Please excuse my language. Actually, please don’t. It’s the truth isn’t it? Parents are forced to buy crappy grad photos. What are the alternatives?! Their children just spent years working their butts off in school and when they see the results of those ubiquitous photos their children don’t even want them!
SCHOOL MEMORIES
There’s just something wrong about paying for photos that don’t show off one’s personality. A personality which was shaped by years of hard work, sweat, and (probably) tears!
I understand…really I do. Everyone wants a photo in graduation garb as a momento. However, do we really need 16 wallet sized images so that family members can take them around wherever they go? I think not! If there were a case for just having digital images…well…this is as good an example as ever.
For my graduation I decided not to buy my photos and luckily my parents agreed. That doesn’t always happen though. If you’re a parent, you want something to remind yourself that your children went to that college or university. You want something to show you’re proud of them.
But what good is a boring photo? You may as well grab your phone and take a photo of them sitting down on a chair yourself.
YOUR CHILD (PROBABLY) DESERVES IT
Personality and character is something we are always developing throughout our lives and the years of post-secondary education is almost always a big transformation. I’m sure you’ve seen the changes yourself. They now know pain, hard work, responsibility, humbleness (a few failed tests will do that to anyone), and success.
Now, I’m not saying you have to spend a ton of money on photos, but I have given you an alternative to crappy grad photos. In fact, you can even walk around with them on campus and just take some photos of them with the best camera you own. Just please…do something special. They deserve it! And if you helped pay for their education, I dare say you deserve it too!
Jonathan How is the photographer behind Made by Ten and calls Milton his home. He specializes in creating beautiful, creative portraits of real women. He uses photography (and this blog) to help them build confidence and love for themselves and creates artistic images for their homes and offices. You can see him driving around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada from portrait to fashion shoot and back again.