Personally, I don’t like to think too much about Christmas until well into December. But for the commercial and advertising photographer, the work to create Christmas images happens weeks and months in advance of December. Plenty of time is needed to incorporate images into advertisements, editorial, marketing materials and websites, which then need to be printed or updated in plenty of time for the peak shopping season of late November and December or to hit December magazine press deadlines.

Chocolate yule log. Copyright Tony May 2010
So commercial photographers and stylists who work with food, jewellery, giftware, clothing or almost any product related to Christmas or which has a Christmas or winter catalogue will find themselves in studios or on location creating wintery sets that make it Christmas time.
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Jersey Pearl Christmas Image. Photograph Copyright Tony May 2010.
Fake snow, decorations, ribbons, Christmas trees all come out months in advance in photographic studios. It’s hard to find holly with ripe red berries in early October (although we do have large holly trees near the studio in Leeds). Even the heavy snow the UK experienced in Late November would have been too late for most Christmas shoots, although many photographers will have captured scenes and images that will find there way onto cards and into marketing campaigns for next year.
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Mince Shortbread. Copyright Tony May 2010
My Christmas-themed commissions this year were about yule logs and all manner of delicious Christmas cakes and a lovely new Akoya pearl jewellery range.
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Xmas Chocolate Cherry Cake. Copyright Tony May 2010.
Merry Christmas!