This week at daycare, it was Picture Day! so I got my kids all gussied up for the occasion. Hoping beyond hope that they made it past snack time without red stains down their shirts and crumbles of crackers in the corners of their mouths. If you recall, the last time they had picture day at daycare it didn’t go so well. Even Anya’s pictures looked like crap, so I didn’t get any from that session. I know, like we need more pictures in our house of the kids, but it is nice to have some traditional portraits to put in their scrapbooks. That and they might actually smile and look at the camera for someone else. They are so over me.
As I was filling out the form for what type of pictures I wanted, they had the option of classic (basic backdrop) or mountain stream (Backdrop of fake looking outdoors). It took me all of 0.01 seconds to make my decision on that one. If I want their pictures to be outdoorsy, I will be the one taking those, and they will be, you know….outdoors. I’ve never been a big fan of the fake backdrops, because, well, they look fake. It must be the photojournalstic picture taker in me. I’d much rather see them in the real outdoors with real live leaves, trees and real water. Wierd, I know.
In a few weeks, we’ll see what they came up with. As I was dropping the kids off at daycare they were attempting to take the infants’ pictures. When I came in that infant was crying (lost picture sale right there!) and as I was leaving the other one must have been getting dropped off when her turn came. Her daddy was on the ground trying to get her to smile at the camera, so hopefully those will turn out. The best pictures I got taken of Kai and Anya was when I was there to help.
This was in December 2005. Don’t tell the copyright police that I scanned these in…shhhhhh! I will surely go to Hell for scanning pictures, just like every other person on the planet except professional photographers. One of the reasons why, if I ever do go professional, I will probably just give a CD of pictures because people end up scanning them in anyways. People like to share their pictures with their friends and family across the country, since not everyone can come to their house to see the pictures on the wall. The only people likely to make prints from them are your close family members and you would probably buy them nice prints anyways. I’m in the minority with this point of view, I know.
When these pictures came in they showed them to all the teachers in the daycare because they thought they were so cute, which, of course…they were!
I used to be an assistant director at a child care center… and I was always in charge of picture day. I dreaded picture day. Everyone trying to keep the kids clean and happy all day. Trying to get infants portraits even though someone is suppose to be napping, or eating, or getting a bottle. Trying to keep toddlers from spilling, or falling. Scheduling “neat” activities for the preschoolers. Scheduling a “neat” lunch for the day. Then the actual process of taking the pictures. What a headache. We were fortunate to have found an amazing photographer and he rarely failed at getting a good picture.
I do not miss being in charge of picture day. Yet another job responsibility that reminds me I’m happy to be staying home now!
It’s funny to hear the parent perspective on the picture day. If you could only read the funny notes I get from parents–everything from please brush my darling angels hair 4.8 seconds prior to the photo op to please make sure his shirt isn’t wrinkled. Yes, parents…I’ll be glad to do ALL of those things for you and your child, while I also make sure each child is thoroughly entertained and educated at the same time. I do adore seeing the pictures when they come back, though.
And I could not agree more about the generic fake back-drops.
Can’t wait to see what the photographer got today!
That is an adorable photo!
I totally agree with you about the scanning/cd thing. I figure they’ll do it anyway, might as well make sure people are seeing a quality image.
Can’t wait to see how the pictures turn out! I totally agree about the fakey backdrops. And I also totally agree about the cd thing! If I ever go pro (which is a big if!) I think it makes more for sense to charge for the sitting and digital imagines, and not ask people to pay through the nose for prints! All I want is the digitals anyway, and to make my own prints.
It was nice to hear from the teacher’s perspective, too. I know that the teachers try to make sure everyone looks nice, too. They did the pictures over 2or 3 half days so it wasn’t during nap time, but Anya’s were right about the time for nap. So…after lunch…in which they served something with ketchup (?????!!!!!). Yeah. Well Anya was clean, and Kai wasn’t. As long as they are both looking and smiling I can SCAN that puppy in and fix the stains in Photoshop. Hopefully we will get them in a few weeks. Oh and Anya didn’t stand still for the photographer…big surprise!
As for the CD thing, that is quite a discussion with photographers. They don’t want you to make prints at Walmart and make their photos look like crap. The prints are where they make most of their money, not on the sitting fee. I think offering both prints/cd’s and pricing the sitting fee according to what they want to make is the best plan.