Senior photos are mandatory and taken at son’s school. A week before his photo I took out my 1980s HS yearbook and showed him my photo. I gave him one piece of advice…I said, “don’t be THAT guy!” We laughed, I cried, he went and got a haircut.
U of Rochester is on our list for their BS/MD program.
DH is volunteer co-photographer for the varsity swim team, where his big lenses are put into use for those action shots. But D is a very challenging person to take portrait. Those smiles are not natural for her! Thank you @4beardolls , for the reminder… I contacted two of portrait photographers based on friends recommendations and am moving the process forward, hoping to complete by Aug 30th!! I like black and white classic too, so I hope they include some of those.
I have no idea about senior pics. Time to investigate…
@itsgettingreal17 Don’t let senior photos become one of those “how come you never told me about this?” moments. We’ve had plenty of those in our household.
~X(
S is one of those kids who always looks like he is grimacing, not smiling. My husband is the same. It is soooo hard to get a photo of S with a true smile, and almost impossible to get the whole family smiling at the same time. I was hoping that S would get his braces off before senior year, but that isn’t looking like it will happen. Since we don’t need fancy portraits for the yearbook, maybe I’ll wait to get portraits taken until closer to the end of senior year.
My daughter is a big time blinker. Even if there isn’t a flash. Produces some very funny pics sometimes. And taking official ones can be challenging.
Our seniors all go thru 1 central photo group. We just got the packet last week, have not looked thru it. Son was “whatever” about them.
One more week of craziness left, club lax,final exams, lax tourney over weekend, lax banquet, more finals……done!
Had a discussion with son about future career decisions last night, and he said that anything that made “bank” was appealing to him, and was considering a job in the hedge fund industry. Champagne tastes! I told him working in that industry is pretty demanding, and he said that most jobs are and he might as well try to get paid handsomely. He wondered what the point of working for peanuts was. Ha. Oh, to be young again. My wife and I are not involved witht the financial services/money management industry in any way, so we wonder why he is so inspired to go Gordon Gecko on us. I guess we’ll have to explore that career path over the summer with some further research.
my S never smiles for photos i.e. doesn’t show his teeth, but he was all smiles @ SciOly nationals which was a big surprise. I joked with him that he was over smiling 
The whole smiling/blinking thing is a problem in our family too. That’s why natural photos taken when they least expect it are so great. I guess that’s why good photographers make the big bucks, they can make you feel more at ease.
If a school has it’s own application AND the Common App and you can choose, which do you pick and why?
@RightCoaster – if the questions on both apps are the same, I would choose the CA because why would anyone want to enter the same info twice and run the risk of a typo? If school’s own app includes different questions or allows for opportunities to provide additional info, then I would choose school’s app, if applicant had additional info to upload.
@RightCoaster Some SUNY schools have their own App and use the Common App. For those, we will definitely use Common App because its will save hours of time and I really don’t think they care which you use. Would love to hear more opinions though.
I haven’t heard anything about photos yet. I looked in the yearbook, and the background is the same as the regular ID photos used in the yearbook for the other grades, but the guys are in suits. I suppose they sign up for a time but I don’t know when. I’ve seen batches of professional photos on FB, but mostly for girls. I don’t know whether professional photo shoots are a thing for boys here.
DS already won’t make it to the scheduled day where they turn in forms and get ID cards and their schedule, because we will be on vacation until Aug. 16, and that day for seniors is Aug. 11. He’ll have to go to the freshman day, I guess. School doesn’t start until Aug. 22.
DS’s acne seems to be clearing up gradually, so giving it some more time is probably our plan.
Back in my day, girls had the choice of a blue velvet drape, maroon velvet drape, or light blue feather boa style drape. The feather one looked so weird, but some girls chose it for their yearbook photo.
Kentucky told us last week that they do not care if you use the Common App or their specific app. I would think that is true for most schools that have their own app but also attach the Common App. Though probably best to check with specific school to verify.
DD14 does not smile naturally in photos (or ever, really) and was opposed to the whole idea of senior photos, so we found a local photographer that had several samples of “serious” or nonsmiling seniors in her online portfolio that looked natural and appealing at the same time. In the end, the photographer was able to get several with natural and beautiful smiles, but some of my favorites are those that show her unsmiling. One nature-y pose has been called the “Hunger Games look” by a BIL, but it’s the way her face usually looks and is an absolutely gorgeous shot. (Have you all seen the bitchy resting face meme? – that’s DD to a T and it’s worth a YouTube search if you have a nonsmiler.)
Thank goodness, we’ll have more leeway with DS17.
@IABooks …D and I could be the poster children for RBF lol!!!
Will you have to search some of those poses.
Google answered my question…it wasn’t easy to find on school website. A designated studio (Prestige/Lifetouch) and encouraged to take it over the summer but have until December 1. Will see when D wants to get it done this summer and get it scheduled. Thanks ya’ll!
PSA: TO ALL PARENTS OF SKINNY GUYS
(sorry, i’m a gazillion pages behind to tag!!)
i JUST found grown up mens elastic waist, working drawstring with a real fly cargo shorts in a size small. at target. by wrangler. i forget if i’m allowed or not to link, so go to targetDOTcom and search for “Wrangler® Men’s Elastic Waist Performance Cargo Shorts”. i cant begin to tell you how excited i am over this since i stalk the boys depts for the adjustable waist size 18’s, and apparently have a lot of competition for them since they are hard to come by these days. my skinny man didnt try these on yet so i cant speak to the doofus factor at the moment, but he will need to make it work…bird legs or not.
since i 
you all, i’m going to add actual measurements of the mens small to save you the trouble in case they are too wide leg for your guys New/unwashed. will be happy to update after i wash them for shrinkage if helps someone.
Mens Small
Waist 28" untied–these can easily cinch down to the low 20’s.
Hip: about 38" right below zipper
Rise: 12"
Inseam:10"
Bottom of leg opening: about 10"/flat so 20" around
total length: about 22" long
my store had dark gray, khaki and an odd red (i’m not that desperate!) and it looks like they may have more colors online.
i have no idea if they are sold elsewhere. I’ve never seen adult shorts with both an elastic waist/drawstring except for leisure/basketball types. we have a few boys 18 ones from urban up! from kohls like this and they really, really work for us so to find them in mens was quite the earth shattering moment in my life so i felt the need to let you all know too.
now to try to catch up to todays QOTD.
Ugh the dreaded RBF - I have learned to smile more - I was told in high school I looked like I wanted to kill people in the hallways between classes (I always feel like I’m smiling on the inside!) :-L