Night Elf Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Dd17 had her senior pictures for public school taken today. They did 5 scenes and yearbook pictures (stole and cap/gown). I paid $125 just for the sitting fee. Now I have to buy a portrait package and it will cost over $300. This is the only photographer our county BOE has approved. So even if we don't buy a package, we still had to pay the sitting fee just to have her picture in the yearbook. And of course she wants some of those pictures she took today. They are all wonderful looking! She even took one with her girlfriend. How can I not choose that as one of the three poses we are allowed? I can't buy the cheapest package because it's only a choice of one pose. I can't ask her to choose just one out of the dozens she took today. I knew this was going to be expensive, but I didn't know it would be this expensive. I have to pay extra for extra sheets of pictures outside the package and they won't sell them without buying a package first. This is crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Crazy. We were allowed to use other photographers. My mother took me to Sears. Everything together cost maybe $50 tops. That seems unfair to not allow using something more affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Our school allows the kids to use any photographer they want. My son had his done at Sears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroe1 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Take the $300 and buy a good camera instead. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Take the $300 and buy a good camera instead. I'd never use it. We have few pictures of the kids growing up because we didn't take pictures. I'm not sure why, just never thought about it. I just realized I'm going to have to also buy a yearbook picture. I'm going to want a picture of her with her school stuff on and that isn't included in the portrait session packages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 If the school allows only one photographer, that is restraint of trade and I would call them on it. When my son got his senior photo done, we went for the "viewing" (aka Sales Pitch) and I about fainted when I saw the first item on the "menu"--a package of $5,000. YIKES!!!!! I had no clue. The world has changed since I got my senior photo done. Now it is like Model for a Day. I am a decent photographer and did senior photos this year just because I know that so many people are put under the gun. The school gave the requirements for size of photo, proportion of head (for the head-shot section). This is something your school's yearbook team should be able to provide for you. !!! ---edited to delete blabbermouthing content-- I know some people make a good living doing this, and that some people have the money to spend. But not everyone does, and it is a shame to me that they get excluded. The yearbook team should do a better job and I for one would raise a stink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 That seems nuts to me. When I was a kid, no sitting fee. The packages were sort of expensive for the time, but not that expensive. This is a public school? Everyone talks about how public school costs them hundreds or even thousands these days and I'm always like, um, really? How? But then people tell stories like this. Just to get in the yearbook? So wrong. I guess the kids who live below the poverty line just get erased from memory and records. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I paid the basic "yearbook sitting fee' of $25. I ONLY knew to ask for it because a friend used to work for the company our schools use. Another photographer friend is doing my daughter's senior pictures at a local lake. I'm going to end up spending about $100 in the end. It's a racket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto10blessings Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Yikes! I'd raise a stink and use a cheaper one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 One of my young friends, a wonderful photographer, took his OWN senior picture. :0) It was *very good* and is part of his portfolio now. He has a few senior portrait sessions lined up already for the upcoming seniors in his school. (BTW, this is a public school and their yearbook team issues the Requirements for Senior Photographs" to ANY photographer. That is as it should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I am not in my yearbooks and you know what? Didn't make a single lick of difference in my life and I don't care. Dh's mom spent a bloody fortune on everything. Class ring - I wore it more than he did. I wore his class ring junior and senior year. Neither of us wore it ever again after graduation. I think it's around here somewhere... Maybe. She spent nearly $200 on it 20 years ago! Letter jacket. Yep. He gave me that too. But I almost never wore it. Senior pictures by a photo pro - $300 Year book was $100 Graduation announcements another couple hundred. Prom was nearly $300 between tux, tickets, dinner, prom pics, and after party. (He bought a tux and reused it for our wedding.) We both thought it was rather insane even back then. She spent almost as much for that stuff as we did for our wedding 6 months after graduation. :o She was rather bummed I didn't go all out when the kids graduated home school. She wanted a senior picture for them and I just messaged her a picture off my iPhone. ;p 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 College girl went to a small private school, and I hired a family friend (16 yo at the time) to do her senior pics. I got about 50 poses on a CD with all printing rights for $100, and they were great. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 I didn't even think about people who can't pay the sitting fee. I wonder what they do about them? Maybe there is a basic fee that we could have asked for. That wasn't even on my radar. We went to a studio to have these done. When I had my pictures done in 1986, senior pictures were taken in our gym in front of a drop cloth, no sitting fee required. Emails were sent out about the studio's senior portrait sessions. Nothing was mentioned about submitting your own pictures. But I wouldn't know how to get my hands on a cap and gown and velvet stole which are the pictures used in the yearbook. Also, the pictures are in color so I'm sure they would require an exact color match of fabrics. i wonder how that's done when schools allow students to use their own photographers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I would ask if they would put the sitting fee toward the payment of whatever package you buy. I would also complain to the school. A lot. That is a ridiculously high fee, imo. (Dd also had her senior portraits taken this summer through the approved photography studio. If you booked in advance -- which she did --, or if you took in some cans of food to donate for a hunger drive, the sitting fee was $30. If you don't do those things, supposedly the sitting fee is $50. We just got the proofs, so I don't know yet how much the prints/packages will cost, but I'm thinking it will be high/marked-up.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Yes, they were pricey when I was that age too, and they had the same restriction. They were good pictures though. I actually didn't get senior pictures for my oldest :confused1: . We were incredibly busy and broke this year, and he decided to grow a beard, which took awhile but looks really sharp now. I do have the graduation pictures a professional took with a backdrop just before the ceremony, which includes a really good head shot and one of him going down the aisle in his gown that I love. I have the disk, so we'll order some of those for ourselves and family. No yearbook though, so that makes a difference. He's going to school locally, so we may do a portrait session then when the leaves are nice in the fall. Bad mom, I know. I have a friend who is very reasonable and has a permit for a location I'd like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamakelly Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 When my son was a senior, we had to pay a $25 dollar sitting fee and the packages were big bucks. Luckily the pics were terrible so we didn't buy them. I paid a photographer to do his pictures that we gave to family, and they turned out much better and were less. You may want to call the school and complain. We were actually refunded the cost of DS's cap and gown, something about the school district decided it was unlawful to charge parents for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Whew! DD17 corrected me. I got the pricing wrong. There is a basic sitting fee of $25 and you get yearbook photos and one scene, so you can still get a package with a picture of you that isn't a cap and gown or drape. I paid $125 for yearbook photos and 5 scenes. She changed clothes for each scene. Sorry I got that wrong. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 That sounds a lot more reasonable. Better than most options I have heard of. Glad it got straightened out. :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Dd17 had her senior pictures for public school taken today. They did 5 scenes and yearbook pictures (stole and cap/gown). I paid $125 just for the sitting fee. Now I have to buy a portrait package and it will cost over $300. This is the only photographer our county BOE has approved. So even if we don't buy a package, we still had to pay the sitting fee just to have her picture in the yearbook. And of course she wants some of those pictures she took today. They are all wonderful looking! She even took one with her girlfriend. How can I not choose that as one of the three poses we are allowed? I can't buy the cheapest package because it's only a choice of one pose. I can't ask her to choose just one out of the dozens she took today. I knew this was going to be expensive, but I didn't know it would be this expensive. I have to pay extra for extra sheets of pictures outside the package and they won't sell them without buying a package first. This is crazy! That is somewhere between insane and evil... From my local high school: We will be offering FREE Basic Headshot Session June 16, 17 & 18 from 10am-2pm at Senior High School at our studio through June 20 Basic Headshot Session will be $15 from June 22-November 1 So it is FREE to be in the yearbook, if you get in on those dates, only $15 after that. Students are free to use ANY photographer for their Senior photos to purchase (the school's YB photographer had reasonable rates and a wide variety of packages/prices) but only headshots taken in dress code from the above photographer can go in the yearbook. Sounds perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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