I asked. Boy, have we. Of more than 400 respondents, 69% said always and 26% said sometimes. Only 5% of people never buy them. Interesting, I said, andWhat I found interesting wasn’t that we think they’re too expensive but if we think they’re too expensive, why do we keep buying them?The Twitter poll provided some clues: 67% cited sentimental reasons, while 26% felt they should. Maybe, I speculated, it’s a value judgment. Good parents, whoever they are, buy school photos.
“I feel like there’s a good reason they exist and are the way they are, still, after all these years,” he says. I immediately recognise this as true: my children’s photos look just like mine look just like my mum’s. “You like how constant they are. There needs to be that consistency from year to year so you can compare.”