So by now I’m sure you have all dutifully completed parts one and two of my “Getting More Photos in Your Book” series. Now you’re ready for the big guns!
Gone are the days of having an elite band of photographers hole themselves up in the yearbook room and come out only for pep rallies, games, and a sporadic head shot. Now you can take advantage of the dozens–or even hundreds–of photos that other people on your campus are taking. Teachers, parents, students–they all have cameras in their hands and why shouldn’t those be included in the yearbook as well? Consider for a moment where people are with their cameras:
Teachers/Staff: in-class projects, at dances, teacher appreciation days, field trips
Parents: field trips, Halloween, first day of school, graduation, dances, athletic games
Students: athletic games, dances, class competitions, senior breakfast, 8th grade picnic, after school jobs and TONS of other places
Getting these pictures from people outside of the yearbook classroom can sometimes be a big challenge. Burning them to a CD is one fine alternative. Another is to use an online repository like Flickr or PhotoBucket. Since these are both public sites, you should set up a new account with the adviser as the approval administrator and as many privacy controls as possible.
Meanwhile, Herff Jones customers have eShare at their disposal. This proprietary program works much the same as the public photo sharing sites, but is 100% private, allows the person uploading to give you names of the people in the photo and what was happening, and is FREE to Herff Jones schools with NO limits on how many photos can be stored. As the adviser you can set the dates that you want to accept photos (to prevent people from uploading pictures in May), download ONLY the pictures that you want to use in your book (eDesign and Y Online users can do it with a simple press of a button), and even use the site for parents to send you baby pictures to be used in tribute ads. It’s powerful, private, and did I mention FREE? 😉
Be sure to let people know HOW to submit their pictures to the yearbook. Wilcox HS in Santa Clara has little notes printed on card stock that say “Caught You” and explain that the person was “caught” taking pictures and here’s how to share them with the yearbook. Student staffers keep these cards with them, ready to hand out at school events or whenever they see people with a camera.
Besides the obvious benefits of getting more people to give you their photos for the yearbook, you’ll also find a couple of added bonuses:
- Students become more invested in the yearbook and more interested in buying the book
- More students will consider applying for yearbook the next year
- You can be more selective about the photos that appear and not just settle with the blurry ones
Do you have a clever way of getting more photos in your yearbook? Add your comment and share an idea!