The Broader Picture of 'Picture Day'

[ask_tiresias]

As parents and students alike prepare for a new season of Senior Photos, each bringing their own differing incentives to bear, be ready for a fight. The good news is, it isn't anybody's fault. First, some background is in order: (stick with me here - it's for a good cause!)

The contexts we conceive of elites in is largely informed by the visual

Comments

[pantharos]

Nice passage.

The age old format of posing for a photo (hands by your side, big smile, etc.) has always been something of a paradox to me, very much akin to the old quips about still lifes. Freezing and maintaining an expression in mid expression seems to be an attempt to make a still life out of a life that is anything but still. The photos I most treasure of my kids are the ones that capture moments and expressions I see in their lives. A photographer who is able to elicit those genuine moments is what makes the product worth it in the end. No question.

[lydia_craine]

ya know, this just makes me think, instead of putting my children through the line for school photos with whatever company they bring in I may just bring them to you every year. They will become their own person instead of being glued to that stock blue background. I remember seeing the photos of my classmates senior year in the class yearbook and wishing my portrait was more of "me" than the typical background. There were others that were a little more creative.

as an aside, this passage also reminds me how much I enjoy your writing ;)