Once upon a time, high school seniors all had their yearbook pictures taken against a blue marbleized background, just like everybody else on picture day. Maybe they posed with chin in hand or had a halo of backlighting, but their portraits were all pretty much the same. One day, an ambitious but anonymous photographer saw golden light streaming through the leaves of an oak tree outside his studio, and he had a revelation: posing a senior there, under that tree, would make a pretty sweet portrait. Later, he pulled a log up to the tree, so seniors could sit on it. A few brought their dogs.
Self-expression and freedom of choice have significantly altered the business of senior portrait photography. “We’ve seen a change over the last five to seven years in what students are looking for,” said David Peterjohn, a senior director of business development for Lifetouch, a national chain whose Prestige Portraits division is devoted exclusively to photographing high school seniors. “They’re looking for more variety in their poses—both vertical and horizontal pictures, outdoor and indoor shots, with multiple sets. They are having four or five clothing changes, and bringing in props that show their personality.”
A survey of recent yearbooks dug out of sock drawers gives evidence of this rich pageant. Today, students bring their pets: dogs, cats, or, say, an iguana or a prize bull. There are young men with their guitars, and also the xylophone player and the rock drummer who wish to be photographed with their instruments. Students pose with their Harleys, their BMWs, and their pickups. They surround themselves with athletic equipment or cheerleading paraphernalia. They create moods with different backdrops: There are “urban” back-alley doorways (shop students?); a pueblo-style setting with adobe walls and pottery (especially popular lately); or a discotheque conjured with colored smoke and dramatic lighting (eighties revival?).
There will always be seniors who don’t bother with a portrait (the truant), or turn in a tongue-wagging snapshot (class clown), or go for the bare-minimum basic package (late bloomers). But the other end of the spectrum has grown more extreme. “They spend a lot of money on these portraits. It can be upwards of a thousand dollars,” said Jeff Kocur, a language arts teacher and yearbook advisor at Hopkins High School, where senior portraits for the yearbook are due this month. “It’s a pretty drawn-out ordeal for some.”
Cretin-Derham Hall, the athletically inclined Catholic high school in St. Paul, saves its students from such agony and venality. It has always had strict guidelines regarding its yearbook photos. “For girls, a white or cream dress shirt. Boys wear a dark tie, dress shirt, and dark sports jacket,” said Theresa Haider, an English teacher and yearbook advisor. “We have one photographer that students can use free of charge for the yearbook.”
It appears that Cretin-Derham Hall is now leading a back-to-basics counter-trend. “Schools are getting to where they want just head-and-shoulders portraits for their yearbooks,” said Beth Johnstone, who has operated Johnstone Photography in Minnetonka with her husband for the past sixteen years. “The six main schools we do pictures for want head-and-shoulder studio pictures—no outdoor scenes, no props, no full-body shots.” It turns out that Hopkins High is now a client. Last year it required head-and-shoulders portraits. “A lot of students resisted it,” said Kocur. “But parents liked the uniformity and consistency.” Of course they would—parents are totally boring. Kocur, however, pointed out something essential about the nature of a yearbook portrait. “The fact that they played football is not important. It’s a portrait; we want to focus on the face, not the extracurricular elements of their lives. The football thing will come through elsewhere in the yearbook.”
“As a school we want to put our best foot forward with the yearbook,” said Haider. “The kids obviously have the right to get any other photos they want taken.” A Cretin-Derham Hall alumna, she’s come to her own conclusions about self-expression and freedom of choice in senior portraiture. “Today, some of my senior pictures look so 1995,” she said. “I was wearing a bodysuit with a vest and jeans. But my official yearbook picture is much more reflective of me as a student and young person. You can’t really date it; it’s just a nice picture.”
Just a nice picture is, well, nice, but why would parents and teachers want to rob their children of the opportunity to laugh at themselves and their fashion blunders twenty years hence? The answer is one of the great enduring injustices: Adults are, it is true, just so totally lame.
—Julie Caniglia
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