Do you buy school photos?

[tasmo2]

I am torn about this! I do my own photos of my kids, BUT my oldest started kinder this year and just had picture day. I don't know if I should get one just for the memory of it being his school photo or not!! I know the company that does them is the same company that does the tball pics and they are horrible.. LOL What do you guys normally do about school photos?

[morgandavis]

Allison,
My kids' school does picture day two times a year.
In the fall, it is the traditional pose and you buy before the pictures are taken and get what you get. I usually buy the most basic package.
In the spring, it is a different pose and different background, and you have the option to see the pictures before you buy. If I REALLY like these, then I purchase them, otherwise I just send them back.

I am usually torn with buying them also. The packages can be rather expensive and not knowing what you will get (in the fall) is a little off-putting.

Ok, I am rambling now trying to get my thoughts together. But, I hope my 2 cents worth helped a bit.

[candidrachel]

I buy them purely on the basis that I gave a comprehensive record of each school year. The photos are always terrible and I could have done a better job myself and my husband thinks its a waste of money buying tham and can't understand why I bother.

I never have these photos out on display for people to see because they are laughable.

What really bothers me is that the photographer doesn't care what the kids look like before pressing the shutter. Once my son was crying his eyes out and another time I knew it was School Photo Day so I made sure my daugher looked neat and tidy with her hair in pigtails and when I got the proof one pigtail was in and the other was at half mast!

[tuxcomputers]

I buy them, we get to see the photos before we pay for them. We buy a large single and the class photo. I still have my school photos, I recently scanned them in and posted them on Facebook.

[tuxcomputers]

Originally Posted by candidrachel

What really bothers me is that the photographer doesn't care what the kids look like before pressing the shutter.

Try it yourself, get 3,000 kids lined up to have their photo taken in a week, by the end I bet you would be the same, sit here, click, next!!!

[AnonymousKiwi1]

I always buy their class photos, never the individual sittings. They're always awful (and with three kids it gets pretty expensive to buy those packages).
And as I've told my kids, its the class pictures that you look back on years later - to laugh over the clothes, the sticky out ears and the buck teeth, wonder where they are now, that kind of thing.

[NicoleScraps]

Yes, I buy the individual photos (the most basic package) and the group photos. The reasons being that I like that "exact same photo" from year to year showing their growth. And maybe you all didn't know, but in most cases, this is a fundraiser for the school. Our school gets 50% of what the parents pay for the photos and it goes towards playground equipment, books for the library, new computers, new..whatever they need that cannot be afforded with their normal budget. So yes, I buy them always.

[BEGM83]

Yes. It's a record of her school life.

Im gutted though because for her first ever individual school photo last year she got at the scissors the night before and lopped half her hair off......i could have cried!!

[tasmo2]

LOL I didn't even realize this post went through because it kept telling me it didn't! haha!

Yeah I am glad im not the only one who is torn! I bought his tball pics this year, and won't do it again. They were so bad and I just went out and redid them myself and framed those. And even got a little business from it.. LOL!

I didn't know it was a fundraiser for the school.. hmm... Oh well, im sure ill buy a single print and a class photo anyway!

[candidrachel]

Originally Posted by tuxcomputers

Try it yourself, get 3,000 kids lined up to have their photo taken in a week, by the end I bet you would be the same, sit here, click, next!!!

No I don't think I could handle all the abuse from dissatisfied parents demanding a reshoot!