To hate modern 'class' photos?

[plantsitter]

Where's the sense of occasion? Why are they doing cheesy poses in socks? What exactly is wrong with the class in the school hall so you actually know where they are??

(I might be feeling sore cos they grouped my admittedly tall DD with all the shortest kids and she looks like Gargantua...)

Our school does them for reception and year 6 but all other years are formal. I quite like them for reception. Not sure about year 6 but we're not there so I'll hold off on judgement. Ours don't have props though.

I much prefer the new ones, ours didnt have props but because they are in small groups they could get a decent photo of each child.

I HATE them!

god yes I hate them too.

in my school photos, we looked like we were lined up ready for our mug shots, I was always given a yellow pages to sit on, because I am so short.

Ds's this year, he is doing some weird pyramid thing with a boy, who is easily a foot taller than him. Ds has a genetic condition so is noticeably shorter than everyone else in the class - it looks bloody ridiculous.

In dd2's class there seems to be 3 girls pretending to be aeroplanes, and another girl looking like Shirley freaking Temple lying on the floor. Dd2 just looks confused.

In dd1's class there is a girl who can do the splits really well, and there she is every year in the front doing the bloody splits. Next year I might teach dd1 to flip the bird at her from the back row.

Just sit them all down in a nice democratic row of sullen faces, no aeroplanes, no showing off gymnastics, no having to pretend to do clappy claps with the big boy who spends the rest of the time nearly knocking you over in the playground....

....and £12.50 for the cheapest photo!! And there are 4 of the fuckers this year....4!!!!

Our dc always look really washed out against a bright white background. They're stupidly expensive, and I can take better photos on my phone. Why do I buy them? I think that it's because the gps like them. Or at least they pretend that they do.

What does anyone do with any of them, traditional or modern ILostItInTheEarlyNineties?
My kids are in a box in the cellar along with mine and DH's. I assume we will give them to the kids on a big birthday and they'll go in a box in their cellars

a girl looking like Shirley freaking Temple lying on the floor

Hopefully you'll get them something else for their birthday, Notso ? A box of old school photos is a bit of a let down on a big birthday.

The most recent one is up in the kitchen. And the grannies always have the most recent one up in their house too. Aunties put them on the fridge.

I've just realised both sides of our family are heavily emotionally invested in school photos

Ours has had 7 years of those and are going back to the traditional, thank goodness.

I'm not sure which year was worst. We had the "photoshop every picture so all the children and teachers look the same height." The not slim teacher, poor chap, all I can say. They didn't even try and keep the proportions correct, just made them longer or shorter. Was like going into one of those funny mirrors in a fair.
Then last year where one of the groups they put on backwards, in mirror image... You could tell by the sweatshirt logo on the wrong side, so pretty obvious.
Then the one where they asked them the day before who they would like in the groups. Two groups stood out. One had obviously had a falling out between deciding and the picture. Of course that was the one the photographer wanted to pose with arms round each other. Faces were . Other group was obviously the oddments which was terrible.
One time one of the boys was away so they got someone to stand in then photoshopped his face on. Not a bad idea you're thinking. Except why choose the tallest boy in the class, when the missing boy is actually quite small.

And the one where we got to preview our pictures (individual and class) on a secure website. Secure as in you got sent an individual log in and password. Except it wasn't. Everyone got sent the same log in and all the passwords were colours. Three colours to be precise. Green, red or blur. Not only could you view every child in the school, with full name and form, but you could view several other schools (with school address) as well.

part of the fun in my old school photos is being able to see the hall in which they were taken, so rows of us on PE benches and teacher on a chair in the middle or stood at the end of the rows. The stage in the background... brings it all back same with my boys school photos. the only different one I have is of Ds 2's nursery pics, they had individual pics of each child set on a big card with their names it's lovely now especially when I meet random people whose child went to the same nursery at the same time and we look at the picture and realise our children went together I do however admit to loving the video DS2 did at nursery (that cost us a mint) of him sat on a tractor with a whole video of random farm shenanigans going on behind, he was so happy and animated on it, they did a great job even though it was a bit cheesy!

I hate them too. All cheesy, artificial poses with kids in groups of 2 or 3, hands on each other's shoulders and knees and hte teacher sitting awkwardly in the middle.

AWFUL.

First year the school did them the cheapest option was £42 - and I had three children at the school. Didn't buy them.

They do "traditional" class and year photos for their first and last year at school and those are MUCH nicer.

I hate them too - I think it is a ploy to get you to buy framed one as (at least last time I looked) they are impossible to get a frame that fits ...
And without a frame they come rolled up and they are impossible to store - we have a drawer full of 'professional' photos - school photos, nursery photos, newspaper photos etc. Occasionally one of the DCs will get them out and we will have a laugh. But those stupid long ones you have to unroll to look at - and they never get put back properly and they take up a lot of space. But framed or flat they would be worse as we'd need a bigger drawer...and a big box if they ever go in the attic. So far we only have two - DD1 last year of primary and DD2s first year - I am hoping by the time DD2 reaches the last year they will have gone back to the old style.
Worse all the professional photographers are doing the same ....one place a friend's DCs goes to you could buy a close up 'individual' shot - except it was actually a group of 3-4 DCs standing together or the whole group - which was different poses but the same groups all photoshopped together -they had 'frames' put around them so they looked like they standing in piled up boxes - 3 high by 4 wide - so the faces were tiny...it was more sensibly shaped - not an elongated rectangle but still huge...

DS has yet to have his, we have that coming up soon so I'll have to see what it's like but I don't get the point of them at all? why the hell would I want a class photo? I'm fine with the individual photos, I'll get the smallest one they do of it so he can look back on it when he's older but I won't be getting a big one.

I like that one, mine are grown up so not an issue for me but I would like one of those of grandsons class. I know them all because I volunteer one day a week, have done for two years. I wonder if they would like to send me one as a thank you? I would love it.

Hate them, the kids look completely unnatural in poses they would never do. Much prefer traditional with the cheeky grins, the kid picking nose, the kid looking grumpy, etc etc x

Ugh yes! "Hey Emily, hold this book open in your hand! Jeremy, put this football under your arm! Sarah, put your hand on your teacher's shoulder as if that would ever happen in any other circumstance "
It's bollocks

I like 'em ! Far better than the stuffy old fashioned ones !

Ha! I think they look positively normal - we are in the US and our photos just came back. This year I only have one of DC leaning against a gatepost in front of a field they have never even been to but last year we were lucky enough to have a host of backgrounds to choose from: said field again, the beach, a boat, the mountains... you name it, my children apparently went there...

Personally, I prefer the boring blue background.

witchend they Photoshopped everyone to look the same height? WTF! As though there was something inherently wrong with the children's height in the first place?!

Can you imagine if they had Photoshopped them in any other way, so they were all the same colour perhaps? It is completely unacceptable.

Gasp0de, that pic is truly, deeply awful

I wouldn't pay for that. In fact, I'd expect them to pay me compensation for having to look at it.

Our sample came home today.

Some of the girls are posed in a line, hand on hip and one foot out like a 1950's Butlins beauty contest line. Dearie me.

Quality wise they are nothing on my class photos from the olden days.

I find the long shape means I need to order the smallest size to fit in an album so that means the actual photo of my kid is tini tiny.

Here's a funny thing, the thumbs up gesture was seen as so uncool and square when I was a kiddo, now it's in the class photo!

Our school still do the traditional class photos with them sat on benches, but I never buy them.
I only buy the individual ones with just my dc and they get taken in September, with the class/team ones done in May

They look ridiculous! Nothing wrong with being sat/stood in rows.

Completely agree don't see the point though they are of course an optional extra but one which children may pester to get

Also not unsurprisingly certain children get a better position in the picture or just happen to be smiling etc so it's just very random as to whether it's a good photo of your child

In my DC photo they had to hold all sorts of silly things to make the photo look "modern" I think my DC was holding a tambourine - at least it looked like a tambirine😀