Most of you have already taken and received your senior portraits, but you still need to select which portrait you would like to appear in the yearbook. Please follow the instructions below to select your yearbook portrait; we also have a few reminders about our upcoming events and their deadlines!
Yearbook Picture Selection
Favorite the portraits you like using the heart button at the top right corner of each portrait; this should cause a red “Yearbook Selection” button on the bottom left corner to appear.
Click on the button and select which portrait you would like to include in the yearbook.
However, a lot of people have been having issues getting that button to appear; if this is the case, email through https://www.portraitsusainc.com/contact to let the portraits company know which portrait you would like in the yearbook (each portrait is numbered).
Self-Submitted Portraits
We would also like to remind seniors that the deadline for self-submitted senior portraits is TOMORROW, Friday, February 26th, at 11:59 PM. If your portrait is rejected, you will have until Wednesday, March 3rd, to submit the final portrait. Thus, we encourage you to submit your portrait as soon as possible. As a reminder, please follow the guidelines on this document when taking and submitting your self-submitted portrait.
Senior DirectoryThe Indicator is also collecting students’ contact information to include in the yearbook directory, which will allow students to keep in touch with each other after graduation! We invite seniors to fill out the following short form by Monday, March 1st: https://forms.gle/wp4UtTYppezVUVTj7.
We have received updates from the studio; there are now portrait appointments available until February 20th. If possible, please sign up for an in-studio appointment through the following link: https://seniorportraitsscheduling.as.me/STUY.
If you would like to retake your portrait, please sign up through the following link: https://SeniorPortraitsScheduling.as.me/STUYRETAKES.
We have also decided to extend the deadline for self-submitted senior portraits to Friday, February 26th, at 11:59 PM. Under the extended deadline, if your portrait is rejected, you will have until Wednesday, March 3rd, to submit the final portrait. Thus, we encourage you to submit your portrait as soon as possible. As a reminder, please follow the guidelines on this document when taking and submitting your self-submitted portrait.
Regarding the requirements, we specified lighting based on the knowledge of our own photographers, more specifically those who have taken professional classes on photography. We also specified lighting in the case that parents wanted a specific requirement to adhere to. However, although we stated all of these requirements, we will generally accept portraits that resemble the sample ones included in the portraits requirement document, especially since we have no means of checking adherence to the suggestions in the document. The lighting requirements are merely suggestions to ensure that portraits are not too yellow or too white (since providing the specific watts for lighting helps us give you an objective set of instructions), but we understand that the document may have given the impression that these were mandatory. We understand that most students do not have professional photography equipment at home, so any effort to simulate the studio lighting (whether with desk lamps or iPhone camera flashes) would work!
We would also like to note that Ms. Ingram sent these requirements to both senior students and their parents on the same day. As for the app-based tools, we encourage students to edit in the way they feel most comfortable, as long as the photos remain high resolution and still meet the visual requirements of the document. There are several app suggestions linked in the document, as well as video tutorials about editing on YouTube. We invite you to consider exploring these options, but if you have other tools you feel more comfortable with, please feel free to use those instead! If you need support editing, we are happy to edit for you. (The only reason we ask that students edit themselves is that we cannot edit all 500 portraits ourselves.) In addition, we specified in the document that if you have a similar background to the blue background we linked, you may use that instead, thus eliminating the step for editing.
Regarding specificities about posing, we specified "30 degree orientation" in the document, but we do not expect students to sit exactly facing 30 degrees. An estimate is okay; we only added that specification to give students a general sense of body orientation, but we will not reject your portrait if it is slightly off. We would like to reiterate that the requirements in the document are specific because other parents would like more detailed guidelines about submission, but they are only suggestions to ensure that all portraits are standardized. If you do not have a collared shirt and tie, or if meeting the lighting requirements is not tangible given your circumstances, it is okay!
In summary, if your child is able to take a portrait at home that matches the lighting (regardless of technicalities), pose, and attire of the ones in the document, we will accept it. We suggest that your child submit a portrait to us to the best of their ability, which we will review keeping the current situation/circumstances in mind.
We apologize if any of our instructions seemed unhelpful or inconsiderate; we are merely trying to maintain the formality of the senior portraits section of the yearbook, which is the only formal portion. The specific requirements are included for the parents that requested detailed instructions that they may simulate, but we do not expect everyone to have access to studio-level photography at home.
Regarding your concerns about wanting your child to be in the yearbook to maintain a sense of normalcy amidst this pandemic, we fully understand, as we are also seniors and felt this lack of "senior spirit" this year. However, we have tried our best to revive this spirit; for instance, we have plenty of rolling "Spirit Day" submissions (which your child may submit to), which are much more informal and will dedicate a larger portion of yearbook pages to photos. We have been working with Senior Caucus to host events; we hosted the Christmas Movie Screening back in December, and we have recently brought back the "second-term senior" stickers that would have been distributed in school. Furthermore, we have been actively gathering photos for our sports teams and school clubs, so if your child is part of any clubs around school, there is a really high chance you'll find him on club pages too! We are upset that we lost the senior experience too, and we have been working to simulate that virtually, though we know we can never truly reproduce what we would have gotten in-person. We apologize for the lack of opportunities to participate in senior events, and we will continue working to bring more meaningful events to the senior class. Our work for the yearbook staff--from coordinating events for senior spirit to writing applications for funding to alleviate financial stress--is funneled towards producing a memento for everyone to treasure for decades to come. We know how important this is to you, and we will move forward with your concerns in mind.
It is our intention to produce the best yearbook we can, especially since our class has been through so much within our four years at Stuyvesant. We have received many emails addressing different concerns, so we thought it would be best to provide more specific instructions rather than a vague set of guidelines. We understand that this situation is difficult for everyone, and we apologize if the document implied that we were overwhelmingly strict. We do hope to standardize the formal section, but we are also flexible with portraits as long as they meet the general requirements!
1/29/2021
The Stuyvesant Indicator thanks you for waiting so patiently for the self-submission option for senior portraits! Our studio portraits will be concluding soon*, and we are excited to release the option to self-submit portraits for the senior section of the yearbook. Please follow all the guidelines outlined in this document. Please note that the deadline is Sunday, February 14th at 11:59 PM. (If you need more time, please let us know so we can plan your portrait accordingly.!
The guidelines are not perfect, and we understand that all families have different circumstances and available resources for this portrait. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding self-submissions, please feel free to contact us at indicator2021@gmail.com. We are open to suggestions and would be happy to clarify anything you need!
*If you are still interested in taking studio portraits, the last day open to registration is Wednesday, February 10th. (Please sign up via this first link if this is your first sitting and this second link if this is a retake session.)
We look forward to seeing everyone's amazing portraits soon!
