to hoist my bosom in aghastedness at 'fun' class photos?

[Porpoise]

DS3 (8) came home last night with a "fun" class photo.

Instead of the usual serried ranks of sweet but slightly uncomfortable-looking kids, we have...

... them in groups of five, each 'artfully' arranged with some kids lying on the floor, others kneeling, others standing - all doing a thumbs up.

And they've all taken their shoes off.

The teacher is standing on her own in the middle, striking a bit of a Sandy from Grease pose.

And the whole mile-wide monstrosity is decorated round the edges with Union Jack bunting.

Anyone else had something like this done at their school? Did you actually fork out money for a print?

Our school photos have been a bit expensive and shit so far. How they manage to come up with a poor photos with all that professional equipment I've no idea. Too bright a light I think is the problem. All the kids look a bit washed out. I've taken better photos with my phone. I bought the "jaunty" group style in reception just to have some record of the year - I note since then we have not had any entire class photos, the school don't seem to have bothered. I'd much prefer the traditional style of the class lining up with the teacher beside them.

The individual shots caught my two quite nicely this year, but they are not good value for money - I noted the prints to give out to family were much smaller than we have had with photos taken by other places. Also the proofs are so tiny it's very hard to see if they are actually a decent photo at all. If there is an option next time, and it's not too expensive in itself, I'll have the digital print emailed to me and send it to Photobox to have further copies made for 20p each.

What is the sandy pose?

We just get the school librarian to do them. (This is secondary).

She takes a formal pose of each class, then snaps another few as they relax & go all giggly, telling them they'll be doing another 'proper' one in a minute so they can't move yet. The 'in between' snaps are brilliant.

I've got a gorgeous picture of my last year's tutor group before they left. I'm not doing a Sandy, though, on account of one of them having me in an 'affectionate' headlock.

Agree about the horrible 'Venturer' style ones with kids posed in fake friendship groups. Yuk.

I think DD's school has the right idea. The school owns a very swish digital camera that various staff sign out and take photos when the mood is on them...they email them to parents and we can print them out if we want.

Reshape we live in East London.
So that whole romantic fantasy of dear little moppets in tweedy bloomers seemed a bit
All our lot would have been stuck up a bloody chimney or something equally dickensianly depressing.
I just couldnt see the charm

The other parents loved them.

I saw a very sweet one a friend had from nursery the other day - perhaps with nursery age children it's the best idea.

For school age, don't give a monkeys cos I don't buy them anyway. Call me a miserable old goat (many do) but I don't want pictures of other people's children. Posed or otherwise.

I absolutely loved the class photo DD2 brought home form school in year 6 like this.

Loved the casual poses of the pupils and teachers and TAs (and I felt this was respectful if friendly)- so much nicer than the stuffy-every one standing to attention in a group, height ordered pose with the crappy hall curtains as a back drop, knees together in the front row with hands left over right, everyone stand up straight and say cheese-crap.

The photo' had bare and socked feet but no props (agree that would be naff.)

I think perhaps it depends on the photographer. I thought it was the best class photo any of my DDs had ever had.

lumbago - <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=NKD&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1607&bih=893&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=9WeHGwwcM6NMwM:&imgrefurl=www.fancydressball.co.uk/ladies-fancy-dress/ladies-grease-costumes/grease-sandy-last-scene-costume-36108.htm&docid=ujMDLEq7Xk-s6M&imgurl=www.fancydressball.co.uk/big_images1/grease-sandy-last-scene-costume-36108.jpg&w=342&h=800&ei=VCS-T-vFHKK10QXZxqBN&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=636&vpy=12&dur=2282&hovh=344&hovw=147&tx=93&ty=226&sig=110351287593831527716&page=1&tbnh=161&tbnw=69&start=0&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:131" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this is the Sandy pose the OP linked to earlier.

They are just so impractical, you either get them in a tube so they'll never be looked at or pay a ridiculous price to have it framed. I don't mind the poses just the size and shape, I keep thinking of 11 years of tubes for 3 children and where I'll keep them :)

Ours was reasonable - venturish white background, shoes on, casual but not contrived poses. It doesnt look like it was done in groups and photoshopped together, but i'll have to ask DS.

I think there is no getting away from school photos being naff, whether they are trad or sub-venture style, or god forbid Victorian waifs. I'm not entirely sure what they are for in the age of camera-phones etc... But i usually buy them.

The individual ones always seem a bit sad - they remind me of the news coverage photos of missing children or when a young person has commited a crime.

Teachers stood like that ? :0

We got the 'fun' one too and I spent ages online trying to see if I could get a ready made frame to fit it so I didn't have to spend £40m quid - guess what, nothing. So now feel mugged by school photographer and I was looking forward to formal, uncomfortable class shot where the only thing that dates is the hair and the teacher's garb. Trendy shot is going to look ridiculous in a few years time but ho hum, at least the traditional embarrassment factor will have been preserved!

Wish they would tell us when the photos are being taken - there never seems to be any warning and we're normally not too fussy about ironing in our house but having a touch of the Hyacinth Buckets I would make and exception for the school photo

I much prefer these to the no fun version, where about 3 children look OK and the rest have are either blinking, physically sniffing or (in the case of one poor sod in ds2's class) turning their heads so they become blurry boy.

I can't bear them. Ours has the teacher and her assistant striking a pose sideways on:) the kids are gathered around them messing about and it just looks like no one has any control. The individual pic, ds was slumped with his hands in his pockets. When I moaned, teacher just said the photographer wanted them to look casual. You know, I have a camera as do many mums, and some are very good at taking pics. Why n

Oops ! Just get mums in to take a few class pics?

I think that you are missing the point - they are not about you, the reason for having them is for your DC to be able to look back when they are older. They will have a meaning for them because they know all the people and the circumstances at the time.

Absolutely right exotic!
I still have my old class photos and it's hilarious seeing how cute we all looked back then!

This thread has made my day! I thought I was the only grumpy git who hates the fun photos. They look like an advert in a catalogue.

We have them at school and have to take our shoes off so that white thing you have to stand on doesn't get damaged. I forgot to take mine off last year though. Maybe this year I could bring slippers if I could only find some that were red, white and blue. Yes, this year our clothes have to match the bunting.

They are done in groups and then put together.

My mother missed the point - I don't have any because she thought them a waste of money. I have now got a copy from someone on friendsreunited and it is lovely to look back on.

My DS has a year book- I find a lot of them silly but they mean something to him.

When DD2 was at pre school,her teacher apologised to me because they'd had one of those dress up in flat caps,Victorian urchin photo sessions,and DD2 had refused to have anything to do with it.She was really concerned that I'd miss out,but I was inwardly cheering 'that's my girl!' as I loathe them.

One of the dads actually turned up in an adult version of the flat cap raggedy outfit so he could have a photo taken with his DC.

I have my old class photos, I was bullied badly by most of those jerks & would like to make little voodoo effigies of them.

I don't remember any of the other kids in the pictures.
My mom is dead but I'm sure she wouldn't have known a single one of them, either, even at the time!

I am sure I will remember DC reception-y6 classmates far far better than they ever will. Because of all the parent volunteering I've done, the small town we live in so I see the same faces but older now, I kind of like having the record of their younger faces (even the horrible ones).

We had those 'fun' pics for two years. First year was great as the children were so happy to be asked to do silly stuff and we got some gorgeous pics form them, but by year two it was dire, naff groupings of kids jumping on th ebacks of other children they never normally speak to.
This year it was back to formal photos, so presumably not enough people were buying them.

I started a thread about this recently! We have started doing this at our lower school and I hate it too. £29 for a framed print!! Long and impossible to put anywhere. For two dcs - almost £60!! Eek.

Plus, in my dd's photo she was on the end of the pic and her elbow and part of her arm had been cropped out so she looked bizarre. Bring back small table top prints of rows of children, that's what I say!

Also, why uniforms and stockinged feet?? Just looks wrong!