Savannah Nolan didn’t hire a photographer or even plan ahead, and her senior pictures came out just how she wanted them to.

“I always tell students to imagine you’re looking at the yearbook with your grandmother.” says Toni Fein, an art teacher in charge of the Yearbook Club, when explaining the importance of sending in photos and quotes that students will be proud of.  She encourages students to make sure the images they send in are good quality by avoiding overexposure and landscape formatting.

A senior who had great success taking her photos was Nolan.

“It was all kind of just last minute. It was just one summer evening we were both kind of bored and were like ‘oh I need to get my senior pictures done.’ I just got ready and we went.” Nolan ended up taking her photos in just a few hours with her mom. She used a small digital camera and did not have to go far from home.

“My mom does a lot of photography in her free time, so we went at what most people call ‘golden hour’ cause that’s the best type of lighting. At some points, we did kind of have to adjust posing and stuff like that to make sure the pictures came out good,” says Nolan.

Knowing someone who is into photography can be an advantage if you do not want to spend too much money on top of paying for applications and class dues. If seniors are able to get professionals, Fein explains that they will have the best results.

“Sending in an image at a low resolution- it won’t reproduce well in the book. We can try and fix it but it is hard to add pixels to a picture,” says Fein.

Since the focus of the image should be the senior, a vertical format works best. When Fein receives the images, she often crops it. The goal is to make sure the student is the focal point in the image. Photos work best where the student is not off in the distance. If the photo’s lighting can be fixed a bit, she may make minor changes but not enough to make it look too different from how it was sent in. With experience in the yearbook club, Fein knows how to make each image produce well when the books are made.

Senior, Kelley Frithsen took the same route for her portrait as Nolan, but actually ended up shooting with her iPhone X camera.

“I grew up in that Maine house,” says Frithsen as she describes her photo background. She chose a place that means something to her instead of being a random location. It’s where she spends her summers with her cousins and where she feels herself.  This made for an easygoing photoshoot where she felt most comfortable. At first, she had tried taking her photos during her August trip to Miami, but was not satisfied with the results. As for a senior quote, Frithsen is already saving references from The Office in hopes that one will stick with her and go in the yearbook.

Along with an image, seniors can add a quote best befitting of themselves. Some go with Gandhi, others quote the Breakfast Club, or even an A$AP Rocky song. Whatever they choose Fein urges students to go with what describes them best. The hope is that a classmate will be able to look at that quote and think, oh, that’s obviously (student’s name)’s!

However, we have learned from the Kavanaugh confirmation process, what is said in a yearbook does not always stay tucked away and untouched. Recently, Kavanaugh’s questionable acronyms placed in the yearbook were uncovered from his time at Georgetown Preparatory School. These findings were not in Kavanaugh’s favor, after he was accused of sexual assault when brought into the Supreme Court. Fein wants to make sure that students choose a quote that they will not regret in the future. She also wants students to represent themselves well and be proud of the results- whether it be taking a portrait with a professional or having a backyard photoshoot.