I have three school age kids.
Since my kids have been attending school,
I have been getting those packets of information at the beginning of the school year from whatever local photography studio has been commissioned to the task of photographing every single child with the most hideous backgrounds available.
{this year there was a video game background. Barf.}
Each year, I throw the packet away.
Straight to the trash it goes.
And every year, I feel like I have to explain to the school staff or to the photographers or to my children or to other parents why I don't buy school pictures of my children.
I thought I would throw my reasoning out there into the world
{o.k. at least to my little world}
in the hopes that maybe I could explain myself and quite possibly help another parent not feel guilted into buying cheap
{and by cheap I don't mean money cheap, I mean cheaply done}
pictures of their children that will end up in a drawer in an uncut sheet of wallets and "mini's".
Let's be honest, school pictures usually suck.
There is a whole section in awkward family photos dedicated to bad paid for school pictures.
Why? Because school pictures are awkward.
Kids get shuttled in to an unused classroom or gym that has been made into a faux photography studio for the day.
Each child has three minutes to sit on a box and awkwardly find a hand placement on their lap before the photographer starts snapping away.
Three images are taken
{four if you blink}
and then the child is sent packing stage left while the photographer bellows "next".
The portrait packages are far too expensive to be buying
{especially in multiples of three}
bad pictures that will never see the light of day outside of their paper package.
Out of the 12 background selections for my oldest son's portraits,
not a single one was a color that would match with the rest of my house.
I'm not hanging them on my wall.
Shallow?
Probably.
But does it mean that I love my kids any less?
Nope.
In fact, my kids are adequately represented in portraits all throughout our home.
We have pictures lining the walls in our den, on our entertainment center and in our bedroom.
I just choose to hire a professional that doesn't use a laser striped background to photograph our kids.
Getting professional portraits aren't cheap, but I get far better pictures of my kids.
Pictures that I want to hang on the walls.
Pictures that I want to make copies of for my family and friends.
Pictures that I want to blow up and use as art.
Show me a school picture with an outer space background that you would want to blow up to a 16x20 and then maybe we can talk.
Until then parents, I release you of guilt.
You don't have to buy school pictures.
The earth will still be spinning.
Your kids will still be represented in the school year book.
Their pictures will still be used on their ASB cards.
Take the $33 that you don't spend on {most popular} package D and save it for family photographs.
You can thank me later.
No comments