BEFORE PICTURE DAY
1. Your Roster: Once we’ve confirmed your dates for photography, upload your school Roster here, via the Client Portal, as soon as possible.
2. Photography Schedule: We’ll make a Picture Day Schedule from your roster and email it to you for approval. Please let us know as soon as possible if the schedule works.
3. Door Signs: We’ll mail you a Large Manilla Envelope with Door Signs that tell parents when we’re coming to your school for photography. Please display the signs in areas around your facility where parents and faculty will see them.
4. Name Tags: Also in the Large Manilla Envelope will be student Name Tags organized by class. Please distribute these name tags to each teacher to be used on Picture Day.
5. First Email to Parents: We’ll email you something you should forward to your parents about a week ahead of time that outlines how your parents should dress their children, the schedule, and what they can expect.
6. Parent Volunteers: Please ask your parents if anyone would like to volunteer on Picture Day. Laura, our Director of Operations, will let you know approximately how many volunteers you’ll need. Volunteers can really help Picture Day run more smoothly by helping students with combing hair, wiping noses, tucking in shirts and adjusting clothing, sticking name tags onto students, making sure classes arrive on time to the designated location, escorting students to the restroom, and other miscellaneous issues.
DURING PICTURE DAY
7. Location: Photographers should arrive 15 minutes before photography starts to check in. With fall photography, we like to choose a location with a great deal of variety in terms of trees, bushes, flowers, and benches. The photographers may look around and recommend the best location for photos depending on the sun and other factors, but if you’ve had photos with us in the past, you may already know the best locations and can direct the photographers where they should set up. In the spring, we usually take photos of preschoolers and K-5th grade students playing on the playground. This gives parents something different from the posed fall photos and are sometimes parents’ favorites. Parents feel that playground photos are not posed and bring out the real character and personality of their kids.
8. Name Tags: Name tags that were mailed to you should be disbursed to each teacher before the start of school. Teachers can bring the name tags to the photography location, however, if there are NO GROUP or CLASS photos, the teachers can place the name tags on the students before they leave their classroom. The name tags should be places ON EACH STUDENT’S CHEST NEAR THEIR FACE. The photographers will take a photo of each student with their name tags and then remove them for the student’s real photos.
9. Arrival: PLEASE ask teachers to arrive at the photography location at their scheduled time. This might mean that they need to leave their class five or ten minutes earlier if they have a long walk to the photography location. If they arrive late, it may put ALL subsequent classes behind schedule.
10. The Warm up: Once students arrive to the photography location, the photographers have a short routine to ESTABLISH A RAPPORT with the students – to break the ice! They line up the students and do something funny like giving them high five or saying something silly to get the kids to laugh. At this time, they’ll also wipe noses, adjust clothing, etc.
11. Group/Class Photo: If a group photo is to be taken, the photographers will line the students up on a picnic table or bench (or other). Photographers need to take a photo of the name of the group for identifying purposes, they can photograph one of the name tags or a sign with the class name if it’s been included with the name tags. The photographers will get the students to smile and take several photos of the group. Teachers are usually included in these photos.
12. Name Tags: If name tags aren’t already on the students, we ask teachers and volunteers to place a name tag on each student’s chest. The photographers will then take a photo of each student with their name tag on and then remove it. This way, our office will know who each student is and can sort them correctly.
13. Dividing up the group: If there are 20 students in the class and five photographers, each photographer will take four students.
With posed photos in the fall, each photographer will take their group of students to a different location nearby. Each student will get two poses in different locations and about 7 photos will be taken of each pose. One photographer may take their students to a tree for one pose and then to a bench for a second pose. One of the other photographers may take their group of four students to a rose bush for the first pose and then to a grassy area for the second pose. Each pose should only take a minute or two for each student. Teachers and volunteers don’t need to help make students smile, the photographers are good at it! With some of the very young children, however, teacher or volunteer assistance sometimes IS needed.
With playground photos in the spring, photographers will decide which students they will take in their group of four or so, but then they’ll usually let them play freely on the playground. They photographers will then walk around the playground and find their students one at a time and photograph them playing. Each student will get two or three poses playing and about 7 photos of each pose.
14. Absent students: In the fall, a Makeup Day will be scheduled when we’ll return to your school to take photos of any students who did not have photos taken on the original picture day. Make up day is usually the next week after picture day on a Friday. With students who were photographed, but were not happy with their photos, makeups get a bit more complicated. We usually ask the parents to call our office. Once they call, we’ll assess the reason they are not happy with the photos. If the reason is our fault, like the photographer forgot to comb the students’ hair or adjust clothing, or failed to make them smile, there is no cost for the make up which can be done at the school on make up day or at our office. If the reason for the make up, however, is because the parent forgot to dress their child, or got a new haircut or recently removed braces, etc., then we charge a $25 make up fee and photos are usually taken at our Pineville office.
AFTER PICTURE DAY
15. Photos Online: Photos are culled at our office to remove blurry ones and photos with the student’s eye’s closed, etc. They are renamed and renumbered and uploaded to our website by Tuesday of the following week. There will be a password to access the photos and then parents can search for their child’s photos using their first and last name.
16. Second Email to Parents: We’ll email you a second email for you to forward to your parents that lets them know that photos have been posted online. It instructs them how to access the photos and tells them about our EARLY BIRD SPECIAL – they receive 15% off their entire order if they order within the first ten days photos are posted online. With some schools, they can also receive free shipping to their school during the first ten days.
17. Door Signs: We’ll send you a Large Manilla Envelope with Photo Displays that announce to your parents and faculty that photos have been posted online and explain the Early Bird Special Discounts. Please post these around your facility where parents and faculty can see them.
18. Third and Final Email to Parents: We’ll send you a final email you can forward to parents to remind them that the Early Bird Special is about to expire. If parents are going to order, they should order before this period ends. Not only will they receive a discount, but the school receives a fundraiser only on orders during these first ten days.
19. Check Your Orders: You should have received a password to access our Client Portal. Through the Client Portal you can view a live fundraiser report that shows the orders that have been placed so far. You can also click on any order and view details such as who placed the order and what they ordered. Orders count towards your fundraiser if they are placed during the fundraiser period, so you should encourage your parents to order before this date ends.
20. Order Delivery: Parents usually have three choices for order delivery:
a. Email: If they order digital images, we usually email them to parents one business day after the order is placed.
b. First Class Mail: If parents have paid to have photos mailed to their home, we usually put photos in the mail one business day after the order is placed.
c. Pick up at our office: Parents can pick up photos at our Pineville office free of charge. These orders are placed in a bin on our front porch for pick up 24/7. These orders are usually placed in the bin one business day after the order is placed.
d. Mail to School: Some schools offer this free option. With this option, all orders are kept at our office until the Early Bird Special ends, usually 10 business days. They are then packages and mailed to your school in one large box. Orders inside the box are grouped by class so they can be given to each teacher and passed on to the students.
21. Fundraiser Check: Your Fundraiser check is usually included in the box we mail to your school with the “Mail to School” orders. An accounting of your fundraiser is also included.
22. Scheduling next year or next season: Please call our office as soon as possible to ensure the dates you want for your next photography session in the spring or fall.