Photographing Schools

by Guest Contributor Elizabeth Halford

School photography can be a wonderful endeavor for photographers. Once you get your system down, it can be a high income-to-work ratio. Maybe even as financially rewarding as a whole day spent shooting a wedding!  And with a fraction of the work!

Now, I know most of you readers are probably in America. And I know that there are some big boy monopoly school photography companies cramping your style. But I’ve just come out with an eBook telling you all about school photography from my point of view and I even include some really solid ideas for how you can make it happen even in the face of these Everest sized companies.

So definitely check out my eBook. But today, I just want to entertain you with the story about the first school I ever did. Feel free to have a laugh at my expense!

I have the good fortune of having a friend who ran the pre-school my son attended. And this is where it all started. I told her that I was borrowing a friend’s studio photography equipment and would like to come in and take photos of the kids for their parents. Little did I know what a gigantic undertaking this would be but let me tell you…there is absolutely 100% no better education than trying. Even if you fail. Those lessons will be permanently burned into your memory which, in my experience, has made me really solid in my current practices. I know exactly why I do everything I do and I have a negative experience to back up almost every smart business move I now make. And of course, I can sit here and tell you what not to do which will give you a leg up in your business.

I arranged two whole days to come in and photograph the kids. Day 1 was spent with the whole 4-light white seamless studio set up which I borrowed from a friend {yep, the above photo is one of the results}. There was no organization – I took children as they came and showed interest and I did a mini session with each child. Day 2 was spent photographing candid shots of the kids at school while learning and playing. I also did group photos which gave me ulcers. Group photos are not for 3 year olds and photographers with zero experience!

I didn’t yet know about professional printing companies which also means that I didn’t know how to produce school photo packets. The deal I was offering was the disk of images from both days (studio & candid) with a print release for £30 ($50). And you’re going to laugh when you hear what I did next…

I spent over £100 and three solid days…

• Sorting the children into their own folders in my computer

• …and then burning a disk with their images

• …which all had a custom printed disk label and case

• They were slipped into an envelope with a proof sheet of thumbnails printed on 8×10 photographic paper so they could know what was on the disk.

• I then went into my Photobox account and created a separate password protected album

for each child so non-tech-savvy parents could print straight from the provided URL.

• I wrote an individual letter for each parent about the joys of photographing their child

• …and then set all of this up in front of the school to personally sell to the parents on the designated day

I’m laughing out loud as I recount all of the lengths that I went to before even selling one single image. And are you ready to hear what happened next?

I got all dressed up and proudly presented the disks to the parents outside school one morning which were all nicely laid out in alphabetical order.

And then I got reamed up one side and down the other.

One parent literally said that she ‘hated’ the photos because of what her son was wearing {even though there was advanced notice that it was school pictures day}. Another parent said that she had a camera, too, and could take the same pictures. I smiled and nodded,”oh that’s great! You should do that.” She then proceeded to tell me that she was willing to pay £20 for the disk, but not £30. Another mom said, “why would I want a photo of my son sticking out his tongue?” And so much more. I sold two disks, took a gigantic loss, cried and ate my weight in ice cream and learned more than any photography degree could have ever taught me.

Lessons I learned:

• I spent two entire school days chasing kids and convincing them to let me take their

picture. Lesson: work as a team with the teachers to make it an organized event.

• I ended up with about 600 shots to sort and edit. Lesson: it’s not a full photo shoot.

Spend less time on each child.

• I spent way too much time and money producing a product ahead of time. Lesson: I

needed to find a printer who did school packs and not try to re-invent the wheel doing

something trendy.

End result:

• Number of children photographed: 57

• Sales: 2 disks (a 3.5% takeup)

This is just one experience taken out of my 23 page eBook which includes so much more information, not only about how NOT to do it but how, through great trial and error, I figured out how to do it successfully. And now you can, too.

About the Author: Elizabeth Halford is a professional photographer and blogger. She gives real photography advice in real.plain.english. Visit her on Facebook and join a community of photographers just like you!