To pay £12 each for school play photos

[subzerotemp]

DD had her school play and the pics were out on display before the play began for parents to purchase. The pics were taken by a professional photographer and were being sold for £12 each! AIBU to find this wrong? School takes consent to use pics for their own use however, seems wrong to take my own DD’s pics and selling it back to me at a crazy price! How does this work under the new GDPR law?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I run a theatre group and we have a professional photographer come in to do photos and a video. He attends the dress rehearsal and two shows. As a group we pay £60 to own a single set of images and one copy of the video which we may use for promotional purposes. Parents can buy photos from his website.
If we choose to own the photos for commercial purposes ie. to sell to parents it would cost us £200 for the digital set of photos. So if there are 30 children in the class each digital image is £6.66. Then the photos have to be printed and they may want to make just a little bit of money for the school, so we are easily at £12 per photo.
We have had parents with good cameras do photos in the the past they are not a patch on the quality of a professional theatre photographer.
My favourite photos of my DD are from the ones done by the professional theatre guy even over studio shoots.

[ILoveMyDressingGown]

I'm not sure about the gdpr bit sorry but this bit: does it really cost more than £5 per pic? yes, of course it does! Factor in the travel there and back, the insurance, the equipment (not just a camera but the lenses, lights, memory cards, batteries etc), the time on the shoot and the time editing the shots before the printing and mounting costs. I printed and mounted some of my own photos and that alone came to a fiver.

[Topseyt]

I do agree with your sentiments OP.

However, I guess schools may go more and more down this route because of the problems caused by parents taking photos and videos during performances which they then upload to Facebook, Instagram etc. Those images will inevitably contain many children, not just their own. Few, however, approach all other parents for permission to upload images containing the affected children. A number of people may have very good reasons for not wanting pictures of their children to appear online willy nilly.

I recently had to get some footage of my 15 year old DD3 playing in her ladies hockey team, which was to be submitted to the exam board as part of her GCSE PE assessment. Other parents were having to do the same, but clubs were understandably twitchy about it.

I'm glad my kids are now out of the primary school performance stage. In those days we could still take our own pictures, though I only did that occasionally.

[AmazingPostVoices]

You didn’t take them so they aren’t your pictures.

You are paying for the photographers skill. If you don’t like or want them just don’t buy them.

[LadyLoveYourWhat]

Missed "Obviously with the lovely costumes etc the pics are bound to be great" - nothing to do with the photographer's skill then?

[LadyLoveYourWhat]

As PP says, they are not your children's pictures!

Photographers spend time honing their craft, being at the event taking pictures, curating and enhancing photos, preparing galleries of the resulting images, fulfilling orders, investing in equipment, hardware, specialist software. It's not just a few minutes snapping and then the cost of printing.

I imagine parents aren't allowed to take pics because they're often not considerate about taking them without disturbing others' viewing or share them on social media without worrying about consequences for some at risk children (and they obviously shouldn't know who these children are...)

Don't buy them if you don't want to.

[AppleKatie]

But they aren’t your pictures?

[subzerotemp]

Understand all about photographers trying to make some money for “a roof over their head”- does it really cost more than £5 per pic ? For school year pictures, parents expressly give permission. However, charging £12 for my own kids’ pics without asking me first for their profit seems wrong. Obviously with the lovely costumes etc the pics are bound to be great and parents feel obligated to buy them! (I’m talking about solo pics here) To add to that, parents aren’t allowed to take pics during the play.
I know I could walk off without buying any, but just seems wrong! It’s like Facebook selling my pics back to me just because I’m on Facebook !

[LadyLoveYourWhat]

An image is not personal data. Images can be processed to create personal data, but that isn't happening here.

[Charmatt]

An image is personal data so GDPR does apply.

[MissCharleyP]

What is annoying, is that in my experience (not a parent but many relatives/friends are) is that they won’t allow you to take your own pictures with your own phone/camera then charge you for something you could have done yourself. My DB got me a DVD of nieces 1st nativity which was lovely though.

[Topseyt]

Of course photographers are earning a living. I do buy professional shots of my DD from school photographers where appropriate.

The last lot were £6.50 per pack though. That was less than a year ago. £12 is a lot, and I really wouldn't appreciate being put on the spot in school like that. I think that it is pester power being used, as children will want their parents to buy the pictures even though some would struggle to afford it.

[gingergenius]

I presume you do a job for pay which ensure that you have a roof over your head and food and home comforts!?

I'm a photographer. It's not just pushing a button. Photographers are earning their living the same as you do. You are not obliged to buy.

[Topseyt]

Just don't buy the pictures.

I think it does sound expensive, and is all about trying to put parents on the spot so that they feel obliged to buy the pictures.

[19lottie82]

That doesn’t seem that expensive tbh.

[LadyLoveYourWhat]

The photographer is not processing the photo to generate or garner personal data about the subjects, so GDPR does not apply. You are not obliged to purchase a photo. Why do you expect the photographer to work for free?

[TheClitterati]

Presumably this will be raising funds for the svhool plus you get a nice picture.

[ScreamingValenta]

What a racket!

[Mormont]

The same price as my son's theatre club show photo.

[MismatchedPJs]

Same as every dance show, gym comp, school photos etc etc. We're used to it!

[Wolfiefan]

School didn't take pictures.
Employing a professional costs money. Hence the charge.
Pay or don't. Your choice.

[Charmatt]

Photographers have to provide information on how they store data including photos and any information about children at the school. They should also explain their retention policy. Has the school asked for consent for photos of your child to be taken by an external company?