Senior Portraits: this kinda ticks me off and yet...

SahmIam · ‎04-16-2010

whatcha gonna do?

Son is having Senior Portraits done this week. First off, their site is HORRIBLE. I won't go into the reasons but it's a nightmare and useless.

*I have to pay $25 for a sitting fee that is not applied to photos purchased

*I can not find out the cost of the photos. That's because they don't tell you until AFTER you have been sent the proofs.

*You can only have a cap and gown photo with the PREMIER photo shoot which is $125 sitting fee, offers 25-30 poses, 12 backgrounds and CAP AND GOWN.

Yes, I could go elsewhere but where? Target? No more. Walmart? No more. JC Penny? NO more. Private photographer? Nope, way too expensive. I contacted the school to see if THEY had any idea how much a basic set of photos runs and I was told that it's around $200.

WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. OMG, what a racket. So, what does the PREMIER set average (you know, the one with the $125 sitting fee). She said, on average, around $2000 and up.

You know what? There are that many parents out there that actually pay that price and well....I'm not one of them. She laughed and said she wasn't either; we're the rare ones, however.

Wow.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

Pace yourself....lol There are more senior year $$$ stories to come. I remember that picture business, neither of my girls cared much about their senior pictures so we lucked out, we bought the cheapest package available. It was still more than I thought it was worth. We had no options, we had to use the school's photographer.

SahmIam · ‎04-16-2010

@chrystaltree Yep. Gotta use them unless your kid was out sick or something on all the makeup picture days.

Hmmm........ lol.

DrakesMomma · ‎06-02-2010

As a photographer, please check with a couple local ones in your area. You may be surprised the cost may be less than you think. So many people now don't want physical pictures. And for me that is a big cost.

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

Senior pictures ran about $600 for each of my kids years ago. They are between the ages of 38 and 44 now, so that was at least 20 years ago.

Senior rings were expensive too, and oh yeah, proms and the cap and grown for graduation, plus a graduation fee ( forget what that was for)

It's not cheap.

nun ya · ‎03-09-2010

My daughter had the standard one done for the yearbook at the studio the school had hired. . But, had a local guy who was enrolled at the Art Institute take her senior pictures. They turned out great. Look local.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

If you decide not to go with the school pictures, will he at least get to have his picture in the yearbook?

I'm sure once the day arrives you will be able to get a nice shot of him yourself to have enlarged.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

I did my son's senior photos in 2015. His school yearbook accepted them so that wasn't an issue.

I'm not a particularly gifted photographer, but I wanted quite a few venues that meant a lot to me/us, I wanted to get as many shots and poses as I wanted, not what a photographer wanted to do.

I have to say I am so happy I did it this way. The pictures turned out great (when I went to have them printed I had to sign a release that they were my work, because they looked like a professional did them), I got to make great memories of the places we went and the silliness we experienced to get the right shots and smiles. I got to get dozens of poses at each venue, I got to go every place I wanted and the only cost was printing at Walmart, what I wanted.

With today's digital photography, I find very few occasions that I would pay for a photographer anymore.

SahmIam · ‎04-16-2010

I was wondering about what happens if you miss all the makeup sessions; can you just supply your own?

Guess what? NO, you can't (I called the studio). Apparently this group does ALL the photos for ALL the HS in my county. Someone asked if the student gets their photo in the yearbook if they miss it....nope, they don't. Puttled out my sons and next to the name and their senior quote is a female or male stick figure drawing in a frame.

Wow again.