involved. This was a holiday event geared specifically for kids with autism, and it was great. The Hyatt staff really went all-out, including an incredible 8x16 foot gingerbread diorama of the hotel and airport (shown at left). The kids had a blast. Besides meeting with Santa, Miss Pennsylvania USA was also there. Kids had a chance to decorate their own gingerbread men. There were also some amazing autism-themed cakes from local decorators. A great time and a worthy cause.

(If you are looking for all the photos from the breakfast, they can be found here)

Photos with Santa

Every year, the first Saturday in December is my former employer's annual holiday party. Every year we take photos of the kids (and sometimes the adults) on Santa's lap, and post 4x6 files (1200x1800 pixels) online for a free download by the parents. I do provide the option of ordering prints directly from me if people want, and there are customers who prefer to do this.

Because I've been doing this digitally since 2003, I decided to put images from previous years online also. They're not available for a free download anymore, but folks can still look at them and order prints if they want. Last year I had one family that went through and found their kids' photos from each of the previous years and ordered one print of each. It was cute to see the progression through the years as the family grew and the kids grew up.

(If you're looking for the entire gallery of Bettis Santa photos, please click here)