Not So Perfect Pictures
January 22, 2009
Gone are the days of the generic, out of focus yearbook pictures where the man with the camera hurriedly snaps the picture and calls for the next student. At least it is for the seniors who, after four years of some of the hardest and most enjoyable years of their lives, have earned the right to kiss those pictures goodbye. Instead, many are opting for a more ostentatious and expensive alternative. These students trade in their distracted cameraman and not-always perfect picture. For a more personal experience and a photographer who is guaranteed to make the client look good.
Yet, somehow the desire for a good picture and a remembrance of the last four years has become an exaggerated, extravagant competition to look the best, smile the nicest, and stick out amongst the rest of the student body. Originally, senior pictures was a form of expression, a way to show “the real you” that the strangers in the hallways or classrooms never became familiar with. Today, senior photos are way to appear, not like yourself, but like the models in magazines. The hired photographer might still argue that conveying the “real you” is what senior portraits are about, but it is undeniable that they have evolved to become something quite the opposite.
This transformation of the senior picture, regardless of how ridiculous it has become, can only be expected. At Neuqua Valley, makeup artists, brand new wardrobes, and spending a small fortune are not out of the ordinary for students who make the decision to have senior pictures taken. All of this work, planning, and money are so that the final result portrays “the right” side of a student, the side that the one thousand odd other students will remember and that will stick out from all the other senior pictures.
If all the effort of pre-photo preparation was not enough, the actual snapping of the camera only adds fuel to fire. After going through the effort of planning the photo, upon walking into the studio, the client is bombarded with a dizzying array of backgrounds and endless list of props. Yet, if the whole point of taking the photo’s is “being the real you,” all the fake trees, man-made waterfalls, and digitally created landscapes seem absurd and unnecessary.
Senior pictures, once a simple memoir of high school, have developed into something immensely different from their original purpose. In an effort not to fall under the category of the generic, cookie cutter photo and simultaneously look like a model, the photos become laughably outrageous. In this attempt to stick out and avoid the oh-so-typical photo, students find themselves becoming too focused on their image and less focused on being themselves.
By Molly Leger, staff writer
