Looking back at Autumn the term our photography team did an amazing job throughout, following the planning we had put in place, shooting every day and doing it in a way that kept everyone safe in the process. School Photography as we head into 2021 feels very much as we left it in 2020, another year another lockdown!
For the school photography challenges in 2021 we have had to look hard at not only what will be possible but also what will be reasonable, given that the Covid situation looks to be a cause for concern until at least Autumn 21.
Class Group Photos 21
This year we will be leaning heavily towards traditional groups either indoors or outdoors, or relaxed panoramic outdoor groups (always depending on the good old British weather). Many of our Schools will know we are particularly good at white background composite groups, but you will also be conscious that we get the students ‘literally’ on top of each other with the photography team up close to make sure everything will look as we need it to. This may not be the safest option for this year however we will approach the season with an open mind.
School Portraits 21
We will also be accommodating many schools wanting to catch up on missed School Portraits from this academic year. Depending on the size of the school we have many shoots scheduled to do both School Portraits and Class Group photographs on the same day. We do love a challenge and have strategies in place to make this work.
School portraits that have been missed over the last 12 months may not feel important, and in real terms given the bigger picture of the last year they are definitely down the pecking order. That said from my own personal perspective as a parent who has school photographs from every year since my children started school (a long time ago) it feels a real shame that I have missed photos in 2020. Particularly as one of my children is in year 11 and this is the last of the set!
School Leavers Photos 21
For all our customers year 6 school leavers we will as always be offering a free parting gift as a memory for them to take away from their time at Primary School. Our school portal is being updated for this process right now, giving all the access to the images for approval and the options available.
Leavers Hoodies will again be available to all our photography customers this year at a discounted price via our school uniform division Loopwear. Loop have successfully run online and traditional in school methods of getting orders for Leavers items in parallel for several years now, with the web shop option now the most popular as its takes the school staff out of the Loop (pun intended) and lets parents make their choices on sizes etc from the comfort of their sofa. Perfect for the evermore contactless world we now find ourselves in.
We will be sending literature out in the coming weeks with more details on the ways we can approach this or alternatively call and chat to Ashleigh or her team on 01773 825865
School Virtual Tours
There has been a vast increase in the number of requests for Virtual tours, which has kept Jack (our videographer) and Adam (our drone pilot) very busy in the months up to Christmas. Its important for schools to note that when engaging in drone photography it’s imperative that you choose a licensed and insured provider like JS. We’ve now added the service to the website.
In 2021 we plan to have more in-depth video options available, everything from just a tour of the school facilities through to full marketing videos aiming to show more of your school prospectus, values and ethos. Learn more here or call on 01773 717984 to see what we can do to help you.
As a final note, we have reduced our office opening hours to Monday – Thursday 10-3 whilst the lockdown is in place so please call us in these times
We are really excited to start taking photographs again very soon.
Team JS
