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?

One thing I've never been able to fathom is why parents don't just get together, buy one copy and print a zillion on Photobox (and yes I know it's a copyright violation).

My children all gurned in the class photo and got told off this year.

Dd's school did them for the first time this year. I am hating it already and have not even seen the print yet.
Dd tells me that the grouping thing was a nightmare as they were allowed to choose their own groups which inevitably leads to misery; she got herself into a group with her best friend and one other friend. Another girl wanted to go with dd's best friend so teacher told this girl to join dd's group. Which all girls were happy with except for the best-friend-grabbing-girl who promptly burst into tears so the teacher made dd's best friend go with the best-friend-grabbing-girl. Just the two of them. Cue both dd and her best friend looking miserable. And according to dd there were similar issues with other groups. WTAF?
Line them up in the traditional way, in height order, none of this friendship group nonsense, and be done with it.

I will not be buying a daft footlong print of a photo the taking of which made dd miserable.

(Quite aside from the fact that the phographer did the individual photos at the start of the year in an arty style, they were so awful I did not buy dd's (first year ever I have not bought a school photo of the dc) and I still have not forgiven him for making me pose in an arty manner too (on my knees, shoes off, am a 40+ year old SEN TA, I don't want to take my shoes off and painfully balance on my knees!!!!!). Oh, and during break time they ate all the biscuits brought in by the staff!! (bitter)

We had the same offered this year...bought none of them.

I actually like the new style of photos (ours didn't have thumbs up though - urgh) and I am a photo snob usually as DH is an excellent non-cheesy photographer. But the latest one we had was quite sweet.

Painful experience being the teacher and being asked to strike an 'amusing' pose - I had to stand back to back with my TA doing comedy double point at camera. We looked like we were doing a summer special on the pier. And no one photoshopped me, more's the pity....
Thank God missed out this year as photos happened on a day I don't work :)

I don't mind the shoes being taken off but I have other issues

1. Impoverished area, more than 50% free school meals so how are the majority of the parents meant to be able to afford them????
2. The most important thing for us was that they are so wide that we can't store them anywhere! Let's be honest: nobody can put on display all years' pictures of ALL their children so you can keep some in a box and maybe swap them with others on display once in a while. But these ones are so large that we have to keep them closes in the tube they come in! And obviously you have to pay THEM for a frame.
3. They are so large you can't even scan them so you can give to grandparents or keep in your computer for your records as we do with all our pictures.

On the other hand I understand that having 30 children trying to smile and look at the camera at the same time is really hard so having groups of 4-5 makes it easier for the photographers to organise the children. But no, we'd rather had the old fashioned ones!!

I quite like the idea of a fun photo, better than the dreary lined-up ones we have!

You mean my DD wont waltz home with a clas photo of them all stood on the gym benches, teacher in the middle and one of those black boards with the letters you stick on telling everyone the year and date etc?

I may have to home school.

God help the parents who send their kids in with holey socks on them that day.

YANBU, sounds like a waste of time and completely unnecessary.

DS had his preschool one done the other week. They're all standing in a line, half-heartedly holding hands (you can tell they were told to and only a few of them listened) and a few are clutching union jack flags.

It's a nice photo, but I wouldn't pay whatever they were asking for it.

Ah! Ninani, I think you're onto something with point 3!

The first one we had for dd yr6 was a normal size picture with the groups scattered around the page.
The ones we have had for secondary teams have been the long ones. The don't do class photos there

Every single class photo from age 6 to 10 has my DS making faces, doing rabbit ears over the kid in front or on one memorable occasion facing backwards. Every other child was sitting straight up, face to the front smiling.

I would have loved something more informal if only to save the embarrassment at the school gates

I bought them all, though.

Some togs say shoes off because they are using a white paper background/floor and can't be bothered to photo shop the scuff marks.

Propper togs like me use white vinyl. After the first session it gets filthy and needs lots of time on the pewter cleaning it up. This contributes to the cost.

£12 for the pic.....

You might be surprised to learn that only about three pounds of this ends up in the togs pocket after all the deductions are made.

We do these panoramics because the school request it.

Personally I prefer trad.

Zombie thread

The first time my child was included in one if these new style photos I looked at it for ages wondering what was wrong with it- then it dawned on me that one child had been photoshopped in twice! My child has been in three of these long photos now- I quite like them but the cost is frightening! If I had three children all in school at same time it would be impossible for us to buy them all each year. And I hate that there is no longer the more affordable pack with little sizes that were great for giving to family.

I also hate that informal type of class photo. Fortunately we only had one like that before a new head meant a return to the more traditional style.

I also hate them. Thankfully my DC's school have had the common sense to stick with the ol'skool head & shoulders shot with the vomit-coloured background