My DD's school photos are awful..........................

[Fimbo]

so awful in fact that DH is refusing to buy them, especially as we have taken better ones of her ourselves. Help! I feel awful having to take them back to the school office and say I don't want them - anyone else done this before?

I did this with Dd1's last school photo as they were awful.
Dd was quite upset because I kept Dd2's and the ones of the two of them together.

In the end I just thought, whats the point of having it if I won't put it up.

yep - did it with ds's nursery photos one year as they were dreadful. They're so expensive there is no way I'm buying them if tehy aren't good.

yes! if you dont want it dont have it.

Thanks Nutty - you have made me feel better.

Thanks all - glad we are not alone!!

Oh God,don't worry about it.
I take most of them back.

I don't need a cheap cardboard framed photo taken by someone with the artistic flair of a tapir to feel good about my kids.

My DD looks ferocious on hers - know what you mean Fimbo, I just couldn't not have one. have ordered 2.

I always felt obliged to buy them till last year, then I found out that LOADS of other mums take them back! I do keep them if they're nice but how many photos do I really need of the ds's in scruffy uniforms with fake grins?

I didn't buy last years because dd's picture wasn't up to much. I meant to get her all tidied up and in uniform and take a better one myself, but didn't get around to it. We take tons of pictures anyway that are better. I bet you do too. Don't feel badly about it.

Years ago I went over the course of a year with dd as a baby and had a series of photos done with Olan Mills. This was before digital cameras were widely used and everyone had access to good photos on the spot.

I can remember feeling really pressured into buying more pictures than I could afford. They really played on my guilt feelings about the pictures being 'so special' and how I had 'just this one chance' to buy them and how they'd be destroyed by such and such a date if I didn't. They certainly know how to pull at your heart-strings, but if they don't look excellent, there's no point in keeping them and they do cost a lot for what they are.

dd1s are awful but unfortunately dd2s are gorgeous - cant buy one without the other!!

but if they are both crap then I take them back

you dont have any choice in getting them photographed do you? why should you be forced to buy them and make money for some crappy local photography company

I went to Olan Mills and they were shit.

In the second session, DD played up and instead of being able to deal with it or re-schedule it, the photographer just cut the session really short and took some bloody awful photos of DD yelling and was then very surprised that I didn't want any.

I only ever keep the class photos, DSs always manage to pull the most godawful faces when they have them done at school. Don't feel pressured to take something you'll only hide in a drawer!

if you want to keep one and send one back, take the child whose piccie was rubbish to pixifoto when they are about. they are expensive for the packs, but only £5 for the first one they take. i was very pleased when i used them

i kept ds2 one even though it looked like he had helmet hair that was curled over his ears! but i kept it because it was his first school photo and i wanted it as a memento. it was from nursery.

funnily enough teh same thing happened with ds1 first school photo (again nursery, not the same one though) he used to hate going at first and would scream each morning, so when he had his photo taken he was all red eyed and blotchy skinned, and we still kept it, but i have sent back ones since. for example i refuse to buy the group class ones.

ooh I like the group class ones

She looked like something left over from Halloween! It's not the money aspect, dh just doesn't agree with paying for something that you are never going to look at again (or there again, perhaps he could hand them out to future boyfriends to frighten them off!) I am going to bite the bullet and hand them back today, that's after I have been to the bookfair of course........

Luckily we don't have to hand ours back, we just get a colour leaflet with all the options listed and a small print-out of the actual photo so if you decide not to order there's nothing to give back.

Now that is a sensible idea Annh.

Personally, I have never known anyone to hand them back, at my dd's school it seems to be the done thing to buy them, whether you like them or not. He he I will be the first (at least among dd's peers parents.

DS1's nursery (and his school) don't get sent home with a 'pack' of photos- they get a 'sample' one - with an order form to rder whichever "pack" you want - some are framed, some unframed, some include boomarks, and passport sized ones etc etc.

DS1's school has his photos a week on Wednesday and you can take pre-schoolers in at 9am to have group photos done - so we're going to take DS2 in, get a picture of both of them and then order the biggest pack they've got ........for Christmas present

I refused dd's pic last year as it was so dreadful. This year it wasn't much better but I thought she would be upset if I bought ds's and not hers so I got it. Then I got a note in ds's home/school book to say "Sorry, 'ds' hasn't got a photo this year as he refused to sit still".

Just my luck!

I sent back DD's nursery pictures this year. In everyone - 8 shots in total, so photographer could have attempted to get her to smile instead - she was pursing her lips and shrugging her shoulders so she looked like she had several double chins.
Am suprised at comments re: Olan Mills. I didn't feel pressured into buying more, the session was fab, and DD sparkled! Maybe I was lucky with the photographer and the studio.

I haven't bought any of ds's nursery photos.