We've been shooting our photos outdoors in our school garden or framed near a beautiful blooming bush or tree. We happen to be in Central California so the weather is pretty cooperative in September/October. I imaging you can get some beautiful backgrounds in the fall in areas with 4 seasons. We use the natural light in the morning with 1 large light reflector held by a parent to prevent any shadows or bright reflections.
for those of you who've tried this approach, how did you go about it? Did you buy/rent lights? We have zero budget for that at this point. But it looks like for fall photo's you wouldn't need lights or backgrounds.
It sounds like it's worth a shot (ha ha get it? shot....)
Our school of nearly 600 students used Picateers last spring for the 1st time. It was a trial run before our fall portrait shoot. We only took portraits of our graduating students (approx 150), and with only one full day's worth of "work", we raised over $2200! We are excited about the prospect of a much larger return shooting four times the number of students. We spread out the portrait days over a week (you can do that when you manage your own schedule and not be dependent on an outside vendor). Having a photographer from within who knows most of your student body is also a great plus as we can really capture the kids' personalities better than the canned poses of the traditional companies.
The customer svc is exceptional. They respond immediately to any concerns you may have and work with you to get the most out of the experience.
I highly recommend Picateers to any organization trying to raise funds without truly "fundraising"!
I first used Picateers last Spring in 08 and I have to say their customer service has gone above and beyond my expectations. I first met with Amitesh from Picateers at the PTOtoday show in Marlboro, MA. He followed through with a promise and we received an excellent photo kit that we couldn't have afforded so we were able to get started - ours to keep.
The process is easy and with help from Amitesh and then Steve who handles the technical support they always follow through. I am east coast and they are west coast, but using email, we are able to communicate easily and they provide fast responses.
We will be doing our second fundraiser with Picateers this fall which will be a "Friends & Family" photo shoot for all the schools in our 1400 student district. We will take group shots and family portraits during school lunches and also on a Fall Saturday for families.
Last Spring we had some great shots of two friends with their skateboards and helmets and a couple of girls with their drums. By having our volunteer photographer take four shots of each individual, group, or family, you get some great shots. Our photographer was great with the kids and by the forth shot usually had them all smiling. He was very impressed with the help he got from Steve and the technical crew who helped him take better shots after sending in a few test shots.
The background that came with the photo kit helped the pictures of the kids just pop. Adults could not believe the difference between our school's traditional photos done by Lifetouch and the photos done by our volunteers with the Picateers expertise. I am still hearing this year what a tremendous difference there was. The website was very easy to use and so convenient. If you do your part, you will find that Picateers does their job really well.
