Senior Portraits

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Do you want to be dead to me now?

I've seen those displays at the mall, but I don't recall seeing senior pictures among the offerings. Recent high schoolers among our family/close friends haven't done it. (Never heard of signing pictures, either. You sign yearbooks.)

I wonder if it's a regional thing that hasn't spread here yet.

Hmm, if you ever see just individual teenagers in pictures in those, those would probably be the senior pics. We all took them and passed them out. But you got your senior pics done at the beginning of the school year (so you could put your head shot in the yearbook) and the yearbooks at the END of the school year (or beginning of the next ). IT was more about writing a note to friends than anything. Midwestern tradition? I'm not sure.

Well I could be dead to you, but then who would set the time on your VCR?

[KSUViolet06]

Senior pics are the norm here. You usually did like 4 outfits and a variety of backgrounds/poses. When you went to get your pics taken, you made sure to get a headshot because that would be your yearbook photo. You also made sure you got plenty of wallets because those were signed and passed out to your friends. Must be a midwestern thing.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Senior pics are the norm here. You usually did like 4 outfits and a variety of backgrounds/poses. When you went to get your pics taken, you made sure to get a headshot because that would be your yearbook photo. You also made sure you got plenty of wallets because those were signed and passed out to your friends. Must be a midwestern thing.

Yep exactly! Often one would be a sports one if you were an athlete and I had my dog at the time in one too. Standing in water is popular right now but I didn't feel like standing in a pond...

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Yep exactly! Often one would be a sports one if you were an athlete and I had my dog at the time in one too. Standing in water is popular right now but I didn't feel like standing in a pond...

The popular thing when I was in school was the "outdoors on a swing" pic.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Hmm, if you ever see just individual teenagers in pictures in those, those would probably be the senior pics. We all took them and passed them out. But you got your senior pics done at the beginning of the school year (so you could put your head shot in the yearbook) and the yearbooks at the END of the school year (or beginning of the next ). IT was more about writing a note to friends than anything. Midwestern tradition? I'm not sure.

Interesting. I rarely see individual teenagers in those pictures -- they're all (1) family, (2) kids and pet, (3) engagement or (4) wedding.

And as far as I know, nobody around here puts their own headshots in the yearbook -- a photographer comes to school for that. But I'm sure photographers are changing that -- right up there with wedding planners for creating things people "have to have."

Well I could be dead to you, but then who would set the time on your VCR?

What's a VCR?

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Interesting. I rarely see individual teenagers in those pictures -- they're all (1) family, (2) kids and pet, (3) engagement or (4) wedding.

And as far as I know, nobody around here puts their own headshots in the yearbook -- a photographer comes to school for that. But I'm sure photographers are changing that -- right up there with wedding planners for creating things people "have to have."

What's a VCR?

Oh I'm sorry, it's like a Betamax but better.

Kind of like those big black CD looking things your generation had for music but for video instead.

[honeychile]

Don't worry, MC, it seems to be a younger trend (so if you're old, I am, too). My kinda cousin had her senior pictures taken by a photographer who was on a list of twenty-some that the school gave her. Yes, she had the floral swing (I think I developed a slight case of diabetes from that one), headshots, body shots, BODY shots, and at least ten outfits. Color pictures, black and white pictures - you name it. You could almost call them by name - Hollywood, halo, good girl, bad girl, naughty girl, baby girl, etc, etc. And being an only grandchild, they got plenty of all of them.

I think we had 8-12 poses, all in the same outfit. Top, actually, since they were all head shots only. I remember that the (school chosen) photographer freaked because I used a curling iron just before my picture was taken, and it cost him a whole five extra minutes! And because our yearbook editor was doing some sort of Hollywood glamour theme, we had to have all black and white pictures. So, while I think the current mega-shots is over the top, I guess it's better than what we had.

[33girl]

As a former yearbook staffer, I can't imagine how awful the yearbook must look with such a variety of pictures. We could get ones done by the "cool" photog for handing out but everyone had to have their pic taken by the photog the school hired or it wouldn't be in the yearbook.

You have to remember this is the generation whose parents were told that professional photos every 1-3 months were as essential as vaccinations. I was a spoiled only child and other than school pics, my parents only got professional photos taken TWICE. The 3 year old ones are ok, but the 6 month old ones make me look like Jabba the Hutt. I like Mom33's picture taking skills better, thanks.

[Kappamd]

At my high school, seniors were not given the option to have their pictures done by the school photog; you either had your own done (by whoever you wanted), or you weren't in the yearbook. The major photography studios in town would recruit seniors to be school representatives -they usually got a discount on their own seating, and would hand out discount cards around school. I think when I had mine done, I had 3-4 outfit changes, and 3-4 poses/outfit which was pretty much the norm.

I think it's really neat that they do it like that because it allows every senior to submit a photo that reflects who they are. You would think that the price would deter a lot of people, but surprisingly there were only a handful of people each year that chose not to have pictures done (which is pretty good considering the size of a typical graduating class from my HS). The yearbook didn't look "awful" at all.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by 33girl

As a former yearbook staffer, I can't imagine how awful the yearbook must look with such a variety of pictures. We could get ones done by the "cool" photog for handing out but everyone had to have their pic taken by the photog the school hired or it wouldn't be in the yearbook.

You have to remember this is the generation whose parents were told that professional photos every 1-3 months were as essential as vaccinations. I was a spoiled only child and other than school pics, my parents only got professional photos taken TWICE. The 3 year old ones are ok, but the 6 month old ones make me look like Jabba the Hutt. I like Mom33's picture taking skills better, thanks.

Senior pictures are normal in WNY - I went to the photographer that did my brother's and then later (in 2006) we went back and had a family photo done, pictures of just my mom and dad, and my brother and his (future) wife had engagement photos done the same day.

Most seniors had a headshot done for the yearbook, then a bunch of wallets. I think I ended up with 4 good ones, 2 different outfits. As part of my package they gave me a little book that I could put my friend's senior portraits in and there was space on all the pages where those people could sign. I think there were 10 slots or so so it was mostly the really "close" friends.

The yearbooks looked fine - the photographers generally sent one (chosen by the student) to whatever school and usually cropped any that weren't a headshot into as close to one as they could get, so it was pretty uniform. Because this was SOP for most schools in the area, they had it down to a pretty fine science and the 3 years I was on the yearbook committee we never once had a senior with no portrait (unless they transferred in mid-year - nothing you can do about that).

Seniors also had the option to have pictures taken with the rest of the student body, free of charge, if they didn't want to or couldn't afford a session of their own. The school photographers generally made an extra effort for seniors, giving them more shots so that they'd get the best possible picture.

My parents never took me for "baby" pictures.

[KSUViolet06]

I'll admit it, I was the oldest and my parents were really excited to have me. So I had pics taken every 3 months-ish until I was two (then only twice a year after that). Once my brother was born, then they changed to only doing Easter and Christmas, lol.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Hmm, if you ever see just individual teenagers in pictures in those, those would probably be the senior pics. We all took them and passed them out. But you got your senior pics done at the beginning of the school year (so you could put your head shot in the yearbook) and the yearbooks at the END of the school year (or beginning of the next ). IT was more about writing a note to friends than anything. Midwestern tradition? I'm not sure.

Well I could be dead to you, but then who would set the time on your VCR?

Every year when the school had the photographer do yearbook pictures, we had the option to buy a package, which usually included tons of wallet-sized photos. We gave them to our closest friends, signed the back of these, and usually wrote long notes. This was in New England in the late 80s.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Senior pics are the norm here. You usually did like 4 outfits and a variety of backgrounds/poses. When you went to get your pics taken, you made sure to get a headshot because that would be your yearbook photo. You also made sure you got plenty of wallets because those were signed and passed out to your friends. Must be a midwestern thing.

We always wore our uniforms (Catholic school), as the pics were taken at school, for 9-11. I remember my freshman year photo being really tragic, as I had tried a trendy hairstyle that wasn't suited to my fine hair. For senior photos, we had to make an appt with the specified photographer at the studio. No location shots, no props. We wore one outfit, one head and shoulders shot (maybe two for the photographer to choose from). No proofs or choices.

I have to say, some of the contemporary photos I see these days are really goofy. The "double" photo featuring a primary image with a cloud-trimmed secondary image "floating" at the top, the awkward head in a hand shot, the glamour shots with hooker makeup, the unnatural pose in a natural setting, etc. The photographer who did my acting head shots a few years ago does some really good work for senior portraits, but it's a good $250 for a sitting. Why does a senior photo need four outfits and a three-hour shoot?

All this talk of pictures made me mosey on over to awkwardfamilyphotos.com. If you have time to waste, I highly recommend it for some entertainment.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

I have to say, some of the contemporary photos I see these days are really goofy. The "double" photo featuring a primary image with a cloud-trimmed secondary image "floating" at the top, the awkward head in a hand shot, the glamour shots with hooker makeup, the unnatural pose in a natural setting, etc.

Yeah, these are the kinds of things I'm talking about that can make the yearbook look like a trainwreck.

Don't get me started on the "photos on tombstones" thing.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Yeah, these are the kinds of things I'm talking about that can make the yearbook look like a trainwreck.

Don't get me started on the "photos on tombstones" thing.

It was only ever the headshots that went into the yearbooks though, the rest were pure vanity

[AGDee]

Even in my day (and I believe that would be around the same time as MC), we got mega numbers of wallet sized prints and we signed the backs of them. I have fun with them now that Facebook exists. I scan the photo and write a comment with what they wrote on they back when old high school friends find me on FB. It's been pretty funny.

We had our pictures done by an outside photographer but there very specific directions about what the head and shoulders shot needed to look like for the yearbook so the special shots weren't in there. We didn't do as many poses and outfit changes as the current generation does but I did have one of those double exposure pictures. It was (and still is) my favorite one that we purchased. One of the pics was a good smiling pic and the other was a very thoughtful/reflective type look.

In my day though, senior pictures were still very formal. I have a hard time with some of these really casual ones. Shots of kids in jeans with bare feet sitting in a park, etc. I just really prefer the formal portrait idea. I'm sure my daughter will want some more casual shots and I may buy one or two for her to have but the majority that I purchase will be formal portraits.