I Believe In Bad School Pictures

This post is very long in the making. I imagined it in the springtime, following the second batch of school picture taking. What, you ask? Your school takes school pictures twice a year? Yes. Yes, we do.

Usually, I forgo the spring package because one bleak grayish  background mug shot a year is all I really need to document my children's facial development. I know lots of people who no longer pay for the privilege of bad school pictures at all because they have a friend or know so and so or take better pictures themselves. I understand that logic. Part of me envies that logic. But, I don't have that local friend or personal talent and so, for posterity's sake, I usually purchase the cheapest portrait package available.

When the advertisements for portrait packages came home in the school folder last spring, I laughed at the plethora of festive backgrounds and poses. It immediately reminded me of my own sixth grade year.

You see, my mother was also a believer in bad school pictures. Oh, back then, no parent really had any kind of alternative, but each of us six kids got the exact same package. The 5 X 7 was the largest photo desired (it hurt my feelings a bit that neither parent wanted me in an 8 X 10) and it went to a shelf of framed photos, updated every year, in my Dad's law office. There was no pleading with my mother for a bigger package, one with more wallet sized pictures to offer even more friends. Like me, I think she got the cheapest one available and always....always with the traditional grey background.

I was a bit big for my britches in sixth grade. I fancied myself...popular. My friend, Lisa, and I were kind of the rulers of the school, if you will. And she was not getting the boring grey background. She, with the help of her cooler parents who let me call them by their first names, had selected the scenic background. The one with the captain's wheel.

I had to have it as well. Even though I knew my mother would never agree to it. I remember walking to school, up the final uphill stretch along Custer avenue and taking the order form out of my backpack. I scribbled out the box checked "traditional" and placed a checkmark next to "scenic."






Even though I vividly remember my own feelings and urgent desire to have this backdrop, as well as the photo to prove that I got it, I don't remember at all any kind of punishment or trouble for getting it. I know for certain it couldn't have been my parents favorite. At the very least, there was one glaring photo in a row of six sitting behind my dad that screamed, "One of these is not like the others!"

Maybe it was to prevent my own children's urge for picture rebellion, I ordered each of my elementary kids some scenic backdrops of their own. The selection was truly hideous. Sam chose his, which makes sense because he is a sports nut, but I got the ugliest one available for Henry, which was harder to choose than you think. There was lots of colorful variety.

Their pictures came again this year and even though they aren't shimmering with sunlight or photoshopped with bright eyes and dazzling teeth, I love these bad school pictures. Probably because I really love these amazing boys.

Because I have been a very bad blogger in the past, here are all of their school photos I never posted!


From fall 2011:




Seth: Fall 6th Grade



Sam: Fall 3rd Grade



Henry:  Fall Kindergarten


The "fancy" backdrops from spring 2012:





Sam: Spring 3rd Grade



Henry: Spring Kindergarten

Last year's class photos:




Sam's 3rd Grade class with Mrs. Harper




Henry's Kindergarten class with Mrs. Henderson

And, finally, all three boys this fall!




Seth:  Fall 7th Grade



Sam:  Fall 4th grade



Henry:  Fall 1st Grade (with his transformer teeth thanks to his dentist not offering me tooth colored crowns!)