Growing up, there was a two-word phrase that instilled instant dread: picture day.

Dressing up, waiting in line, sitting on the stool, and listening to the photographer’s commands just wasn’t something that appealed to me. However, looking back on that “hassle” I went through from kindergarten though my senior year of high school doesn’t seem that bad anymore.

My mom did a nice job ordering and keeping our prints from all the individual picture days my siblings and I were photographed for throughout the years. When I go back and look at them now, I am grateful for her due diligence.

Don’t get me wrong, most of my portraits from K-12 are hideous. Whether it was me as a pudgy sixth grader or a long-haired junior in high school, I certainly didn’t give the photographer much to work with. But I can look past the lackluster exterior of the photo and indulge myself in the story behind it. What I mean by this is that each photo takes me back to the teacher, classroom, and state-of-mind I was in at the time. The feelings, smells, current events, and memories come back and that is pretty cool.

My school photo from seventh grade at Northwood Middle School in north Spokane.

Picture day is still relatively the same for Sloan and Beau as it was for me years ago. They still have to wait their turn, pose for the photo, and take direction from the photographer. I tell them the same thing about their school photos as I do about the pictures I take of them at holidays/special events: you will appreciate them one day.

Sloan’s official second grade photo.

The one thing different from 2024 photo day vs. 1994 photo day? The ordering process is easy! I just have to pay for the digital image.

Beau’s official Pre-K4 school photo.

To all the photographers who make a living taking individual photos at schools, thank you! You truly are capturing moments that will one day be cherished, even if the subjects don’t know it at the time. Don’t Blink.