[QUOTE=BiblioCat]
How are you ‘expected’ to shell out for pictures both times?
My son’s school does photos twice a year, but I only buy the individual shots once. The second round, I just buy the class photo. No one’s forcing me to buy the individual pictures again. And I only buy them because I want to - it’s not required.
[/QUOTE]
Expected by my mom. 
Usually I say, “If you want the pictures, then you pay it!” and she does. But she wouldn’t realize that she needed and wanted grandchildren pictures every few months, if the opportunity didn’t keep presenting itself.
[QUOTE=Solfy]
What surprises me is the number of people around the country that have to deal with these photo monkeys. Isn’t there some other company that other schools use? Someone please tell me that their school uses some other contractor for annual portraits?! No?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, my school contracts with a local outfit. They take the same shitty pictures; have the same shitty outcome as a national company like Lifetouch. But when we call to complain and set up retakes, they are a local call. Doesn’t mean they correct their mistakes and reshoot the dreadful, squinty-eyed monstrosities any quicker or more efficiently–but when the owners are attending the same Little League games and Project Grad auctions as the general parenting community, there is some small measure of pressure to satisfy.
On a side note, there are few greater hells to endure than sitting for the annual staff picture. Or seeing yourself grimacing in the final result.