Small School Boutique School Photography

When you think about traditional school photography what are the first words

that generally spring to mind – possibly forced, awkward, or inauthentic?

 

I have just launched my small schools boutique photography services where

my goal is to capture a more authentic version of each student. I will not force them to smile or use flash or strobe lights but rather encourage them to be themselves, whether that be thoughtful, serious, dreamy, goofy, or shy.

 

I aim to create a genuine portrait, an image that is exclusively about the student, whilst the experience for the student is a little more personal and enjoyable. It is of course still a school portrait with me going to the school and taking photographs for families except that the results are portraits that end up in a frame rather than being stuck under a magnet on the fridge until next year.

 

A lovely school portrait doesn’t have to be achieved through a photographer shouting “Say Cheese” and then “Next”. I will shoot several poses of the student to end up with 6 – 8 different portraits, in both colour and black and white.

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The result is timeless, artistic, and a little more contemporary than the normal offerings. School photographs that are works of art rather than bookmarks.

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Why small schools?

I ideally want to work with small schools as they have the flexibility to be able to offer the parents of their school a more boutique school photography service. I believe that this type of personalised school photography is more in keeping with the ability of small schools to tailor the school experience to suit their families and students. It is also a little more of a high-end offering providing something different that will be another benchmark for the school.

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How it works:

For me, it is very important to keep things simple. For my school portraits I work with natural light, so will require a room with windows. I provide either a dark grey, black, or light grey backdrop, a selection of posing chairs, (depending on the age of the student), and myself and my camera. This simple setup allows for a more authentic connection with each student.

 

Within 7 - 14 days, pending the size of the school, I will forward to the school links for individual and sibling galleries that can then be forwarded to each family where they will have a choice of 6 – 8 images in each gallery. This way the only contact the parents have is with the school which ensures their privacy and alleviates any concerns about unwanted correspondence.

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The beauty of purchasing a digital image is that the digital image has multiple uses. It can be emailed to family members or shared on social media. It also allows parents to get prints done through their favourite website or store that provides photographic printing.

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The purchased digital image is something that can be kept forever by the family and purchasing a digital image means that printing costs can be kept to a minimum for all families.