Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We buy them because the class pic goes in the yearbook, so I make sure my kids are photo ready. And also it sucks to be that kid that didn't get any pics when they are passing them out. Like your parents don't love you enough to buy them. I only order the cheapest package.

WTF? I hope my kids are secure enough to not let 25 seconds of passing out photos determine their worth in my eyes?

I buy the pics, but I only order the digital copy so I can make my own prints. It's way cheaper that way and I can get all the 5x7s the grandparents want.

WTF indeed. I guess you've never been the only kid to stand there and not get the envelope handed to you while all the other kids did. Guess 7 year old me wasn't secure enough. I wonder why?

We buy them every year.
OP, maybe your kid gets nervous with the big crowd. We have done retakes twice with great results. That might work better for your child.

Once in 4th grade. The original was meme-worthy, I keep a digital copy for fun. It was so ridiculous that I called life-touch and told them not to waste time printing them as we would do a retake.

Once in 8th grade. It wasn't terrible but his hair was on his forehead so he appeared to have a unibrow. We are keeping the digital of that one for fun too.

I vote for buying the cheapest package. For that, you have to go online as the ones on the envelope are much more expensive.

School pics are not meant to replace professional photoshoots, if that is your thing. It is a right of passage and they are great to look back on.

We have one from 2nd grade where he is wearing a jacket. At first, I was upset that they didn't make him take it off. Then my son told me he kept it on b/c he thought it looked cool. It is now one of my favorites.

Just wait till they get older and take the sports team pics. The poses will have you laughing and rushing to buy them for posterity.

Anonymous wrote:We buy them because the class pic goes in the yearbook, so I make sure my kids are photo ready. And also it sucks to be that kid that didn't get any pics when they are passing them out. Like your parents don't love you enough to buy them. I only order the cheapest package.

WTF? I hope my kids are secure enough to not let 25 seconds of passing out photos determine their worth in my eyes?

I buy the pics, but I only order the digital copy so I can make my own prints. It's way cheaper that way and I can get all the 5x7s the grandparents want.

School portraits went obsolete 10 years ago. We have high quality camera phones now, and easy mail order printing.

I always buy the cheapest package. So funny to look back on over the years.

Do kids still pass them out? My DS never mentioned it. Occasionally I would get the 5x7 package for grandparents, but for the past couple years DS looked awkward and stiff like OP described. Now we just get the yearbook for memories and leave it at that. Our phones take better pictures, and online printers are waaaaay cheaper than the school photographers.

It's a shame because that's a lot of effort for mediocre results.

We buy them because the class pic goes in the yearbook, so I make sure my kids are photo ready. And also it sucks to be that kid that didn't get any pics when they are passing them out. Like your parents don't love you enough to buy them. I only order the cheapest package.

I stopped pre-ordering the school photos after they would beg for pre-order so they could get the cool backgrounds, and then refuse to do retakes when they turned out badly.
Now I don't do a pre-order, they get pictures with the standard background, I only order if the proofs turn out well. I do order the class photo.

No, we buy them every year. They're free to get done, and a little package only costs $15. I love the "standardization" to see how the kids have changed year to year. I don't hang them prominently in the house or anywhere else --I agree, they're too awkward and stiff for that--but there's something about them that I just can't not buy at least a few prints!

I buy them BECAUSE they are terrible! That’s what school photos are supposed to be. I don’t buy many, but I now love the awful photos of me in elem school and want my kids to have them too.

Is no tradition sacred??

Heck no. Our school photos are cheap (under $20 for the lowest package) and I love seeing them in all of their awkward glory. And she loves looking back on the class photo and seeing how her friends have changed.

I never buy them. I would rather have fun pictures of my kids doing something or somewhere interesting....rather than posed in front of a weird fake background.

Our school switched from Lifetouch to some other company this year, and the drop off in photo quality is very obvious. I could have written your post, OP. Both fall and spring pictures were abysmal. We skipped purchasing.

Yup. We just do a pro session with the family separate

My kid is reasonably photogenic (we have plenty of cute photos of her, both posed and candid -- more than we could frame if we wanted to), but her school photos are always hideous. She's not hideous, but the photos are bad. She always looks super stiff in them, often her hair is mussed somehow, and she never has a natural smile, or really even a smile at all -- it's this thing where she bares her teeth but in a way that looks uncomfortable or scared, not happy. She's also very rarely actually looking at the camera. They are awful!

They also started doing this thing where they take the photos in front of a green screen and then you choose the background you want. But they very obviously look green screened. That old standard gray marbly looking backdrop would be better than any of these fake backgrounds, which look unnatural.

So I've stopped ordering the school photos. We just frame the photos we take and then periodically get professional photos done (we found a photographer who did a few great photos last year for around $120, so not an insane amount, because a grandparent wanted a "professional" photo, and they are really charming and worth the money).

I always thought I'd be the sort of parent to get school photos every year and maintain a collection, but turns out I hate them and I just don't bother. Anyone else?