Photography That Makes Parents Stop Scrolling
The single most effective image in school marketing is a happy child, mid-laugh, looking at the camera. We take those — properly, safely, and by the hundred.
Photography That Makes Parents Stop Scrolling
The single most effective image in school marketing is a happy child, mid-laugh, looking at the camera. We take those — properly, safely, and by the hundred.
Nothing else in your marketing works until this is fixed
Every school we start with has the same conversation somewhere in the first month.
We suggest a poster for the local nurseries, and there isn't a photograph good enough to put on it. We set up an advert, and the only usable image is four years old. We rebuild a website, and the pages are strong but the pictures are of empty corridors and the front of the building.
Photography isn't one of the jobs. It's the raw material for all of them.
If you're short of images, fix this first — because the poster, the advertising, the website, the prospectus and the social media are all waiting on it.
You probably recognise at least three of these
- The same six photographs, on every page, for years
- Children in them who left in 2022
- Backs of heads, because it felt safer
- A phone snap from sports day, blown up too big
- Stock images of children who've never been near your school
- The local paper asks for a picture by four o'clock — you haven't got one
- A job advert that makes a warm school look like a car park
- Nothing at all of Reception, which is the class parents study hardest
None of that is anybody's fault. Nobody in a school has a spare day to photograph it properly — and phones aren't the problem. Being in the room at the right moment is.
What we shoot
Pupils being pupils
Natural, joyful shots of children learning and playing (these are the images that make admissions marketing work).
Your school at its best
Buildings, classrooms, grounds, displays.
Early Years and Reception
The images a prospective parent studies hardest, because it's the class their child would join.
Staff headshots
A consistent, friendly set for your website and newsletters.
Events
Open days, performances, sports day, anniversaries.
Aerial and drone
The grounds, the field, the space you've got. Flown by a qualified, insured operator when the site is clear.
One shoot, and everything it feeds
Your website, every page of it. Your open day posters. Your Facebook and Instagram advertising. Social media all year without scrabbling for something to post. The prospectus. Press and local media — when a journalist asks, you say yes instead of no. Funding bids and governors' reports. And staff recruitment, which is as hard as pupil recruitment in a lot of places, and where a warm photograph of a real classroom beats three paragraphs about ethos.
One shoot. Two or three years. Most of your marketing.
How a shoot actually runs
We plan the shot list with you
What you want to show, what you're short of, and the pictures you've wished for and never got round to.
Consent is settled first
We work from your existing lists. Someone who knows the children stays with the photographer. Any child who shouldn't appear, doesn't.
We work around you
Lessons carry on. We're quick and quiet, and children stop noticing the camera in about ten minutes — which is when the good pictures start.
You get the library
[TBC — turnaround and number of images]
What you actually get
All the rights
Everything we shoot for your school is yours, to use anywhere, for as long as you like. Not licensed back to you. Not restricted by use.
That isn't the norm in school photography — worth asking whoever you use.
A library, kept four years
We hold a copy for four years so you can come back for something you've mislaid. Then it goes.
A defined period, not an indefinite archive of other people's children. Your DPO will prefer that answer.
Every format you need
Web-sized for the site, full resolution for print, and crops that work for social and for paid advertising.
What it costs
Worth setting against what it replaces. One shoot covers your website, your posters, a year of social media, your advertising and your prospectus. Buying stock images for the same jobs costs more and convinces nobody.
Who takes them
We work with several photographers, most often Rafael Bastos.
Rafael's school photography began in 2011, when he was asked to photograph St Andrew's in Lambeth — the school in our published case study. He's been photographing schools ever since, in the UK and South America. His background is photojournalism, which is the right training for this: the job is to catch something real, not to arrange it.
Steve and Nathan shoot for us too, and we film on the same visits where it makes sense.
School Marketing Works are very lucky to work with Rafael Bastos — he's an exceptional photographer. See more of his work →
If you want the detail, we've written up what makes a school photograph work — and the ones that never get used.→
Twelve years with the same school
Our longest-standing photography client has been with us since 2014.
"We've worked with Rafael and Steve for the past twelve years and their images amaze me every year. Finding small beautiful things within our school that helps tell our story."
Jayne Mitchell, Executive Headteacher, St Andrew's CE Primary School & Christ Church Primary SW9
"I love the work Rafael produced for us over the years. He captures our school beautifully. We are more than happy with the results."
Pauline Thomas, Headteacher, Holy Trinity CE Primary School, Tulse Hill, Lambeth.
Questions we get asked
How much does a school photography shoot cost?
A standard day-long shoot starts at £950. That includes the day plus the editing and delivery of all images, plus storage for four years or until you ask us to delete them. Some shoots cross over to two days and can be more complex, but we never find our charges exceeding £2000 even then.
Who owns the photographs?
You do. Every image we take for your school is yours, to use anywhere, indefinitely. Always ask this — not every school photography arrangement works that way.
How do you handle photo consent?
We work entirely from your existing consent lists. Someone from the school stays with the photographer, and any child who shouldn't appear doesn't. If you want to go further, our blog post on school photography covers what the ICO actually says about lawful basis, which surprises most schools.
How long do you keep our images?
Four years, then they're deleted. You can ask us to remove them sooner.
How disruptive is it?
Very little. Lessons carry on. Children stop noticing the camera within about ten minutes.
When's the best time to shoot?
When the school looks like itself and the weather is decent — autumn or early summer. Not the week you need the pictures.
How often should we do it?
Every two to three years, with a smaller top-up if something changes: a new building, a new uniform, a new nursery.
Do you do drone photography?
Yes, usually on the same visit, with a qualified and insured operator.
Book a shoot before your next admissions season.
The best time for photography is when your school is in full swing — not the week you need the images.
020 8830 7831 [email protected]