By Carolyn Webb
We’re in the atrium of a crowded shopping centre, in the pre-Christmas rush, and toddler Alex Dowse is cranky and crying.
His father, Tom, has brought his two sons for photos with Santa to Greensborough Plaza, in Melbourne’s north-east, and Alex, aged one, won’t play ball.
Merry work: Santa photographer Simone Morihovitis at work with Alex, 1, on rocking chair, and his brother Sam, 4.Credit: Justin McManus
His brother Sam, 4, looks away bored. But they’ve met their match with the unflappable photographer, or elf, Simone Morihovitis, who draws on her craft’s nifty bag of tricks.
She chats to the kids, lets Alex ride a rocking horse, waves a squeaky toy and plays peek-a-boo.
It works. Minutes later, the boys are sitting sweetly next to Santa, and it’s mission accomplished for the family’s 2023 Santa photo.
Morihovitis, who has worked for Santa photos company Christmas Memories for six years, says the job can be challenging but makes you think on your feet.
Morihovitis with Santa, Tom Dowse and his sons Sam, left, and Alex.Credit: Justin McManus
“I do enjoy it and I’m pretty high energy, so I just gravitate towards the craziness,” she says, adding her key phrases for inducing kids to laugh are “Santa’s undies” or “monkey farts”.
Sometimes, she advises parents to take a child for a walk or snack and then come back.
Some parents don’t mind if their kid is crying in a photo, even though staff always offer to keep trying. “It’s a funny memory to look back on, I guess,” Morihovitis says.
Parent Tom Dowse agrees. “A crying Santa photo is just as good as a smiling one. They get to laugh at it later, when they’re older,” he says.
Say cheese: Morihovitis with staff from Annecto aged care and disability support services posing with Santa.Credit: Justin McManus
Dowse, 36, is continuing a tradition: he had photos taken here as a child. “It’s for the kids, their memories. When they get older they can look back on it, and see it as something a bit special.
“And hopefully, they’ll take their kids and do the same.”
Photos with Santa and family fur babies are also all the rage. Morihovitis and partner Ben Cerni recently had their own Santa photo taken with their rottweiler, Boof.
At one photo shoot, Morihovitis says, a dog peed all over the floor next to the set – thankfully, not on Santa or the carpet.
Morihovitis (right) gets her own 2023 Santa photo at Greensborough Plaza shopping centre with Santa, with her partner Ben Cerni and dog Boof.
One year, a man brought in a pet snake – a forearm-sized carpet python. Snakes are now banned.
Catherine Ward, a Santa photographer at Westfield Knox shopping centre in Melbourne’s south-east, says it’s “an amazing, crazy, funny, stressful but super rewarding job”.
She once saw Santa photos as a bit silly and daggy but now sees the beauty, including children with autism smiling at Santa and families posing with photos of loved ones who have died.
One family of parents and six children dress to a different theme each year, such as the Addams Family, or the Grinch.
Santa photographer Catherine Ward (bottom left) with greyhound Cody, poses in her family’s Santa photo at Westfield Knox shopping centre. With her father Jeff, mum Karen (holding Jack Russell terrier cross Tyson), and brothers Leighton and Daniel.
One year, two young women and a baby recreated a nativity scene, dressed as wise men and Jesus. Santa stood in for the third wise man, kneeling before the baby.
“It made everyone giggle,” Ward says. “It was just really silly, but everyone was so happy, and even the baby was laughing in the photo.”
At Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre in Mulgrave, Santa photographer Carly Hall says the job can make her laugh.
Last year, a three-year-old boy solemnly asked Santa for a bag of onions. “I’m like, ‘onions? As in, cooking onions?’ And he said, ‘yeah.’ And Santa said, ‘would you like red ones or brown ones?’ He did not miss a beat.”
One child handed Santa a note with URLs on it, showing Santa where to obtain their presents. “It was just hysterical,” Hall says.
There’s a huge variety of customers. Last year, Hall photographed a baby that was only three days old. “I was like, ‘hats off to you, mum, for getting out of the house’.
“A lot of people come in with kids in their 20s and the kids are like, ‘oh, come on, when do we age-out?’
“You never age-out,” Hall says. “You’ve always got to do the Santa photo if your mum asks you to.”
Asked why she does it, Hall says people love Christmas and that it makes for a pleasant workplace.
“Working on Christmas Eve is crazy,” she says. “You’re run off your feet, you don’t even get time to pee. But it’s just fun. It’s a fun, energised, happy place.”
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