School wont let my seniors in the Yearbook

[HotHolly]

Apparently, 1 photog in town has an agreement with the school district about sending seniors to him and only him to get their senior photos. The 1st thing seniors are told at their senior assembly is for photos go to ABC Photography - its the biggest part of your senior year.

Short version. I have had a few kids come to us, and lots of their friends love the images and have been calling.

Problem: The school will ONLY let photos from this other studio in the yearbook.

Have you ever heard of this? Its a major issue, b/c my seniors will be cut from the yearbook. To appear in the yearbook - they MUST go to this guy according to the school. Do you think there is anyway to bypass the school? How do I fix this... It will totally kill our senior shoots. (They dont get a free photo for the yearbook - they have buy a session and prints from this other guy in order to be in there.)

I know school contracts are insanely competitive, but I've never heard of anything like this where students are prevented from going anywhere else with yearbook sanctioned extortion.

Oh, and we want nothing to do with the school contract side of things - we're not looking to steal the line 'em up and shoot 'em gig... ick!

[brad]

I remember reading somewhere that a school couldn't force a person to pay to have their portrait in the yearbook.. but maybe I mis-remember that....

[MarkM]

Holly,
It's called a Lockout Contract, and several photographers in TPPA got together a few years ago and tried to have the law changed. The contracted me to build the website.

Problem was, some photographers in TPPA HAD those contracts, so it was a conflict of interest.
No, there's no way around it, but usually, the contract photographer isn't that talented.
(Key word...USUALLY).

They have to go to the contracted photographer for the yearbook photo, but most seniors elect to go elsewhere for the more artistic work.

[jagphoto]

I don't know what district you're talking about, but I know a few people up high in a few districts that I can ask. I will ask around tomorrow.

[atnlegacy]

Seems in the Houston area, there is a HS doing that - can't speak for other schools, cause I only know about this one. Mom approached me about doing senior photos for her son, since they did not like any of the one's taken by the "school-sponsored" photographer. They HAD to choose one for the yearbook, though, otherwise he wouldn't be in the book. Guess this is a new trend?

[MarkM]

Lockout Contracts have been around for quite some time.
The school gets a kickback from the contract photographer which they use as a fundraiser. This money is more important to the school than the quality of the photos delivered.

Also, the schools feel it's impossible to make a drape and background look the same if everyone went to a different photographer.

Almost every senior I shoot has already been photograhed by the school photographer.

[LadyShutterBug]

This is how it has always been done at the high school I went to.

The studio took our yearbook pics, and then the sitting was free if you decided to take additional pics with them. Then you got proofs and had to pay for prints if you wanted them (a gazillion bucks of course). Many kids used that photog, but many also used another photographer for their senior portrait session.

I can imagine it's done for the sake of uniformity and easier communication.

[Bartman01]

When I was in HS (a 'few' years ago) you had two ways to get in the yearbook.

1) Show up at school on 'picture day' and get your picture taken.
2) Be in a shot by one of the staff (student) photographers that got chosen for the 'variety' pages.

We got our 'Senior Pics' from a photographer of our choice (or rather our parents did) and that is what was handed out to friends/family. The actual yearbook pics came from just one source.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Yeah back in the age of "film" the photographer came on campus and shot seniors all day and even Junior and Sophmores for the year book and you could buy pics from them if you wished. None of this you have to go to his/her studio for your pics.

Only thing that I can see about the lockout contracts is to outbid them on how much gets kicked to the school but then you have a boatload of clients to shoot. Now this may be feasable with a small school-say 250-300 students but for one with 1,000 plus it would be real hard to get them all shot within a 30 day time period in a full studio set up and I would go the on site/school shoot route to pump through the volumne and while you are there give each student an info pack as to what you can offer in studio/location for a package.

[HotHolly]

This is a little different than the normal issue, b/c the school is requiring a PAID session to this photog to get into the yearbook. It isnt like $20, its over $60 to just walk in the door. It creates redundant fees for kids that shoot with us. And it makes many kids not want to go anywhere else.

And this persons pictures are really bad. I'm usually nice, espically if they just started or are really trying or are good with the kids or any excuse that seems reasonable...but this person is mean, the kids dont like him, and his photos are horrible. Ive never seen anyone take so many bad photos of my daughter.

He apparently has contracts with ALL of the schools in town. We dont want to do that type of photography, so I dont care about that. Except that I havent gotten 1 school photo of my daughter that I would want to buy in a few years...The preschool used someone else.

I just need to figure out how to get my kids into the yearbook without paying double fees. I thought about paying his yearbook fee for our seniors.

Anyone got any other ideas?

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Move to another school district

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

I just need to figure out how to get my kids into the yearbook without paying double fees. I thought about paying his yearbook fee for our seniors.

Anyone got any other ideas?

School contract photography has been around since before WW II.

Back in the '80's we decided to break the local contract and got our attorney to write a letter to the school board. I don't remember the exact wording, but it suggested that "requiring" the students to use only one photographer was a violation of anti-trust laws and we would be willing to test their contract in court. The letter cost us less than $100.00. Very shortly after that we received a reply from the school district attorney stating that the yearbook would accept work from any photographer as long as it met the yearbook specs. Tux for guys and drape for girls, certain background and lighting, etc.

We submitted work for several years which required us to purchase a new drape and a new tux every year because they changed colors each year. Finally it just became a hassle and we tell the kids to go to the contract photographer for yearbook only poses. I think the fee for this is less than $10.00.

You should be able to get a copy of the contract from the school district under open records laws and find out the lowest fee for yearbook only photos. I bet it is less $ 60.00. Good luck!!

The best way to get action would be to get the parents calling the school superintendant's office and complaining. After 50 or so calls you will get action

[KeepsakeGirl]

I recall back in the ..ahem early 90's during my highschool years that only TWO photographers images were allowed into our yearbook. They wanted the class images to look the same -- boring I know!

BUT they did sell individual PAGES for the seniors...pricey I know, BUT if your students want your cool shots in the book I"m sure they can go that route!

[ShutteredEye]

Originally Posted by KeepsakeGirl

I recall back in the ..ahem early 90's during my highschool years that only TWO photographers images were allowed into our yearbook. They wanted the class images to look the same -- boring I know!

BUT they did sell individual PAGES for the seniors...pricey I know, BUT if your students want your cool shots in the book I"m sure they can go that route!

Early 90s....that wasn't so long ago....


Damn I'm getting old.

[HotHolly]

Thanks Don - that is very helpful info. I'll have to get my hands on the records.

I only found out all this info this past weekend. We were photographing and event and one of our seniors was waiting tables there. She mentioned that she wasnt going to be in the yearbook, and spewed a bunch of info. Glad we ran into her. This guy has a choke hold on all of the schools that I wasnt aware of.

Im guessing he didnt give her the bottom price either. Getting the records should cut to the chase. You think the school will just provide a copy?