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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School photos

39 replies

Mummyyummy2012 · 03/10/2016 18:37

Do you always buy your DC's school photo? We had some really lovely pics done over the summer at DD's nursery before she left of both the children- really beautiful and we love them.
School photos- DD's reception one is Ok but DS's one is totally awful- he looks scruffy (as school didn't tell us it was photo day so he had old hoody on) and is just really unflattering and his eyes aren't focussed so he doesn't look like himself.
AIBU to not get them this year? I feel bad as always want to mark each year but they are just so rushed and awful I feel reluctant to spend the nearly 30 quid on 2 fairly shite pictures- the first day of school pics on my phone are better- is that really bad?

OP posts:
Oldraver · 03/10/2016 18:39

I had one amazing photo a few years ago, so didnt bother for a while.

The last two years have been dire and I have actually wanted them. DS is having his last primary school photo next week and I hope its a good one

Sparklingbrook · 03/10/2016 18:42

I was all enthusiastic to start with in YR and Year1 etc. But as time went on I never bought the photo unless I really liked it. They all looked a bit samey after a bit. or the photographer had them in a weird position/barefoot or something.

The photos I did buy are now in a box in the loft.

I have bought DS1's this year as it's really nice and he's in Yr13 so there won't be any more!

ThoraGruntwhistle · 03/10/2016 18:43

Don't feel guilted into buying them unless you love them. They are very expensive and not worth it if they aren't good photos.

Original poster
Mummyyummy2012 · 03/10/2016 18:46

I might print out the ones I took on my phone instead!

OP posts:
Snowflakes1122 · 03/10/2016 19:10

I didn't buy one of my dcs one year. Was truly awful! Considering they have digital cameras, you'd think they would do a good job.
Don't buy unless you like it.

HeCantBeSerious · 03/10/2016 19:10

The DCs' pictures last year looked identical to the previous year so I didn't buy any.

HeCantBeSerious · 03/10/2016 19:12

Considering they have digital cameras, you'd think they would do a good job.

A good photographer can take good shots on an awful camera. A poor photographer will get nothing out of a great camera.

RatOnnaStick · 03/10/2016 19:18

My plan is reception and year 6 only.

Toffeelatteplease · 03/10/2016 19:22

I have hated every single school photo the kids have ever had done (or any posed professional photographer for that matter)

I have however got a wall of fantastic photos taken by me at a fraction of the cost.

Never bought a school photo ever.

Katedotness1963 · 03/10/2016 19:23

We stopped buying them years ago. The quality is not great and the size combinations are not really useful.

Mollymoo78 · 03/10/2016 19:29

I was so disappointed with my dd's first school photo. She is normally very photogenic but she looks frankly depressed on her school picture and not like herself at all. It was nearly £20 and I couldn't bring myself to spend all that on something I didn't like. So I've printed and framed a beautiful one I took of her myself with her looking very smart with her trademark cheeky grin!!! Not feeling guilty at all. I'm not paying a photographer for a rubbish job!

StripyHorse · 03/10/2016 22:47

IABU because I feel guilty if I don't buy them even though I hate the cost and have far better photos of my dcs - usually taken on days out so the picture also sparks a nice memory.

Be a better person than me, don't buy them if you don't want to.

DetailedConfusion · 03/10/2016 22:53

I buy all of them. Every year, I have three - one each of them individually and one of them together - total £45.

I put them up on the stairway or in the hall (not all of them, I change them every so often). But I want them for the future - I want to flip through them from age 3 to age 11 - the nice ones, the dodgy ones where their hair's sticking up and the one where ds1 looks like he has some awful dental prosthetic as he had a tooth that was about to fall out that was seriously wonky.

I want to have the full set of year by year so it will be worth it for me.

BoboBunnyH0p · 03/10/2016 22:54

My hubby is a photographer so we usually never buy the school one as they are usually awful and very false looking. Last years were really bad and I was so disappointed with the one of my DCs together (it was the first one).

Namechangenurseryconcerns · 03/10/2016 22:58

I get a fairly small one just so I can keep them and look back on them every year! I like seeing how they've changed and grown up

TheFlyingFauxPas · 03/10/2016 23:01

Bobo could your husband not do the school ones for them? Surely could do a bit cheaper and better. What I hate is those awful class ones where they take them in little groups and fuse them all together. If I'm buying a picture of a group I want the picture of them as a group. So and so pulling a funny face, do da with his eyes closed, etc. Still bought the bloody things though! To me a photo is a momento of a happening, not several happening artificially sewn together. May as well make a collage in separate frames. Would be more honest.

Madeyemoodysmum · 03/10/2016 23:49

Some companies dont hire professionals. They just train up people to do that one job over and over. So no wonder they are bad. Being a photographer takes people skills as well aS technical ones so to get a relaxed shot out of 1000 teens in one day is asking for the moon Or even 200 primary kids.

ijustwannadance · 03/10/2016 23:59

If you don't like them, don't but them. I bought DD's reception ones last year so won't bother this year. Her ones from last year of nursery were horrid. No way was I buying them.
I much prefer unposed, natural shots.

AmeliaJack · 04/10/2016 00:16

I buy them every year. Because one year my Mum didn't buy mine (she did but my siblings) and I was very hurt.

Logically it was a dreadful photo.
Logically I knew it wasn't a comment on my looks or how much she loved me.
Still secretly very very hurt at the time.

RatOnnaStick · 04/10/2016 09:39

Our nursery ones were all taken amongst the bluebells in spring and they are all gorgeous. The school ones are taken by the same local photographer but they are pretty horrendous. I think it's the white background and the forced positioning that makes them so horrible.

Afreshstartplease · 04/10/2016 09:43

I buy one a year

3 DC, 2 in school one younger

Take younger DC in on picture day and get one of all three, that's the one I buy. Don't bother with individuals or class pictures but I like having a yearly picture of the three of them (next year will be 4)

MiaowTheCat · 04/10/2016 09:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RockinHippy · 04/10/2016 10:06

Never bought them as they were just dreadful. DD is very photogenic, never seen a bad photo of her, but the school photographer always seemed to manage to make her look awful. Always taken at bad angles & the lighting was wrong.

Hygellig · 04/10/2016 10:15

I bought DS's school photos from nursery and reception, but this year I have just bought the one of the two of them now his sister has started, rather than individual ones. He was looking quite miserable in his photo.

I remember my mum wondering why school photos were still popular given that most people had cameras (I don't think we bought any of my school photos in high school) - this was in the 90s, before digital cameras and smartphones became ubiquitous. I think the school photos can be quite expensive and not always that great, even if the photographer probably has a better camera and more photographic skills than I do.

Lancelottie · 04/10/2016 10:18

The ones we actually like to look back on (mine are teenagers) are the whole class photos. Somehow it never ceases to amaze them all that OMG Ryan was like so titchy in Year 1 and now he's like 6 ft 3 and terrifying.