YY, like most schools, does this as a fund raiser. It is not an amenity. But the portraits this year are the worst we've had in 5 years there. I asked DS why he had his collar standing up and he said that someone put it up for him- but only half of it, mind you. These are bad, but come to think of it the one year my son's skin was pink and the other one were they over-did the contrast and it looked like he was wearing lipstick were pretty bad years, too.

Anonymous wrote:Whoever does Yu Ying's pictures is horrible. End of story.

It is gross, actually. The school doesn't have a clue, as in most cases.

You pay for what you get or not.

We actually had the reverse happen this year. Daughter in public school had SPECTACULAR senior portrait. Boy in private school (just this week) brought home photos so bad we will have to call someone for a re-do. And it is not like we don't like the expression on his face or his hair is wrong - it's that the photo is 70% his shirt with the top of his hair cropped off. Whomever shot this must have shot the entire class focused on the torso. When framed, the top of his head will be sheared off. Another thing to go on the "to do" list.

My DS is in K at YY,and this year was his first great picture since he was 2!

Whoever does Yu Ying's pictures is horrible. End of story.

I just got ours back yesterday from Strawbridgde and they are HORRENDOUS. Seriously, if the kid's eyes are half closed can't you just re-snap the photo?

Yep, our DCPS uses Freed.

Just got my daughter's school photos from Freed Spirit and they are gorgeous. The packages are more expensive than her previous school (which used Lifetouch) and they are not the traditionally bad cheesy head-on shot. Can't decide if am disappointed not to carry on the "bad school pic" tradition or be happy with really pretty new ones. First world problems I guess.

If you want something different/better check out
Freed Spirit a division of Freed Photography
www.freedspirit.com
www.facebook.com/freedspirit

Anonymous wrote:Do you still get a comb?

OMG, I was in elementary schools in the early 80's and I forgot about these, one for every year! And the pictures were really bad since my mother let me dress myself.

Are schools still doing yearbooks? I thought DVDs were all the rage.

My DS's public school class photos differed greatly from last year to this year and I was shocked to find that it was the same photographer both times!
There were glaring differences from the year prior, the name of the school and logo was printed across the top, they stepped in or zoomed in closer to the children, and the color was more vivid.
I guess next year I will be a volunteer parent on class photo day!

Anonymous wrote:NCRC the elite little pre-school in CP 20-25k+ per year. The most crappy yearly photos ever. And no yearbook at all when we were there. At DCPS you have to have them done over again on retake day in November. The first one can be kind of bizzarre depending on the time of day your kid goes through.

The yearbook this past year was just personal messages from families to their little kids. Not a typical yearbook. But fear not, the photos are still crappy!

schools can choose any photographer they wish--get the pta/parents to research a few photographers and negotiate a good contract and include photos for the yearbook. volunteer to help coordinate the picture day.