Bad Santa.  In March?

Better late than never.  

Jon's session was captured in December of 2021.  It wasn't planned, but Christmas music was probably playing when I stumbled across the red PJs and Santa hat in the prop box.  What the heck, the PJs had been sitting untouched in the prop box since we tried to get Norm, a small-sized dude, into the sizes-bigger underwear several years ago.  It seemed like a use it or loose it moment.

The Christmas-themed images were taken too close to Christmas to make it onto the website that year.  Other than a few shots posted to social media in 2021, I decided to hold back and open Jon's gallery just prior to the next holiday season.  Alas, the 2022 holiday season came and went before I remembered that Jon was patiently waiting.

Here it is, March, hardly time to debut "Bad Santa," but I don't want to let Jon's work languish unseen any longer.  This new-to-the-scene fitness model deserves attention. 

Fresh out of his Midwestern hometown, at just under six feet, he radiated a disarming, mid-American charm.  His personality is as boyish as his looks and he fell right into playing with guns and a Santa hat.  Evil Santa was probably beyond Jon's reach, but Bad-ass Santa was a fun persona to twist in front of the camera.

The assistant and second camera was Tay (@tay_lerious on Instagram), who has long been affiliated with the studio.  As a rule, we do not credit individual photos or photographers in our postings and publications, but I would like to single out her work for her distinctive look.  She is building her own reputation as a headshot and boudoir photographer and New Manhattan Studios is proud to have her as a contributing photographer.  She is one of a half dozen photographers that shoot or have shot under the studio's banner.  

Most of the Santa series in Jon's gallery were taken by Taylor, as are the two images here, allowing for my Alfred Hitchock moment.

There's a tattoo on Jon's chest.  It's inspiring, but ironically, it sounds like something a bad Santa might tell a kid,

It is the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee

JON'S GALLERY