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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think school photos are a rip off?

24 replies

lisad123wantsherquoteinDM · 22/02/2010 20:30

Just got DD1's school pic back, its lovely but I only wanted to buy one good sized one for us as we are pretty broke right now.
Cheapest i can get is 4 tiny photos for £9.95 and then the next pack is £16.50 which contains one good, 2 small and 4 tiny ones!

rip off me thinks

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 22/02/2010 20:31

i think if they're nice photos then the price isn't that bad, esp if you want a few to send to family etc

but we had the same as you, only wanted a couple and it ended up being quite pricey.

ds1's first school pic was so awful i just didn;t bother getting it lol

raspberrytart · 22/02/2010 20:38

I also think its a con, you can't get the sizes you want and its expensive. We didn't bother this year (ds in nursery)but may do next year when he's in proper school. My friend who's a photographer(tempest) agrees with me!

Original poster

lisad123wantsherquoteinDM · 22/02/2010 20:42

I just want one copy of her photo, that is all! madness

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 22/02/2010 20:43

we were going to just take ds to a cheap photo place (pixifoto or something like that) in his uniform and get one done!

we still h aven't though, must do that

overmydeadbody · 22/02/2010 20:44

yeah of course it's a rip off.

Deffo not worth the money they charge for them.

It's supply and demand though isn't it. They can charge that much because they know parents are suckers and will pay.

Pikelit · 22/02/2010 20:46

It was at school photo time that I was so pleased to be a photographer! My dcs did have their pictures taken but inevitably, either they looked hideous or the pictures were taken against those hideous mottled backgrounds. Occasionally there would be a good one. But not so good that it warranted being stuck with umpteen tiny pictures in order to get two decent sized ones.

GrimmaTheNome · 22/02/2010 20:48

They are a rip off, but at least ours does a single reasonable sized one for about £8 rather than having to buy little ones too.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 23/02/2010 07:55

Ours cost around 25 pounds for two A5 sized ones and eight passport sized ones.

Tortington · 23/02/2010 07:59

the imperfections are so necessary though, yes its a rip off - but i guarentee when you look back 10 years later they are so funny.

i have one where ds1 has water down the side of his face - where he went to the toilets to stick water in his hair to spike it up - so funny.

i halso have a photo of the twins wehre dd is looking lovely with best smile and ds has this cheeky grin and a look that says 'this is so stupid' fantastic.

heQet · 23/02/2010 07:59

ridiculous, isn't it?

Most years I just buy one, scan it and email it to everyone.

TottWriter · 23/02/2010 11:54

I'll just do what my parents often did for me when my DS gets to that point. I was dressed in my uniform and stood in the back garden for a nice quick photo against a backdrop of shrubbery. Much better.

Of course, considering I may be in an apartment sans garden at that point, DS's backdrop may consist of a wall - still, better than the godawful backgrounds they trot out at those school shoots, plus I can retake it if he blinks or (as my brother infamously did in one of our own holiday snaps) does a massive sneeze.

mampam · 23/02/2010 12:03

A couple of years ago at DC's school they had a local professional photographer come in and do the photo's instead. They were really good photo's and DD especially enjoyed having them done as it was like being on a professional shoot.

They had photo's taken seperately and together. I had to save as 3 photo's cost me £90. Never again though.

mnistooaddictive · 23/02/2010 12:05

Contact the photographer and ask if they will sell you the image. I bought the high quality digital image on CD and copyright for £5. I can now print it out as many times and sizes as I like!

FatBoySwim · 23/02/2010 12:06

just take your own pic in their uniform and you can print them off for a fraction of the price, and edit etc to get a really good one.

I never buy them. Had one once with school lunch down the front of ds jumper nice.

Hassled · 23/02/2010 12:08

Last year all school photos in the land seemed to have been taken with the child leaning awkwardly over the same bit of grubby sheepskin. It was bizarre. And yes, they're a rip off, apart from the class photos which I do like.

sarah293 · 23/02/2010 12:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

AnnieJL · 23/02/2010 12:16

This is the very reason I started my own photography company - dd hated having her photo taken at Nursery and they were awful and very expensive.

I am a pro photographer so was quite surprised when MIL asked me at Christmas if dd had had a Nursery photo done as she would like a 'proper' photograph of her gd.

Sheesh!

larry5 · 23/02/2010 12:26

We have just transferred all our photographs to the computer and found a tiny proof photograph of dd taken when she was 6. She looked absolutely awful in it (like a witch)so we didn't buy the photo pack but we have now saved it to show at her 18th in July in a very enlarged picture.

stopcopyingme · 23/02/2010 12:27

Its because the companies have to bid for the job i.e. they bid £x to the school to get the job, highest bidder wins, then they have to charge the parents to get that money back and make a profit.

Thats why the photos are bad, the school doesn't pick the best, They pick the one giving them the most. Then company send the person who can get them doe the quickest.

Othersideofthechannel · 23/02/2010 12:28

Does the photographer get all the profit?

Our school makes money on the photos and it pays for the children's Christmas show.

Othersideofthechannel · 23/02/2010 12:29

x post

We have always had lovely pictures and I would have bought them even if the photographer was getting all the money.

TheSmallClanger · 23/02/2010 12:59

No, YANBU. They are a rip-off and usually rubbish. At least with a home-done picture on a digital, you can redo it if your DC blinks at the wrong moment, squints or pulls a stupid face. Although I usually keep the stupid face ones.

thehillsarealive · 23/02/2010 13:10

Luckily (i think) I know the school photographer and a couple of times i havent like the pics and she re did them. The trouble is they have 400 children to get through in 3 days and it is as quick as you get them in and out and then the siblings together etc. I dont envy her at all.

I have to say we get the choice of black/white or colour pics and they are never taken against a horrid background, our photographer uses the outside space, walls, trees, grass etc so they are a bit different to those hideous mottled backgrounds/sheepskin rugs.

This years pics i bought, i loved the one of my son, he has his hands in his pockets, leaning against a tree laughing his head off, it is so him, love it. My daughter looks like she got dressed in the dark, hair all over the place, even though it is tied up with the most angelic cheeky smile on her face.

so no, YANBU if they are bad pics, but YABU if they are decent photos.

Tiredmumno1 · 23/02/2010 14:25

Maybe you should buy the small ones, then when you can afford it, take it to a photo centre + ask them to enlarge it. Would that work out better. I think they are a rip off too. Either that or re create it and take a pic at home and get that printed off, much cheaper

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