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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that a class photo is the whole class in one photo?

125 replies

Daisydrum · 12/05/2021 08:43

We’ve had the “class photo” and it’s the class split into little groups of about 4 and they are then just going to put them together. To me that’s a collage.
Is anyone else’s school not doing class photos this year?

OP posts:
Original poster
Daisydrum · 12/05/2021 13:16

Isn’t some of the fun of class photos to look for the person looking the wrong way? Or pulling a funny face?

OP posts:
CaptainMyCaptain · 12/05/2021 13:16

@DandelionRose

I loathe them personally. They are awkward to display as the modern collage photos are a lot bigger and longer than a 'traditional' A4 landscape class photo. They look messy to me as the children are posed very differently (sitting, standing, arm leaning "casually" on a friend etc) whereas the 'traditional' type look so neat.

It also annoys me though that my school don't insist on children all wearing jumpers or not, so there's a mix of jumper/no jumper and finally it really annoys me that they don't take the photos first thing but sometimes later on in the day, by which time the carefully styled and brushed hair is in disarray, and on one occasion my young DS had a grubby face too (after lunch photo session)....

They can't take them all first thing. In the school where I worked there were 16 classes including am and pm Nursery. How could they take them all first thing?

They did these group photos for the last few years I was teaching and I've been retired for 6 years. One year a boy slipped out of his group to stand with his friends while I was supervising the group being photographed. He ended up not being on the photo. I agree there was nothing wrong with the old style class photo.

SleepingStandingUp · 12/05/2021 13:17

Why do you think they're more expensive @Daisydrum? I've only brought this style so have no comparison

motherloaded · 12/05/2021 13:18

I think it's the price more than anything else the issue.

No one actually cares about the class photo, do they? It's just a nice memento for the kids when they are older, but no family is really bothered about 29 of the kids on that photo anyway.

I always buy one for my kids, but I'd much rather have a group photo done on sports day by one of the parents and be done with it!

Longdistance · 12/05/2021 13:19

I hate whole class photos. The ones we’ve had are groups of kids in awkward posses in a wooden square box. They’re cobbled together in a collage. I never buy them.
The best school photos we’ve had were when they bought owls into the school. The owl is sat on my daughter’s shoulder. The pics look amazing.

OverByYer · 12/05/2021 13:20

My son had this style done in primary school many years ago. The children were grouped by months of birth and had to wear something associated with that month. So December children- Xmas outfits, July kids - beach wear. It was a right hotch potch

Original poster
Daisydrum · 12/05/2021 13:22

@Cocomarine That’s really awful! Your poor daughter! This is actually intruding on her boundaries. What right do they have to make children put their arms around eachother if they don’t feel comfortable doing so!

OP posts:
DappledThings · 12/05/2021 13:25

@4PawsGood

We’ve had these. They’re fine.

Here’s an example from the company’s website.

I think that sample just looks awkward and daft. I wouldn't be buying one like that. I might well buy a normal one.
Original poster
Daisydrum · 12/05/2021 13:26

@SleepingStandingUp I don’t know if they are more expensive. I just know that school photos cost a fortune so I want to make sure I like the photo if I’m going to pay so much for it.

OP posts:
DandelionRose · 12/05/2021 13:28

@Daisydrum

Isn’t some of the fun of class photos to look for the person looking the wrong way? Or pulling a funny face?
It's only fun if it's not your kid! Grin If your own kid looks amazing then you can afford to have an affectionate chuckle at any howlers!
Original poster
Daisydrum · 12/05/2021 13:30

@4PawsGood See this is a prime example of how bad they can look. Looks more like an advertising campaign to me. Everyone all over the place. Not a nice smart school photo.
I would Not display this in my house.

OP posts:
Original poster
Daisydrum · 12/05/2021 13:31

@DandelionRose I was usually the one looking the wrong way! Grin

OP posts:
motherloaded · 12/05/2021 13:34

I think the worst was in a friend's school. Some genius decided to put ALL the children and blur the face of the sensitive one.

And SELL the photos with the blurry face, unless you were the family of said child.

So the entire school was made aware of these children as the first thing everybody did apparently was figuring out WHO was blurry.

Of all the solutions to protect a child, that really was not the one.

comebacksun · 12/05/2021 13:38

That sample looks exactly like all my kids's school photos. In one of my daughters', her hand looks deformed, so was it photoshop gone wrong?!
I do actually find these collages more interesting. The problem is they're so long, I can't really put them in an album. (I don't hang them on the wall)

FloraFauna27 · 12/05/2021 13:40

Due to COVID, this year the class was photo was just everyone’s individual photo from early in the year in a line! I think I would prefer the collage!

PetuniaPot · 12/05/2021 13:41

Hopeless sizing/ shape.

MargaretThursday · 12/05/2021 13:41

The other thing is that they often seem to let some stand with their friends. Which is fine as long as the class naturally divides into friendship groups of 4 (or whatever they've chosen)

So you can pick out the ones who are with their friends and those who aren't. And those who haven't really got a friend in the class. You tell by their uncomfortable expression as they've asked to put an arm round/sit on top of etc.

WorkWorkAngelica · 12/05/2021 13:42

I'd much rather the traditional kind! Pretty sure that's still what the schools here do, I've never seen one of those collage ones.

CorvusPurpureus · 12/05/2021 13:45

I had to 'photograph' my tutor group by taking a screenshot of them during a Zoom registration the other day Hmm.

It was not very successful - this year's year book is going to be a right mess. Bed hair, closed eyes, face pulling, kids who'd ignored the directive to plonk themselves against a neutral wall so there's a pile of teddies/unmade bed in the background...

4PawsGood · 12/05/2021 13:47

[quote Daisydrum]@4PawsGood See this is a prime example of how bad they can look. Looks more like an advertising campaign to me. Everyone all over the place. Not a nice smart school photo.
I would Not display this in my house.[/quote]
Really? It’s just a nice memory for your children. Does it matter how ‘good’ it is?

DandelionRose · 12/05/2021 13:53

Captain Good point, except I wish they'd start with the youngest years first because they are more likely to get messed up faster! It seems they start with the Juniors and work their way down so the Infants don't get done til later (after play, after messy classroom work, sometimes after lunch or right at the end of the day).

motherloaded · 12/05/2021 13:54

I had to 'photograph' my tutor group by taking a screenshot of them during a Zoom registration the other day

😂 brilliant

motherloaded · 12/05/2021 13:56

I had to 'photograph' my tutor group by taking a screenshot of them during a Zoom registration the other day

😂 brilliant

HarebrightCedarmoon · 12/05/2021 13:56

YANBU, I don't care for that style. Photographers tried that one year, everyone hated them and they went back to the traditional style the following year.

Most individual photos are shit though anyway, I can do better on my phone.

DappledThings · 12/05/2021 13:57

Really? It’s just a nice memory for your children. Does it matter how ‘good’ it is?
It doesn't look like a nice memory though. It looks like a memory of being made to stand in a weirdly forced and awkward pose with random props.

It's actually that it's trying to look "good" that I don't like. The whole class, with the risk of some looking the wrong way or a bit scruffy or whatever just looks so less awkward as it isn't so sanitised.

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