to be hacked off about school photos?

[twirlymum]

DD is in year 5, DS in in the nursery at the same school.
School photos were last week. I had the option of having their photo taken together, which I thought would be nice.

The proofs came yesterday.
As well as the one together, they also had photos taken on their own, so I have three proofs.
The one of them together is quite nice. DD's hair looks a little bushy, but it's ok (especially as DS can be a horror when asked to sit still).
The one of DD on her own is beautiful, and her hair looks ok (even though the photos were taken minutes apart!).
The one of DS on his own is the best picture I have seen of him. He is smiling, and looks angelic .

For one photo it is £11.50, for two it's £15.75 and for three it's £17.75. BUT this only applies when you have two or three of the same picture. I've just phoned the company, and had a bit of a moan, and mentioned that I think it's very expensive anyway. The woman told me that it's the school's fault, as they have different prices available, DC's school has chosen the most expensive package.
So now I will have to pay almost £35 for three 7x5 photos. Plus £2 per picture for p&p as they don't combine postage.
I know I don't have to buy them, but they are nice (for a change!)

There are some idiots around!!:loopy: of course the school receive commission!! it's called raising school funds!! (Same as school fete etc etc) to help educate your children! maybe you should think again before breaking the law by scanning & thereby robbing your own childrens school of much needed funds! If you were to look into it the photographer is most probably earning minimum wage with the school earning more than the printers!!

Zombie thread

I'm a photographer. Can I just say that the word "tog" is an abomination? For some reason, it is most favoured by those snappers who favour Canons. I also realise that this is a rather unreasonable comment but the very word causes deep distress to those of us on the documentary side of the business.

To get back on topic, I cannot see any good reason for an out of focus picture to be supplied given that all school photographs will be taken on digital cameras. However, I have seen advertisements for people to become school photographers where "an interest in photography" seems to be more important than any proven professional expertise. Which is probably another reason all these faux Venture poses seem so popular. Only I presume this comes with the mistaken illusion that if a photograph is angled at 45 degrees, nobody is going to notice the technical imperfections.

Given the hit and miss results, school photographs can be very expensive and I can't help but think if school photographers operated a more realistic business model, they could offer a product that is both profitable and more relevant to the way people keep/print and store photographs nowadays.

"YANBU to be hacked off but you are right, you don't have to buy them. If the one of DS is the best picture you have seen of him, will work out a lot cheaper than paying for a studio session and individual prints!"

DS did work experience last week in a photographers. A 10 by 8 unframed photo cost £98. He came home with 7 of them and a cd of the pictures (normally about £400). He did do the editing on them.

One year the company the school used offered the cd for sale which worked out much cheaper.

I am really sad that we couldn't afford DS's last lot of photos

Bodyofeeyore i remember when i was a kid my mum couldn't afford the pictures (i wasn't the only one).

I hiked it over the fence and got them out of the school bins, mine and all the other kids pictures . Couldn't believe my school had thrown them away!

I am no longer a criminal btw.

My DS's nursery uses a photographer where you have a choice of 3 poses. They don't do packs - just choose the quantity, size you want, and you can have a mixture from the 3 different proofs. We probably end up spending the same, if not a little bit more than if we had bought 1 pack.
But at least we get exactly what we want.

We now have the delight of a long photo, with about five groups of pupils and their teacher and TAs all doing jaunty poses for the class photo. It doesn't fit in any standard frame, so you'd be looing at about £35 for a framed photos. It won't fit in my photo albums, so for £14.50 it sits on top of a shelf in the tube it came in. All the Reception/Year1 parents love them. All my DS's Year 5 friends hate them. I'm with the Year 5s on this.

DD's nursery excelled themselves this week. DH, who does pick up, came home with a bloody framed portrait. Apparently he'd signed a form a few months back to give permission for her picture to be drawn. He was all pleased with himself because it was only £26..... What he didn't know was that it was £26 a month for four months.

I take a photo of the kids when I get them ready, on the morning of the photo. More often than not, its better than the one they bring home anyway!

As for whether or not they are professional. Some are, some are quite frankly, just pants - I could (and do) do a better job myself!

I used to work in Max Spielman. We used to get people bringing their kids in wearing their uniforms for school pictures. Was a lot cheaper and the parent was there to "style" the shot.

My DD is not in school yet but I know if her pics are too expensive or the shots are rubbish (DD tends to be quite unphotogenic for some reason despite being admired by many strangers in real life! ) I can just take her into a Max Spielman to have the pic done.

I had her pic done there a few months back, it was in a Timson (or is it Timpson?) key cutting place that was in a Morrisons. Got a 6 x 8 print, 4 6 x 4 prints and 12 passport size prints all for £5.99. Took literally a few minutes of the guy just snapping away and I have a few dozen prints to choose from. Highly recommend it. The guy did say they often have parents take the kids in uniform to have their pic done.

I would have loved it if my mother never bought my school photos (and to the bastard who scanned in the early 90s whole school one with all our badly permed hair loveliness and put it on Facebook - I fucking hate you)... I don't photograph well and hated every one of them - but she insisted she always needed a good recent photograph of me in case I was ever kidnapped. Awesome reason to buy photos of your beloved daughter there mum.

My aversion to photos being so bad I've also managed to spend the day hiding when the school photographer came in so as to avoid the teacher photo session - made it to a quarter to lunchtime before the secretaries and my class consipired to catch me in a pincer movement and drag me in to be shot.

However as for hair brushing - nope. I'll readjust hair bobbles, sort out shirts and jumpers (including borrowing ones if the one being worn is now sporting an attractive display of lunchtime yoghurt), smooth hair down but I am NOT going down the hairbrush minefield of nits and complaints and allegations!

(And FFS - do the littlies first - it's a pain in the rear keeping foundation stage kids clean and presentable while the photographer and organisers start with Y6 and work their way down the age groups)

My sister's MIL is our school photographer and she gives me them all for nothing! Shhhhh, don't tell anyone!