This is a post I had sitting in my draft folder for a LONG time… I think I put off sharing it because I worried people would misinterpret. But I figured it was time to share because there seems to be so little knowledge about school photography and how it really works. At this time – I’m currently only working with one high school – who I ADORE! Now – I have worked with other schools in the past and the experience was VERY different. But my current school is just wonderful and is very good to me! So I thought today I’d share some myths and facts about the School Photography world!

MYTH: It’s not a big deal to acquire a school contract

FACT: Personally I consider that to be incredibly inaccurate! Many of the public schools in our area use a major “studio” chain for their school portraits – Lifetouch. This company holds 70% of the market on all school photography in the United States. That’s a HUGE percentage claimed by one big business. This means this business hires a bunch of temporary photographers to go around and take pictures at the various schools they hold contracts with. Because they are so big – they often offer kickbacks and things that smaller business (like myself) simply cannot compete with. (Believe me – I’ve tried gaining relationships with schools who work with this company and I just cannot afford to offer what they do.) The downside for parents and students is that often the photographers who are working for this company care more about quantity and less about quality – so the photographs you may be getting from your school photographer may not be as good because of this.

MYTH: School photography is just head shots

FACT: This may be the case at some schools, but it certainly isn’t true for all of them. One of the schools I used to work with had a ginormous list of things they wanted me to photograph. Responsibilities at that school included:
– sports portraits: golf, cross country, soccer, football, track, volleyball, basketball, cheerleading, tennis, baseball, softball, etc…
– dance portraits: homecoming and prom
– play portraits
– senior yearbook head shots
– graduation portraits
– candids of graduation, baccalaureate, spirit day, actual sporting events, etc.
Now as I said – I do this because I love these kids and their families. I love getting to know them better and seeing them excel at the things they love. But that is a long list of things to attend! And this particular school did not pay me to be present for any of these events. Plus as a smaller school, orders were limited (if there were any at all). Which meant I was working really hard for less than minimum wage most of the time.

MYTH: There’s little work involved in these shoots

FACT: For me, the work I provide to my schools often ends up being much more time consuming than even I previously anticipated. Let me explain by describing a typical shoot for one of my schools.

For a typical sports portrait shoot, I arrive at the school early in the morning. We set up and we take pictures all morning – usually 2+ hours. During this time I’m photographing a ton of kids and I don’t necessarily know any of them. So I have to have someone help keep track of the order in which I shoot each student – that way I can pair the student’s portrait to their specific order. Once the shoot is done – I head back to the studio where I pull on the images onto my computer and then go through and cull them down to the best.

I then go through all the order forms, checking to make sure each order has a payment. Checking and double checking – counting up the totals so I can keep track of what was earned for my taxes. After this – I then label each picture with the students’ name (thanks to the list my assistant helped keep for me) This helps me keep track of who is in each image and what their order is. I then have to go through and create a composite image. For each student who orders one of these – that’s a composite I have to design, which takes extra time. Additional portraits like wallets or 5x7s also have to be resized and prepped for print.

Before I send everything off to the lab, I go through one more time double and triple checking the orders to be sure I didn’t miss anyone. When the orders come back in, I have to go through them all again, sort them by name, and place each order in their own individually, hand-labelled envelopes. I deliver these to the school where they can be handed out to the students. We’re looking at easily 10+ hours of detail-intensive work just for one of my shoots for the school.

So now let’s take that time investment into consideration with this next myth….

MYTH: The school pays me

FACT: In fact, in most school contracts the school does not pay the photographer for the time they invest coming into the school. The way a school photographer is compensated is through print orders. Now say the photographer makes that drive into town and spends 2+ hours photographing sports portraits or a dance and no one places an order, that photographer does not get paid for the time they invested. I am blessed to currently work with a school that does consider these things and is super amazing about valuing my investment. But I’ve learned that this tends to be the exception and is really not common at all.

MYTH: Get a school contract and you make bank!

FACT: I don’t now why but when I tell someone that I work with a local high school, their first response is “Oh man! You must make a lot doing that!” The truth is that really isn’t the case. I generally invest far more than I make back on the shoots I do at the schools. In all honesty – I look at the work I provide for my high schools as a marketing opportunity and/or way to give back, as well as a chance to get to know the students and their parents better. I do it because I love these kids and their families!

So there you have it! A little peek at some of the myths and actual facts about school photography. I don’t know if this was even interesting to people but I certainly learned a lot after I got started that I didn’t know before. I love what I do and I love having the opportunity to work with my seniors and families more as their school photographer. It may be weird but I don’t feel like I just take my client’s pictures – I really become invested in them. I’ve loved watching my seniors grow over the years. I’ve had students who I photographed as seniors, who I later photographed their engagement, wedding, maternity, and newborn photos. I love staying with these families for the long haul. Because I really do care about each and every one of you and love watching you grow!