If you asked people what were the most memorable days of their lives, an overwhelming majority would answer, their school days. Most kids will tell you they don’t like school and moan and groan about going every day, but schools are special places where our earliest childhood memories, friends, achievements and also disappointments happen. One of the most memorable days is school photo day. We all remember the drill – ‘line up, shortest to tallest’ and then the funny man magically puts us into position and captures our class for that year. At the time we don’t realise how valuable those photos are, and will become to us. Some of our classmates will become lifelong friends, famous, infamous or simply disappear from our lives. It is only after time has passed and we pull out the photo and laugh at our clothes, silly smile and what the teacher was wearing that we realise how important school was in shaping us. In 2016 PhotoLife is celebrating 90 years in the photographic business. Tracing its origin back to 1926 to a small, family owned photographic business that took portraits and some school photos, PhotoLife is now New Zealand’s leading school photography company. PhotoLife has been run by the same family since the 1960s and this year has paid tribute to schools who have been with them for all that time by re-producing some early class photos, framing them in a presentation display and gifting these to the school. While nothing has changed in terms of PhotoLife still being a family owned and operated business solely focused on school photography, just about every other process has changed in terms of taking and producing school photos. Ian Chadderton, Managing Director of PhotoLife explains, ‘We are always researching and upgrading the processes and products that we use and we take great pride in producing a high quality product at an affordable price for schools and their families. I regularly attend overseas conferences to see what is
new and relevant for our New Zealand customers. We are more than happy to work with a school if they want to trial a new look or new format for their photographs and make sure we are meeting the needs of the school and their community.’ Gone are the days of film and darkrooms, chemicals and a ‘one chance’ shot of the class. Now with digital technology, Photoshop and wet lab printing PhotoLife are able to do their best to ensure everyone in the class is looking at the camera, not blinking, we name every student and laminate the photo for long term preservation. A great photo of a class makes mums and dads happy, they can see their child’s friends, how tall they have grown, even a record of the arm in the sling year! School Photos are just as important for a school’s archival history as well as practical applications such as the integration of children’s portraits into their student management system. For schools that have suffered a misfortune in losing their
archived photos whether to fire, flood or earthquake damage PhotoLife has been able to replace images as they ensure that all negatives and digital images are secured and stored for historical purposes. There are images on glass plates, black & white film, colour and now digital to draw on. In times of tragedy PhotoLife has also been called upon to supply news outlets with portrait photos of students (as requested by the school/parents) so that a pleasing photo is published rather than unflattering photos being uplifted from social media pages. When asking Ian Chadderton about PhotoLife’s continued dedication to the school photography business he commented that there were 4 important components to PhotoLife’s success: 1) family owned and operated, 2) specialisation in school photos only, 3) experience and understanding in working with schools and knowing how schools work and 4) commitment to the company’s heritage whilst being at the forefront of innovation. ‘Our business is all about schools and meeting their needs. My father was a teacher, my sister Karen also went into teaching
and my son Greg also taught before working at PhotoLife. We are committed to supporting schools and we do this through our support of NZPF and also every school that we work with. Student images, class images, display boards, archive books, staff photos, yearly programme planners and desk pads are all supplied complimentary to our schools. We are also proud of the fact that we pay commission to schools on all portrait and class photos to support that schools individual initiatives.’ ‘Our greatest strength is our staff and the dedication they show in making sure the photos we produce are the very best they can be. Our relationship with our schools is very personal to us and we strive to exceed their expectations every year. Our local photographers know their schools well and children will often point the photographer out to their parents when in the supermarket!’ After 90 years in the business and the Chadderton family looking after school’s photographic needs for the last 50 of those, schools can be assured that PhotoLife’s commitment to school photography is picture perfect.