Great photography is immensely powerful in telling stories and bringing to life the ethos and brilliance of your school. The very first impression that your school makes on prospective parents, students and staff will be via a photograph, so it’s vital that your photography is impactful, inspiring and able to capture hearts and minds on an emotional level.
Having a bank of professional photography on file makes things much quicker and easier for all involved when it comes to producing marketing materials such as prospectuses, internal newsletters or blogposts. Great photographs can be immensely powerful tools for helping to tell stories and bringing the ethos and brilliance of a school to life.
Having worked with many schools over the years, here are our top 5 tips for obtaining remarkable school photography…
1. Use a professional photographer
Professional photographers are experts at capturing magical moments, from bright-eyed pupils with a sense of wonder, to earnest, dedicated teachers and beautiful school environments.
2. Plan well
A full schedule of activity and brief should be prepared prior to the day of the photoshoot. Being a design agency, we at Blue Apple Education can help schools prepare for this and additionally ensure that full parental permission for photographing students has been obtained. Doing this will enable the photographer to make sure everything runs smoothly on the day, and see to it that disruption to the school day is minimised.
3. Make sure your school looks its best
Ask your staff and students to be smart and tidy, and ensure your cleaning staff have left everywhere spotless. Staff should check that all those little details are seen to – that posters and artwork are up to date and hung properly, and that there’s a fresh jug of flowers in reception. These finer points will all show up in photographs and go a long way to make your school look its very best.
4. Appoint a photography assistant for the day
The photographer will benefit from being accompanied by a member of staff who can lead them around the school and won’t be afraid of disrupting a class or asking for furniture or people to be moved around.
5. Make it fun
Treat the photoshoot as something special, exciting and fun to do. If the students and staff are able to enjoy it, that will be reflected in the photographs.
Great photography is both affordable and likely to pay off in the long-term. Even a one-day professional photoshoot can provide you with hundreds of photographs that could last you for two to three years and help to attract families and quality staff to your school. That one new pupil or member of staff could pay for the photoshoot several times over.
David Limb is the founder and managing director of the educational design and publicity firm Blue Apple Education
