NOT to want to pay £29 for a school photo???

[PiedWagtail]

My school has got Tempest to do 'modern' class photos - long thin ones with the kids in small groupings with props - they cost £12.50 for a print, or £29 framed. They're awkward to find a place for, too big, too expensive (to get both my ds's class photos would be £58!!) - who can afford that?

Just emailed the school sec with my feedback and she said they have just had positive feedback - so AIBU??

What are your school pics like and how much are they? I just want a record of my dc in each school year, and their friends, and don't want to pay a fortune for it!!

[Hulababy]

I prefer the traditional shots. DD's school, for first time ever (she's in y6), did some more modern versions this year - but also did traditional ones as well. She is in a small class so all the children are taken together , so at least no issue with the badly put together versions and no tiny faces either.

We do have a whole school one from a few years back as it was a school anniversary. The faces are tiny on that but it is a nice memory for DD to have in the future.

[fragolino]

Yep same here, utter piles of fucking shite.

Who wants a really long spaced out photo of random kids you dont know on your wall and their teachers?

you want a nice normal class pick of the whole class too.

take your camera to sports days and xmas shows.....so when they are older they can see their peers that way.

shall we give the teachers and the school a nice long pic of all us mums in random spaced out poses? To put on school wall.

[fragolino]

Infact i did buy the long one but only for her memory box, but what I did do, was cut out the little tiny pictures of her on the sales blurb!

[Hulababy]

Please bear in mind that the teachers have no choice over the photos. They are not booked or organised by the teachers!

[OhLori]

Yeah well, every other tosser always gives "positive feedback" and you are the only awkward one. Idiot schools, yet again. I never buy any photos from "the school", its become an expensive joke.

Sorry, a bit but in vino veritas, or something like that .

[flanbase]

Why not just get the class together for the school photo and have the headteacher take it and send it to all the parents?

[OrWellyAnn]

I think that as in any service or product you need to understand why things cost what they do. I'm a photographer (don't do schools, the idea brings me out in a rash, but basic premise the same) and I can tell you that The £12.50 - £29 you are talking about has to cover the costs of:

Equipment - average INDOORphotographers kit will contain
two high end camera bodies (about 5k for the pair, usually relplaced once every 4 or 5 years)
Between 4 and 8 lenses, varying in price from £600 to £2000 again these get damage through lots of use or updated and need to be replaced from time to time. My own lenses bag would cost me £8k to replace)
Tripod £300
Strobe kit - this is lighting to you and I, now i don't have one of these but i did look into it and prices for a pro setup, rather than an amateur one start at about 1k for a VERY basic low end kit. Most kits of those pro's I know are MUCH more expensive than this.
Decent PC and screen to process images on. I use a (now ancient) mac because when I bought it there wasn't a PC to touch it for image processing quality' it was 2k.
Software. Photoshop currently costs about £600, upgrade every year or so? Lightroom costs About £80 these days I believe, and you need to upgrade regularly, which also necessitates software updates...
Calibration kit, essential to keep your printing colours matched to those you see on screen.£200ish
Training/workshops etc between nothing and £thousands a year depending on the calibre of your photographer.
Then you have the time it takes to do a shoot like this, (i have no idea, but have you ever tried to photograph your OWN kids...takes a while to get them to look at the camera depending on personality...and getting more than one to look at the camera at the same time without one picking their nose/ blinking/ looking the wrong way/ pscowling....welll you get the idea!)

Thennnnn you have the time it takes to upload images to a computer, make sure you have images for ALL the little darlings, edit an image or two of each one, print the proofs for the parents to look at...all in all for a class of 30 kids would take about 4/5 hours to edit if my family shoots are anything to go by!
Then you have to receive the orders, and get them printed, process the payment, chase the late preserve or payees...this is their time and work time needs to be paid for, especially if they employ people to help them...

All in all I'd say £12.50 is a bargain!

I personally never buy school photos, but then I think their soulless and that you should get your local decent photographer to take you and the kids to the park after school and pay them for an individual shoot where you can get some lovely natural shots and pick and choose what you like, but you'd pay them more than £12.50... :o

[superfluouscurves]

I didn't buy ours this year (disorganisation rather than intentional decision). The class one was nice but they had - for some inexplicable reason - asked each child to pose on a hay bale for their individual shot. We live in a capital city ie the most urban of settings ....

[PanicMode]

I don't have a problem with paying £12.50 for the rolled up print because you do have to pay for the photographers time, equipment etc. I do however resent that there is no sibling discount - they don't take account of the potential cost of buying (in my case) four class pictures -and those packs that they do don't allow you to mix and match the individual photos which really winds me up. I detest the modern class photos where they are all posed really unnaturally - I'd far rather a more traditional one (as would almost every parent I've spoken to, so why they persist with the stupid long ones is beyond me).

That being said, I haven't yet bought a class photo - they are terrible and I only every buy the individual ones if they are good - some years are better than others!

[goingupinfumes]

I'm with you 100% my DS had a football as a prop, we are not really a football family and on the proof we can't even see his face!! - Hate the long thin things...it also highlights the height differences massively and I have a short DS and he's now noticed how short he is!!

[Shesparkles]

My ds's school did the long trendy photo 2 years ago, and funnily enough went back to the "traditional" one this year- thank goodness! (They do individual ones and group ones on alternate years)

For those of you saying you don't want class photos, I don't want a photo of the other 29 kids in ds's class for me, but in future your child might be very glad to have it for him or her. I can't tell you the laughs I've had with old school friends over class photos, between us all we've all the class photos that were taken and we're in our 40s now

[sweetestcup]

This thread is over a year old, wonder why it popped up again?

[CouthyMow]

I haven't bought a school photo since the school changed photographers and they do these stupid modern poses.

A few years ago, it was the only year I had all of my oldest 3 DC's in the same school - and I had no plans for DC4 at the time.

They did a group shot with them, which I REALLY wanted - DD was in Y6, DS1 was in Y2, and DS2 was in YR.

They laid DD on the floor (!), sat DS2 on her back, and sat DS1 next to them. DS2 was only in his school shirt and bloody PE shorts.

I mean, WTfuckingF?!

I was livid. And I had to pay £29 for it. Because it was the only chance I had for a school photo of the three of them together before DD went up to Secondary.

[greenfolder]

oh dear- humiliated parent- dd3 had class photo today- which i knew. brushed and tied up tangly nightmare hair, wiped face. silly me, should have checked her toes as her 15 yr old sister had painted her toenails blue, and this would ruin the shot. i mean, obviously you would have your shoes and socks off and be close enough to spot blue toenails. i am getting old

[Cherriesarelovely]

I hate those modern arty ones. In Dd's class photo all the children were arranged in naff poses and one poor child was peeking out from between the teacher's legs! It was awful!

[Merguez]

Dh takes lovely photos of the dc so I gave up buying the stupid overpriced school one years ago.

[Hulababy]

It's my class photo on Monday - shudder!
It is a modern style one apparently. We do alternate years - one year traditional, one year modern. Feedback was 50/50 when we asked for responses.

[Parajse]

I hate school pictures. Overpriced, bad lighting 90% of the time and none of my ones ever looked like me, I looked a bit rabbit in the headlights. DD's will be next term, I won't be buying them. I have professional ones of DD, DM and I around the house and they are lovely, why would I need one in school uniform?

[ElizaDoLots]

Our Tempest ones for the last two years have been either out of focus, or not centred. The children were gurning and smiling like Cherie Blair - total waste of money.

[wonkylegs]

Usually I hate school/ nursery photos as our usually photogenic child often seems to be gurning in them
We have bought his class photo this year though, as we are moving and we thought he would like a memento of his school & for the 1st time ever he actually looks lovely. Ours were £39 framed though!

[Fillyjonk75]

Ours have the option to get the photo emailed to you or on CD. Still not cheap, but then sending it to Photobox and getting as many copies as you want for family and one framed.

[TheFutureMrsB]

My son came home with a school photo last week and they have him posed as some gangster rapper!

I am not buying it it is awful!!!

[RedlipsAndSlippers]

Tempest did DDs nursery pictures recently, the individual ones were lovely, but the cheapest pack is about £17, and that's for only one of the 6 pictures they sent us to chose from and of course no mix and matching! The group one is very disappointing, the kids had their picture taken in groups of 3/4 and these were all then photoshopped into one long awkward looking picture, won't be buying that one.

[C999875]

I wouldn't pay £29.00 for school photos. Idolise my daughter as I do, but I know what she looks like. xx