SCHOOL PHOTOS

In 2014 I launched the school division of Sara LePage Photography and it has grown to become my favorite days of the entire year!  I love being with children, capturing their spunky, bashful, fun loving and unique personalities!  And with kids, their personality COMES THROUGH!   SLP Schools was developed because there was a need to surpass the standard, dull, sit and say cheese school photos and replace it with something that speaks to the heart of every parent knowing that, "YES indeed, that IS my child!!!!"

How does it work? 

I photograph every child at school both individually and with their class in an outdoor, natural light setting.

I spend a few minutes with each child. Gone are the days of sit, smile, click, next. I've been photographing children for almost 15 years and do my best to elicit genuine smiles – even if it means wearing a lobster on my head. When your children are with us, we will never push them. We give gentle instructions and allow their expressions to emerge while we photograph.

Approximately three weeks after photo day you’ll receive a letter in your child’s backpack or via email (it’s your school’s choice) with instructions and a code to view your private online gallery. In the gallery you will find options. Not one picture to fill your choice of packages, but multiple pictures and a simple, easy to understand ordering gallery. We even offer a digital package for those parents who like to share their photos online or use them to print holiday cards.

What if my child gets upset? 

It happens. Some children are frightened of the newness of the situation. We do our best to comfort each child and allow them to warm up to the idea of having their photo taken. Some children like to watch their friends have their turn. We read each situation and respect each child’s needs. There are some times that we desist in favor of not upsetting a child. If you have any information you wish to share with us before photo day please feel free to inform your child’s teacher and we will do our best to integrate it into our session. This is one of the main reasons that we believe in seeing your proofs before you purchase. If you don’t like your photos, you are under no obligation to buy.

Do you photograph siblings? 

We love photographing siblings together. Please contact your school before photo day to see if scheduling allows.

What should my kids wear? 

We encourage you to let your kids dress themselves for picture day. We think it’s great when a little boy wears his favorite tye-dye shirt and puts on a tie to make it ‘fancy’. Or when a little girl decides that her polka dot dress looks magical with her striped tights. In our experience, children who have been consulted about their outfits appear more secure in front of the camera. But even more than that, it’s all part of the memory. One day you’ll look back wistfully at the silly combos and remember that favorite shirt with an ache in your heart.

What NOT to wear? 

Completely contradicting the last paragraph, we suggest avoiding clothing with lettering and/or characters on it. While Spongebob may be your son’s favorite thing at the moment, a Spongebob shirt will absolutely draw focus from his face and makes for a very distracting photograph.

How about color? 

We usually suggest staying away from only two colors: stark white and solid black. All other colors are encouraged!

Can you photoshop out the stain on my child’s shirt (etc.)? 

Try as we might, there are just some hairs that won’t stay in place or spots on shirts that can’t be hidden by cropping. While we do edit every photo for proper exposure and color before we upload it to your gallery, we just can’t retouch each photo for details like those. However, we do offer a retouching option in your gallery where you may request specific edits for a nominal fee. Edits you may request might include: Johnny’s nose is red from his allergies, can you reduce that? Or, I prefer my photo in black and white, can you convert it?

How many photos should I expect in my gallery? 

That depends. We do our best to photograph each child in multiple poses to give you as many options as possible. Some children are hesitant or frightened and in those cases we focus on making sure we get at least one relaxed expression. We continue with multiple poses only when the children are responding positively. With younger children you should expect fewer poses as we tend to keep them in one spot and aim for multiple expressions. Older children are typically more receptive to attempting different poses. If Susie’s mom told you that she had six images in her gallery and you only have three, the reason is almost certainly one of two things: either your child was struggling and after multiple gentle attempts we felt that we were upsetting him/her; or we felt we got a great expression and didn’t want to push any further. Please know that we have your child’s best interest in mind at all times.

Anything else? Please contact Sara at [email protected] with any other questions.