Christmas, a cynic once observed, is the season during which you borrow money you don’t really have, to exchange gifts you don’t really need with people you don’t really like.

While we’re not quite that jaded – we generally like anyone who puts something under our tree, deserved or not – the outright commercialization of the season does tend to obscure its “true” significance, however you happen to define such.

Peace, hope, joy, redemption – it can all get lost in the dipsomaniacal haze of holiday-sale bingeing, credit card dependency, mall-induced madness and latest-gizmo-itis.

It’s that spirit – the big post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend is upon us even as we write this – it would make the Sound Publishing corporate bean-counters happy if we promote the Review’s interests as a local business as well as a community trust. So in a nod to consumerism – yes, we need to make money too – we interrupt our usual profundities for a blatant commercial message.

Now available through a link on the Review’s website (or directly at www.bainbridgereview.exposuremanager.com) are a passel of recent photographs by staff shutterbug Brad Camp. With a few clicks of the mouse and for a modest fee, anyone can order a fine glossy print of images that have appeared in this newspaper (and plenty that haven’t) over the past few months.

The images are organized as galleries by month and issue date, highlighting news, sports and features. And glossies aren’t all; readers can have those images emblazoned on key chains, coffee mugs, mouse pads, coasters and other tasteful trinkets. Want a tote bag with your favorite Spartan athletes on the side? There it is.

The service is provided by ExposureManager, an established outfit that provides online image hosting and other services for commercial photographers nationwide.

As to our resident shutterbug, he may look familiar. Brad stalked the sidelines for the Review and its sister publications from 1991-96, before heading off into the corporate world to broaden his horizons for a few years.

In that interregnum, he worked as a public relations flack for a big-time cellular communications outfit, then as a stockbroker.

But, always more comfortable in a dowdy photographer’s vest than a suit and tie, he decided this past fall to return to his real passion – photography – and we were glad to welcome him back.

Although a Kingston resident, Brad never really lost touch with the island community; his wife Mary has been a fixture at Bainbridge Gardens for years.

A funny thing happened while Brad was away: the world went digital. That meant he had to buy a whole slew of new camera gear, but it also means that reprints of his Review photographs can be had more easily than ever. That link again: www.bainbridgereview.exposuremanager.com.

Far be it from us to sully the holiday irreparably – we’re still for peace, joy and all that – and we won’t bring this up again.

But if your face has appeared in this newspaper lately and you’re inclined to send a Christmas gift to Aunt Edna or Uncle Bob, a reprint of a fine photograph from the Review might just complement the season nicely.

Happy shopping.