Joyelle Van Eron Cameras, smiles, and yearbooks, sound familiar? It should– welcome to picture day. It’s a day when your image goes down in history, one picture that determines how people look at and remember you years later. It shows who took a bad picture, who has a great smile, who remembers picture day, and who cares about their photo. During an interview with Christopher Chu, a junior, he explained that he doesn’t usually remember Picture day, except when someone else reminds him. On the other hand, Stephanie Racker, a freshman, talked about how she dresses nicer than she would on a regular day. Some students take perfect photos, others eyes closed or about to sneeze. But is picture day necessary? Every student had the same answer to that question, no matter what grade or gender. They all said that picture day is important, it unites the school, it’s a day where everyone’s included, it’s fun, and years later, we’ll all look back at our old yearbooks and reminisce. It’s a part of our culture, and maybe it’s not necessary, but it sure is a lot of fun. However there’s another perspective, a perspective that comes from behind the lens of the camera. Sophie Furlow and I interviewed Eric Bussing from Stuart-Rogers Photography. We asked about the best thing anyone’s ever worn, Bussing saying that, “It would be the little boys all dolled up in suits and little girls in Sunday dresses. I just think it’s so adorable.” In addition, Mr. Bussing said that seniors used to wear fun crazy hats or glasses. When we asked him about who remembers picture day, he said that the number of girls who tend to not remember is the same as guys, but girls usually care more about how they look. He explained, “boys are boys,” they just come and take the photo. The best parts about his job include not having to be behind a desk and getting to be outside to shoot sports. There are downsides however, such as having to get up early in the morning, and it takes a long time to get somewhere and back, especially with traffic. The contrasting views of the photographer and the subject on picture day are very different, although they share the experience of having fun in the process. Maybe you’re the photographer, maybe you’re the student, or the teacher, but we all have to take the picture. It’s a task that we all are a part of, nobody’s better than anyone else. We all are a community, working together to create something beautiful and whether we appreciate it or not is up to us.]]>