Awful school photos

[ShepherdMoons]

Dcs have had their school photos taken, every year they are awful. This year they are worse, they are always taken at a bad angle and I've taken better pictures of them myself!

Dh thinks we should buy them (the proofs are online) but AIBU to say no this year? I could take a photo of them in their school uniforms and frame it (and I might actually like it!!).

My mum has a story about someone appearing twice in her whole school photo by running round the back more quickly than the camera rotated to stand at the other end of the row. That would have been in the 1940s though when cameras were slower.

Jennings did that in the Jennings books!

As a class teacher, I only know too well how awful school photos can be. In the last class photo, I looked like I was gurning and the poor boy next to me looked stoned as he was mid blink when the photo was taken. The individual ones of the children are horrendous too despite the children all being beautiful in their own way. Photography is an art but anyone with a camera seems to think they are a photographer which I think is part of the problem.

Just say no. Let the school know why, so next year they can choose a better photographer.

I agree with @balalake . The school needs everyone to actually say "these pictures are crap and we aren't buying them" or they will just keep using the same company.
If everyone just goes "oh well but I suppose I will buy them anyway" they aren't going to know.
It happened one year at my daughter's school when hardly anyone ordered them so the school asked why. Next year.... different photographer company.

I haven’t bought them for years. When my kids were young, the photos were nice and I think that’s because the photographer had to be more patient with the children. Now my daughter says the photographers are snappy and rude, they don’t get any warning the photo is going to be taken and it’s really rushed so it’s no wonder the photos are shit. I’m not giving people like that money for shit photos. I don’t really like photos in uniform anyway and I can take better ones myself.

Also, I think school photos used to be a big deal, back when people didn’t take as many photos. Now most of us have a decent enough camera on our phones and take lots of photos. I take photos of my kids at least a couple of time’s a week so to me, there’s no need for these annual school photos.

I'm de-cluttering my spare room and have just come across my niece's primary school photos which her Mum, my sister, gave me each year at Christmas. Bar her first one which she looks cute the others are well, not to be displayed. As she's now a teenager she'd be horrified if I did.

Don't buy them and definitely don't give them as gifts.

One of my son’s has dark blond hair. In his school photo he looks like he has auburn hair. There is no red in his hair at all.
We bought them from his previous school as they had a local photographer take the photos and the cheapest photo was £5. Fair enough. But Tempest can get lost with their awful photos and rip off prices. We won’t ever buy them and have told the new school why not.

Perhaps quite old fashioned but I add the passport sized ones in Christmas cards sent to extended family.

I don’t expect them to frame them or keep them (hence them being passport size and un-frameable) but I think quite a few people really like it. Often they send a letter in reply.

I guess I see it as part of keeping in touch with great aunt/ uncles and that sort of family. People who we aren’t particularly close enough to to visit regularly but like getting yearly updates.

Definitely get your own photo. You’ll look at it for years to come. The only thing is you might quite like looking back at the silly bad photo. So either way, just make sure you get something of them at that age in their uniform.

@BiscuitLover3678 why in uniform? What's so important about a picture of your child in uniform?

Probably depends who you are gifting them to?

We generally post the passport ones to people who never see my DC - in some cases have never met them. I’m not expecting them to keep them! It’s the equivalent of WhatsApping them a photo for people who are not tech savvy or we aren’t close enough to to regularly text.

We keep the larger ones ourselves and sometimes do gift the spares to grandparents, who do seem to really like them. It’s a cheap present and I don’t care if they end up throwing them away in 10 years.

I can’t imagine giving the photos to siblings (aunts/ uncles of the DC). They know what the kids look like and are happy with the odd WhatsApp photo but obviously we’re talking there about younger people in their 30s/40s. I can’t imagine what BIL would do with a traditional school photo of our DC…! He would think it incredibly odd I think. Grandparents do like them though, put them on the mantelpiece etc.

They're hideous, never buy mine but do a photoshoot with a lovely local lady.

The preschool and primary photos of my children have been pretty good. Especially in reception year.
Except the final year my eldest was there. We ended up captioning them as my youngest saying "Ha ha! I have stolen your sandwiches!" and my eldest replying "Good, they were cheese and onion."
We didn't buy them.

I always looked bad in school pictures, culminating in my year 11 picture where the photographer told me to say Mickey Mouse. He took the shot as I was starting to say mouse and I look demented. Like I've got into the special cupboard in the chemistry lab and sampled a number of the bottles.
Persuaded my Mum not to buy that one.

I never buy individual photos, only the whole class one. Might make an exception this time because their awfulness is unprecedented and they are making us all laugh to the point of tears.