"School" Photos
I hesitate to admit that for the past several years we have been paying for our kid's “school photos” that are taken in class. Each of those years I have argued against it, but my wife has steadfastly refused to listen. I have nothing against the photographers that are hustling and making a living from school portraiture. In fact, I give them a lot of credit. I know that trying to get useable portraits with just a few entropically energetic kids is a dispiriting gamble at times, let alone an entire building of them.
My argument against purchasing school photos is based on the fact that over the years I’ve bought lights, umbrellas, lenses, a camera, and photographic knowledge that enable me to take photos of equal quality myself. Why pay for them? In her defense, my wife has argued that the she wants the class photo of our kid’s with their teachers and classmates for posterity and the only way to get that has been to buy a picture package.
Well, this year (when I’d actually begrudgingly accepted defeat) my wife surprised me and suggested I photograph our kids. Last night I set up a mini-studio in our living room and fired away. I’m quite happy with the results.[1] Another bonus was that I was able to get an updated photo of all 3 kids together while we had them camera-ready and dapper.
Oh, the class photo? Apparently this year that can be purchased separately outside of other picture packages.
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I can’t recommend enough painting the walls in at least 1 room in your house light gray. I do wish I had noticed to center the rear flash spotlighting the wall behind our youngest better though. ↩