How the school photos are made

A step-by-step overview

Here I use examples from all my school photos to illustrate how I made the school photos. Since my first photograph of the bicycle and the invention of drones, this type of photo has become popular and is referred to as a human sculpture, people art or a human mosaic.

The photo of the bicycle is my all-time favorite photograph. A close second is the monarch butterfly. Unlike the last school photographs, where I was standing on the roof of the school, this was photographed using a drone, which makes it much easier and safer. Technology has really improved in just a few years. When standing on the rooftop, I have to get dangerously close to the edge so that the building is not visible in the image, and since I’m staring through the camera, I can’t watch where my feet are going. Luckily, the school custodian is there to help.

The photograph is by Scott Stoll with Tim Spanagel of MasseyGreenAVP. Tim needed two licenses to fly the drone. One from the FCC and another to fly over or come within 500 feet of people. Nonetheless, I said, “Play it safe and don’t fly overhead.”

This photograph was the most difficult to arrange. We needed permission from every parent and the school district. Plus, the weather wasn’t cooperating. We had to cancel several times, including March 17th, which was fortunate because the kids would have all been wearing green for St Patrick’s Day. In this photo, we asked the kids to wear their Cincinnati Bengals’ gear, which is orange and black, just like a monarch butterfly.

Below you can see more preparation. In the first picture, using Google Earth, I plotted out two potential locations. Unfortunately, the grassy field is muddy all spring, so we used the roundabout at the school entrance.

This next photo is the final location. The footprint of the butterfly is about the same size as the other three photographs. I made a much more careful measurement using the scale in Google Earth and the circumference of a circle to estimate about 2 people per meter.

When I get to the school, the first thing I do is pace out the grid by walking from one side of the playground to the other. I use landmarks to establish my anchor points, then ropes and bricks, and a lot of eyeballing to create the grid. Then I transfer my picture using chalk. There is a lot of guesswork when you are on the ground and can’t see the big picture. In the following photo from Ruby the Red Worm, you can see what it looks like from ground level after finishing chalking the outline. You can barely see it!

In this photograph, you can see the teacher who helped organize the whole project. In a few moments, the kids will start coming out, and using the janitor’s walkie-talkie, I will help guide her to line them up. Remember, she can barely see the chalk lines, and once the kids come out, it will be even harder because they will be standing on top of the guides.

Below, you can see the butterfly taking formation. Due to the nature of kids, we had a limited amount of time to form the picture and capture a lot of smiling faces before they go stir crazy. The principal was excellent at organizing everyone. We started with the oldest kids first because they could stand there the longest. The kindergartners came out last. This was a sunny day, though it’s actually better if it is cloudy. In the worm picture, I miscalculated the morning shadows since the sun was still in the southern hemisphere rather than due east, which created too much contrast and long shadows. We solved some of these problems by having the kids sit down.

In this fast-motion video below, see the kids come together to form the cupcake. You can see me (wearing a blue shirt and brown hat) directing everyone where to go according to my diagram. You can also see my shadow in the bottom right corner as I take the photo from the top of the school gym.

In the cupcake and worm photo, we organized everyone by the color of their shirt. In the cupcake photo, it was St Patrick’s Day, so we formed the cupcake out of green shirts, everyone wearing red got to be the cherry, and the blue shirts were sprinkles. As the kids come together, I have to make adjustments. In the picture of the bicycle, the seat was too low, so I asked everyone to move eight feet back to raise the seat, which is funny to me because on my actual bicycle, I would move my seat up or down only a few millimeters.

I think this is a beautiful picture, even though I didn’t anticipate it also looking like an emoji with a big toothy grin. I also didn’t account for perspective, which makes the muffin top look too small. Live and learn.

Afterwards, project coordinator Nuria Lopez donated a 24×36″ framed class photo to principal Dr Simmons. I hope it will be a timeless piece of art for the school office. Also, as you can see above, we made the front page of the local newspaper.

This photograph was so popular that it made the cover of the local newspaper and the school district website. These are good examples of all the ways your own school can maximize this school project.