I don’t get it. Is airbrushing school photos a new thing in Australia? It’s been offered in the U.S. for decades. I remember it mostly being there for the kids with really bad acne. (One of R.E.M.’s albums even includes a photo of Michael Stipe with perfectly smooth skin and a large caption: “THEY AIRBRUSHED MY FACE.”)
ginevra
May 24, 2010 — 12:53 pm
I’ve never heard of schools airbrushing photos. Definitely not when I was at school (maybe about same time as you?) & not last year when my eldest had her photo done.
I kinda thought that’s one of the “charms” of school photos, completely as-is, unglamorised…
Tia aka Vintage Grrl
May 24, 2010 — 2:40 pm
Really? Airbrushing school photos?? Like our kids don’t have enough self image problems as it is? 🙁
I’m very sad….
(not directed at you at all, Kris… just the idea of this service)
Ailsa
May 24, 2010 — 3:01 pm
I have never heard of airbrushed school photos in Australia. Most school photographers can’t even be arsed getting everyone looking at the camera at the same time. They are pretty poor – a little like pixie foto or similar – just a mass exercised run by people who aren’t real photographers.
Maybe it’s because schools are publicly funded, so there’s not much incentive to make them any more appealing to the parent dollar?
Sad that we’re becoming so image-obsessed. I’m quite appalled at the thought of it!
Kris
May 24, 2010 — 3:43 pm
It was mostly offered in high school, if I recall correctly. Maybe our photos worked differently? For us, everybody got photographed to go in the yearbook. Your parents could then order a package of prints too. So it was a for-profit enterprise, mostly. And when you’ve got high-schoolers with pizza face acne, it’s an easy $5 to charge them for photoshoppery.
Bex
May 25, 2010 — 11:47 am
? thats bizarre!