Ella Gomes, a junior at Arlington High School and an intern for YourArlington.com, brings the story of Picture Day, an annual tradition, into the 21st century. To gather students’ opinions, she used social media to get the numbers from the survey. Then she asked students about the day and took some photos. See what students said.
CLICK. The camera light flashes and clicks before my eyes as I prepare to get up from the small, wooden stool I had been seated on to have my annual school photo taken.
During that camera flash (and, unfortunately, a good part of the time leading up to that flash), I had been thinking: “Whatever you do, do not blink during the photo,” “does my hair look OK?” and “This one second snapshot of how I look is going to be sat on my grandmother’s mantel for the whole year (which of course is basically forever), no pressure!”
A similar pose
Throughout childhood and time spent in the education system, many Americans find themselves on a similar seat, in a similar pose — head tilted, smile wide, try to make an incredibly posed photo look incredibly natural — with similar thoughts racing through their minds. Now in my junior year at Arlington High, I have experienced this year after year in the town’s schools.
When I asked 61 other Arlington High School students what they thought about Picture Day, 16 percent of them said they liked it. An expected yet abundant 84 percent of students responded that they disliked the annual custom.
Of course, we need identification, but it becomes very stressful because the pictures are very uniform, and the poses are not very relaxed.
— Anoushka Oke, junior
Students who favored the event maintained that they enjoy having a day to dress up, photos to look back on or they simply don’t mind the day in general.
I like Picture Day, because I feel like it’s a good way to see how I’ve changed over time. It is an easy but cool way to see someone grow up.
– -Caleigh Lyons, junior
Reasons for disliking the day depended on each student. Many perspectives seemed to recur. Some were about the long lines and the smelly gym (called “The Pit”) you have to wait in during the Picture Day process, as well as how the photos never seem to come out quite the way you hoped they would. With only one or two attempts at getting a picture, the smile you hoped would appear natural and warm often ended up looking awkward and uncomfortable.
However, other respondents took a different path and proposed an alternate route to get a photo of each student to use throughout the year. Some students suggested that, considering the photo results, students should be allowed to send in their own pictures.
I think that the idea of school pictures is smart, but because people generally care how they look and won’t like the picture they take, it seems like an effort that could be thought out a little better. Teenagers especially care about their looks, and when they don’t have control over the camera, stress and general dislike of picture day can arise.
— Riley McKenna, junior
Cameras embedded
In an age where cameras are embedded into just about every cell phone you see in the hands of students walking through the halls at the high school, taking photos yourself has become increasingly more efficient and common.
Allowing students to send in their own photos could even help boost confidence, as they will be photos the student can be somewhat happy with and photos that portray them in ways that are more true to themselves and reflect high school in a way that they might look back at a little more fondly.
Flaws with this idea remain. The photos from Picture Day are used for student IDs and the yearbook, meaning the pictures must allow the student to be easily recognizable and show the student’s face clearly. Additionally, with different photos from different backgrounds and different angles, the yearbook could end up looking less unified and consistent with the photos.
‘Awkward …’
Even today, with cameras easily at our fingertips, Picture Day still has the reputation of being an awkward day with awkward poses. Despite how photos taken that day do not turn out the best, this is a long-held tradition: Yearbooks date to 1806, and photos in them go back at least 114 years. Supplying this option of submitting your own picture might not change Picture Day’s bad reputation at all.
Most students dislike having to provide their photos in general, because of how much appearance is valued during the teenage years. Riley McKenna, a junior at Arlington High School, confirms this, stating “Teenagers especially care about their looks, and when they don’t have control over the camera, stress and a general dislike of picture day can arise.”
Lack of control leaves students stressed and unhappy with the photos, yet allowing students to submit their own photos would take away some of the school’s control over the camera and pictures, leaving them stressed and unhappy when the time comes to create the yearbook and IDs. Considering appealing to the wishes of either side would make the other consequently displeased, it seems as though this tradition of discontent will persist, even as technology advances.
Some unpleasant school experiences are shared among generations. Among this exclusive club of traditions that have stood the test of time in making students groan, Picture Day seems to fall right next to fitness tests and school lunches.
Slate, Dec. 7, 2015: Watch American Yearbook Photos Evolve Over 108 Years
Balfour, 2013: History of Yearbooks
Mental Floss, Nov. 15, 2015: See How Yearbook Photos Have Evolved Over the Past Century
This news summary, which includes first-person opinion, was written by Ella Gomes, a YourArlington intern, and was published Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019.
