To want to tell school photographers...

[Jedbartletforpresident]

...that if they want to make any money and actually sell their bloody photos they should not force the child to pose or smile in the way they decide is best regardless of whether the child is comfortable or happy about it.

Here's a tip - an uncomfortable child will result in an awkward looking photo - a comfortable child will result in a natural looking photo - it's not rocket science!!

(Talking about secondary age DC here so not a 5 year old who might benefit from some gentle encouragement)

No school photos for us this year

Agree. My sons class photo approx year 2 was so dreadful I bought it for comedy value. They'd obviously been told to do "a nice smile" and they'd all ended up grimacing with the lower lip pulled down to expose the bottom row of teeth. I cried with laughter when I saw it.

I wish I could laugh at this photo but it is way beyond that. It actually looks like DS is being really offensive and sticking his tongue between his bottom teeth and his bottom lip to make it stick out. I cannot buy it. It's horrendous! He is known for his "Chandler" smiles in photos and we have finally got him to be able to look natural and now this. If it didn't look so offensive I'd laugh about it but it is really THAT bad!

I'd just say it's worth trying to negotiate on the prices and bundles you are offered as standard. I've successfully done this every year by telling them what I wanted (Normally a 2 pack "graduate" set) that I wasn't initially offered and was much less money for more useful pictures! Try it!

I (teacher) hate the shoes off, forced posing on a white background photos. It gives you no context whatsoever. I love looking at my old photos where you can see parts of the classroom or yard. Much more interesting.

My mum bought one of My Dsis and I..I can remember been really young..( hating the photographer for reasons unknown.) He told me to smile so I sulked..I litterally stuck my bottom lip out.. My mum still has it...lol..

I would also say sometimes they might get more revenue if they made them in sensible packs that might help we haven't all got 20 members of the family we want to buy for..

That said this year I will probably buy the class photo as my DS is year 6.

I had the first 3 years of my youngest daughter in Junior school doing the 'lie on your tummy and look cute with your shoeless feet kicked up behind you' pose, as told to by the photographer. She has big feet for her age, resulting in 3 years' worth of photos looking like a flaming rabbit, with her long feet poking up like bunny ears from directly behind her head. I didn't buy any of them, needless to say. Luckily, her Yr 6 photo was much better, and she is sitting on a chair smiling, so I have one decent photo of her in Junior school uniform at least!!

The photographer who takes DD's nursery photos is really good and they allow you to bring in siblings. Given the grimaces in DS school photos we are going for that instead.

Oh dear lord - I didn't think you had school photos after primary? Noooooo!

In my secondary school the whole school were on the benches and some bright spark let off a stink bomb!

Also when I taught in an EBD school some boys ruined the whole school photo by doing “gangsta” poses, complete with middle fingers. Some also trashed the photographers car. He never came back!

I remember as a teacher trying to explain to the photographer that a child with autism could not make eye contact with him and smile. The photo home showed an unrecognisable and frightened girl looking in the correct place. They didn't order. As part of her Christmas present I included a lovely photo I'd caught of her in which she was smiling and looking (as always) to one side.

My children’s school once had a different photographer than normal. My kids photo was horrific. They were both lying on a white shagpile and another pic one was my dd lying down while my ds was kneeling over her. A lot of complaints were made to the school that year!

Yanbu. When my dd made her communion the school pictures were dreadful. The background was white and the pictures were a bit blurry so all you could see was a little face floating in a sea of white. The 'glass' in the frame was some sort of perspex that added to the blurriness, the heavy brown frame he put them in didn't help either. How they make any sales at all I do not know.

And my DS recently had his photos taken at nursery. The usual bare foot ones against white background. I think he’d been pried away from playing with his friends as he looked so forlorn in all the pictures. The nursery staff said they tried to bribe him to smile but he wasn’t having it. I still bought one though!

Contact the school. After two years we have finally managed to get our school to drop the current company doing the photos due to complaints. Forced poses, rushed photos with no attempt to get the children to straighten jumpers/cardis etc.

I rarely buy them, as they never seem to catch the real him. His reception picture didn't even look like him.

The worst was a nursery picture though. He was only two and crying on it, obviously being forced to sit there, it was very upsetting to see. It was the final straw and I changed nursery soon after.

In defence of school photographers everywhere, the one that came to my school this year was amazing. I work with children with SN and was fully expecting a melt down but lovely photographer played peekaboo behind the camera and got a fantastic photo with a very rare natural smile.

I understand buying whole class pictures, but I really don’t understand why anyone buys the single child/family portrait ones.
They were popular back when I was little as many families didn’t have a camera but now everyone has a camera with them all the time.

I only have one (though very good) school photo of DS as they have all been shit...including the latest one of his first year in Secondary. The latest has him posing in an odd stance...I always thought they positioned them so you could see the school badge on their blazer/top.

I would love to buy a photo but have been so disappointed

Ds always had his tongue between his teeth, he was short tongued and they made him say cheese 😂

Looking back at them now i think I'd rather have had a photo of a scruffy ds, tie half undone, pen up his face and scowling. Probably in the minority but that's how he came home at night and that's what made me smile. The perfectly groomed, straight tie'd kid in the photos I have just isn't ds.

The nursery ones we get are totally ridiculous. No, I really, really don't want a picture of my child holding a nasty-looking be-ribboned teddy bear that's almost the same size as him, or kicking an invisible football that is then digitally added to the print. My child is quite cute enough as it is without your random props.

It's a weird tradition, really - most people could take a much more natural and likeable picture with their phone any day, but somehow we all feel we need to spend stupid money on these weird stilted poses of our kids, taken by photographers not worthy of the name. Me included, i should say - it's just a bit odd thinking about it!

In the defence of photographers. A lot of the big names company's that do schools don't even employ real photographers.

They are just taught how to shoot the basics and sent out.
Getting kids especially teens to relax is an art.

DS’s photo this year is lovely. He’s smiling, almost laughing, and it’s the best one he’s had. Unfortunately, he’s laughing because one of his classmates is in the photo with him. They were first and second in the queue after the sibling groups and the photographer, his assistant and the school office staff member wouldn’t believe that they weren’t brothers (they look nothing alike!) and forced them to have their photo taken together. I know 8/9-year-olds are hard work, but generally they know their siblings!