The Santa Clones.

The event was a hit. You could take photos with Santa surrounded by Santas. Very meta. Thanks Newspace Center for Photography for another opportunity to illuminate their holiday party.

The Santa Clones are returning this year. One night only at NEWSPACE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY as part of their 2015 NEWSPACE HOLIDAY PARTY (Friday, Dec. 4th, 6:00 – 9:00 pm). More details to come…

I was again unable to find a location to install the Santa Clones this year. It was rather upsetting to realize they’d have to stay cooped up in garbage bags up in the rafters of the garage for yet another year. I tried to let it go and not think about it too much. But perusing the Christmas candy shelves of a local grocery store the other day brought back my disappointment. It was like the universe was rubbing it in. Sigh.

I found this image and message drawn directly to the glass at the Santa display. When I came back the next day to get a better image, a storm had blown rain sideways onto the window and ruined it.

Someone at Newspace place a chair directly across from my display, with this sign added. It’s the perfect spot to sit and take in hundreds of watts of glowing holiday cheer.

Found these two separate Santas on my drive home tonight. The large guy is the same one my grandma had that started off my whole collection. It had a blinking light in it, like a beacon. And the little guy…that’s the first one I’ve ever seen outdoors (it was on a covered porch). I should sneak up one night and give it a buddy or two.

Well, to be honest, he didn’t really fall. I dumped a bag of Santas out during this year’s installation and these remains of a shattered Santa were at the bottom. I actually remember last year, packing them into bags and trying to shove them into the car. I was pushing particularly hard on one bag and heard a “pop” followed by the sound of cascading plastic pieces inside the bag. I knew I had killed a Santa. I’ll keep him around, I couldn’t bear to just throw him away. I’m sure there’s a role for him in some future project. Maybe I’ll put him in a jar. Even broken into dozens of tiny pieces, Santa still manages to hold that jolly grin.

REALITY.

RENDERING.

While visiting the Santa Clones the other night, I snapped an image of the spaces exterior. I later compared it to the original rendering I sent to the property management company to pitch the idea. It’s pretty much as I envisioned it. Now, it’s a good thing to plan things out ahead when you have limited time and need to install quickly and efficently. But what planning ahead is not good for is allowing the spontaneous results that can happen when setting up on the fly. It’s in my nature to plan things out, to make sure everything runs smooth and go according to plan. But I kinda miss the surprises. Maybe next year I’ll just show up somewhere with several bags of Santas and see what happens.