Why school photos still matter

Before working in the volume photography industry, I spent ten years as a teacher in both Australia and Finland. During that time, I watched children grow from nervous preps into confident young adults ready for the next stage of life – usually with at least one questionable haircut phase along the way.

As a teacher, I saw firsthand how much schools shape a child's life. They are not just places for learning. They are where friendships are formed, interests emerge and many of childhood's important milestones take place. Every school year becomes part of a child's story.

Now, working alongside school photography businesses through software and printing, I still see that same value from a different perspective.

On photo day, it can feel like just another event on the school calendar. Parents are trying to get uniforms clean five minutes before leaving the house, children are suddenly very concerned about their hair, and teachers are managing busy schedules while reminding students not to pull weird faces in the background.

But years later, those photos often become some of the most treasured images a family has. They capture the little things parents don’t realise they will one day miss: the missing teeth, the haircut they absolutely insisted on, the uniform two sizes too big because mum and dad were planning ahead, or the confident grin that perfectly reflected who they were at that age. Over time, those photos become more than just images. They become a record of childhood itself and a reminder of the journey each child has taken to become the person they are today.

I feel this personally as well as professionally. My youngest started prep during COVID, and while there were many experiences families missed during those years, school photos were one of the few traditions that remained. Amid all the uncertainty – and despite periods when the home-school curriculum may have contained a little more Star Wars and a little less maths than his teacher intended – that simple annual photo became a reassuring marker of normal school life and a reminder that children were still growing, learning and moving forward.

Today, families take more photos than ever before on their phones, but many of those images stay buried in camera rolls and are rarely printed. School photos are different. They tend to stay part of family life. They are framed at home, shared with grandparents and pulled out years later during conversations, milestones and the occasional gentle family teasing session.

Working in this industry has also shown me how much care goes into creating these memories. Behind every photo day is a team working hard to make the experience smooth for schools and meaningful for families, even if each child is only in front of the camera for a few seconds.

For schools and photography businesses, the focus can easily become schedules, logistics and workflows. But for families, the end result is something much more personal. These photos become part of a family’s history and often grow more valuable with every passing year.

When was the last time you looked through your old school photos? If nothing else, it is a good reminder that most of us survived at least one truly unfortunate fashion phase.