Our high school photos will haunt us forever

Almost every year I have the privilege of attending my daughter’s dance competition in Yorkton. Alas, not this year. I will miss it. Not just the dancing (yes, Ukrainian dance warms my heart), but the expansive hallways of a high school filled with reams of school photos. These pictures, frozen in time, include every single person who ever played on a Yorkton high school sports team, or even participated in a social club. All taken at the peak of the '80s school photo revolution. 

It’s a delight to see how much they cared about the 1984 badminton team. Or the mixed curling team of 1989 (they got bronze). And let's not forget the 1986 all-star wrestling team.

Sometimes it's better not to smile

One wonders what kind of golden epoch this was to be the school photographer. Certainly a full-time position, complete with one’s own office and studio, and a license to snap photographs 24/7.

I can just imagine the excitement.... “On the basketball team, Jimmy? Get over to the studio! I don’t care if you sat on the bench!”

“Brad, stop smirking like that! And Lisa, enough with the hairspray! Just look at the camera and... Smile!” 

It looks like many of the students simply stared, perhaps resigned to the fact that the images would haunt them for years to come... The '80s hair, defying gravity by shooting straight up into the air; the half-formed mustache, a valiant attempt by any male grade niner; and those broad, bookish glasses that George H.W. Bush used to wear. It all looked so cool back then. 

I should know, for I was one of them. Not in Yorkton, mind you, but another small-town high school in the '90s. And unfortunately, the only picture of me adorning my alma mater’s hallways is a photo I swear I didn’t choose. Given the opportunity to pick the best of four negatives, I’m certain there was one where I wasn’t snarling at the camera.

My parents' photos can be found in the same school, but back then photography was a serious affair. In the '60s, you didn’t dare form a stupid, half-baked smile. You looked straight at the camera, determined to change the world.  

My parents look far more mature than I know they possibly could’ve been at that age. Instead of straggly, peace-loving hippies, they looked like board members of some major institution. 

That all changed in the '80s. That’s when the girls got into the eye shadow and the guys started growing mustaches. It’s left a lasting impact on school photos forever. That punk-rock look was as poor an excuse for looking badass as there ever was. Let’s just say there’s only one Axl Rose. 

Now these photos will haunt the halls of our high schools forever. There’s no plan to take them down, not in my school and for sure not in Yorkton. That behemoth of a high school will likely be with us for eternity. Heck, it's even got its own cafeteria.

When you’re from a small town, you hang on to what you got. School pictures and all.