Almost every professional school photographer from coast to coast touted this little automatic wonder as the solution for yearbook advisers. Some even added a free point-and-shoot as a signing bonus.
Fall 1999
The young lady singing the praises of yearbook was highly enthusiastic and oddly familiar. Students watched in amazement as the wild and crazy gal made a very convincing case for buying a copy of the 1999 yearbook. Broadcasting from the school’s central control room, the extremely popular video infomercial reached every student in every classroom. By the end of the day, everybody was talking about the yearbook and about how cute Brian Thomas looked in a dress and high heels.
During my first few years as yearbook adviser, I wanted to have control over everything. I did not want the students to have too much responsibility for fear of mistakes and errors in the yearbook. As a result, the yearbook process became cumbersome and overwhelming. It took up a large part of each school day and, frankly, the better part of my life.
Place the dominate photo, repeat the shape, contrast the shape, add additional photos, place captions, place the headline and copy block and, whew, you’re done.
