As you’re scrambling to finish pages, it never fails that something goes awry. An annual event gets canceled because of weather. Clubs end up not doing anything. The cool idea in September fails to materialize in March. You’re left with blank pages. Fill those pages with some quick content.
This post was adapted from a discussion on the Balfour Advisers Facebook group.
Day in the life spread, Hendrickson High School, 2013
1. Day in the life—Select a day, and have photographers capture everyday campus life. “One year I did a day-in-the-life spread—just sent kids around the school with cameras and we did a spread of just what happened on a typical day at school,” Kari Riemer, the Hendrickson adviser, said. “It was one of my favorite ever spreads.”
2. Family— Highlight siblings, twins or triplets. Feature married teachers who work together or faculty members who have children at the school.
T-shirts, Oak Grove High School, 2018
3. T-shirts—Create a photo collection of the countless school, club and sports T-shirts.
4. Campus hangouts—Feature the places students gather regularly. After an annual event was postponed until after the final deadline, the McNeil High School staff filled the blank pages with coverage of hangout locations. They completed the spread in less than 24 hours, running a map of the school as a full bleed photo. “We identified 13 hangouts and gave 13 staffers the job of getting one good quote from their assigned spot due the next day,” Theresa Proctor, the McNeil adviser, said. “It turned out to be one of the best spreads in the book. It was also the last year our campus looked like that because of construction beginning over the summer.”
Bucket list spread, Leander High School, 2018
5. Bucket lists & photo answers—Ask students to share their aspirations for life after high school or their ultimate to-do list before they graduate. A Cypress Creek High School’s last-minute spread ended up adding students to its book. “We did a bucket list spread one year. We created a giant banner, and kids wrote their hopes and dreams on it,” Samantha Berry, the former adviser, said. “The kids indexed every name. It was one of my favorite ‘last-minute’ spreads.”
Similar to the bucket list, a Q&A offers students an opportunity to respond to a question using sticky notes or poster boards. Photos featuring students holding up their answers will add to the content. The question could connect to the theme or it could be a generic, but interesting, query like “My life in six words or less.”
Water bottles, Suncoast High School, 2017
6. Food & Beverages—Feature best options in the cafeteria, must-have favorites around town or cheap eats at fast food restaurants on a spread. Photograph the items on one big table or feature cutouts of the different dishes. Consider a twist by focusing on one category: coffee concoctions, ice cream favors or Sonic drinks. Quotes about each item will add students’ perspectives to the book; including a headshot will create a visual reference.
7. Fashion—Focus on current trends or specific categories, like watches, sneakers or backpacks. For a historical reference point, record prices.
Winter break, Miami-Palmetto High School, 2015
8. Travel—Check out students’ social media posts to find photos from their travels. (Don’t forget to get permission to use the images.) To take advantage of unique photo content, Little Rock Central High School and Miami-Palmetto High School run multiple travel spreads in their books, featuring summer, winter and spring breaks.
9. Selfies & social media—Build a photo collection of selfies on a spread using Twitter and/or Instagram pictures. If possible, try to feature students not already in the book. Make sure to include everyone’s first and last name along with their social media handles.
English classes, Claudia Taylor Johnson High School, 2016 & Hardin Valley Academy, 2018
10. Books—Feature students’ required reading or their personal, page-turning choices. Photograph a stack of required books from different grade levels and use linear pull-outs to record student preferences.
11. City—Highlight the fun things to do in your hometown. Send photographers out into the community to capture students enjoying what your town has to offer, or search social media platforms for photos of students and their friends outside of school.
12. Game day & fans—Focus on game-day essentials or the fan experience.
Art & photography work, Aledo High School, 2018
13. Student work—Give fine arts classes some love by featuring student art work and photographs. Don’t forget about graphic design, animation, robotics and other classes that produce tangible projects.
Campus, Little Rock Central High School, 2018
14. Creative school photos—Create an environmental context and a historical record by photographing the campus using creative lighting and angles. Consider including sunrise and sunset photos, unusual angles and macro shots.
15. Big photo—Go dramatic by using one beautiful photo as a full-bleed image. Include informative copy with it, a feature, multiple quotes or a storytelling caption. A show-stopping photo could be a dramatic portrait (student profile feature), a dynamic action shot (dance team coverage), a gorgeous travel photo (spring break) or a heart-stopping moment (last-second win/loss).
All of these ideas can be turned into spreads in a day or two, but it will still take work. Divide and conquer. Split up the tasks (photos, quotes, interviews) among staffers. To save time, send staff members out simultaneously.
Regardless of which topic you choose, don’t be surprised if it becomes your new favorite spread. A last-minute spread inspires creative insight resulting in unexpected coverage and unconventional design.
So, relax. Those blank pages staring at you might be the unforeseen blessing you needed.
