Yes, our marching band tried Picateers for the first time this summer.
First off, they do ask that you have a minimum of 100 kids to shoot.
Then you work with your Picateers consultant (their customer service ROCKs) on a calendar of events: the shoot, (make up day for kids who can't make it), processing the photos, the upload, the ordering window, and then delivery.
Picateers does have some criteria on how to shoot the photos and they give you a nice training DVD(they have your best interests at heart), and ask that you submit a test photo, so they can give you some pointers, if needed.
Do your shoot, delete the photos that you do NOT want, and then upload the rest.
It would be helpful if someone taking the pictures has some idea on how to shoot decent pictures. I wouldn't recommend a novice with a point and shoot camera.
You need to start about 2 months before your estimated delivery. Add in extra time if you want photos for the holidays.
Overall, our experience was great. I had one parent contact me a week ago wondering where her photos were. Their customer service department was right on and discovered she didn't click through the ordering process. The parent was happy, I was happy, the band was happy (they got a nice check as a fundraiser).
Oh, and their website is secure shopping, they use Paypal as their SSL.
Our high school marching band tried the Picateers program. The quality of the photos and momentos were spot on. The momentos arrived at our door step really quickly, and the group photo order arrived at the school right on schedule. My relatives will be receiving Picateers photos in their holiday cards for sure!
Yes, photo day can be a little stressful. But we had two Dads both with cameras and it went fairly quick.
The only glitches were (very small):
When ordering, the website can be a little tricky and I consider myself in the intermediate user stage. Maybe since our entire band was visible to all, I had a couple issues where the screen locked up (after multiple purchases) and I had to log back in. I also got caught in a couple loops, had to close my browser and start over. Only one parent complained that they had trouble ordering (probably an internet comfort level).
It needs to be stressed that before the big photo upload, the coordinators choose their best photos (and delete the undesirable ones first). Or possibly that was in Picateer's instructions! LOL! Unfortunately my photographer forged ahead and uploaded his entire photo card without reading the instructions and it created a lot more work than it should have.
For a first try, I really liked the program and will be urging other groups to try out Picateers, too. The prices were comparable to a regular school portrait program (and in my opinion turned out better than the school photos).
It was a nice fundraiser that offers something that parents really want to buy. And we brought in over $150 for the band.
Bottom line: I would definitely recommend Picateers for sports team, music group at the middle or high school level.
My kid turns 17 next week (yikes) and I noticed the amount of photos of her in our album really declined when she hit 13.
The Marching Band kids really loved getting their picture taken (which is rare for some teens) and it is a really nice reminder of the Band experience that I will keep for years.
I saw this too but really wonder if it is worth it. Any volunteer who has helped with the logistics of picture day knows what a headache it can turn into. I would much rather let the professional photogs deal with all that then try to wrangle a group of seven year olds into smiling, etc.
Perhaps it could work in a small school or a middle school setting but I wouldn't even think of broaching this in a 550+ student lower el school. JMO.
Hello, I Was Wondering If Anyone Had Ever Tried This Picateers Portraits. It Was In The Fundraising Boolet That Pto Today Sends Out. They Say You Take The Pictures Of The Kids Like Fall Portraits And You Keep 25 To 50% Of The Profits. All You Have To Do Is Digitally Send Them Through Their Website. Sounds Too Good To Be True? Right? Any Thoughts?
Summer
