Yearbook Offers Make-Up Photo Sittings for Seniors

Harvard Yearbook Publications has organized make-up photo sittings for seniors who missed earlier sessions in an attempt to maximize the number of students pictured in the publication, distributed yearly during senior week programming.

The Yearbook is currently missing the photos of 600 seniors, including members of Quad Houses, whose sitting dates started on Monday and last through Oct. 2.

“I feel I have to get an official photo for my mom and to be in the yearbook.” Shaquilla T.S. Harrigan ’16 poses for a senior portrait by Steve E. Anderson, Senior Photographer from Prestige Portraits on Tuesday, September 29, 2015. By George J Lok

Yearbook president Dennis Lee ’16 said that he “sincerely hopes” with the additional sittings, all seniors will have the chance to be pictured in the yearbook, even if they were unable to attend their original sitting.

For seniors who opt out of in-person sittings, Harvard Yearbook also offers the option to submit personal photos for a fee of $50, though only “a couple” students have pursued that option so far, according to Lee.

That fee, which exceeds the in-person fee of just $10, is a result of differences among studios, said Lee. The studio that the Yearbook contracts through might have to make adjustments to student-submitted photos in order to make details like background color consistent throughout the yearbook.

Still, some seniors said they were unaware of the exact rationale for the greater cost for submitting photos.

Will G. Tobias ’16, who has already had his photo taken, said, “I’m not 100 percent sure why it costs more money to take your own picture, but I’m sure they have a good reason for it.”

Yearbook Publications is notifying seniors of the added sessions over email and with posters, joining the several rounds of publicity the group has sent out since last spring.

Despite these efforts, several seniors said they were unaware of the make-up sittings.

Those who have gone through the sitting process, however, said that they enjoyed their sittings. Leah C. Singer ’16 said she appreciated the number of stylistic options offered, and Elizabeth F. Jacobson ’16 said she enjoyed the opportunity to dress up for her photo.

Make-up photo sittings will take place at the Yearbook Office at 2 Brattle Sq.