A simple group photo becomes an unexpectedly lengthy exercise in patience
A Simple Task, Considerably Harder Than Expected
An attempt to capture a simple end-of-term group photograph for one Eton house required, by the photographer’s own careful count, fourteen separate attempts before a single frame was produced in which every one of the house’s sixty-odd boys had their eyes open, was facing forward, and was not, in at least three memorable cases, “pulling a deliberately ridiculous expression purely to sabotage the process,” a challenge the housemaster overseeing the shoot described afterward as “genuinely more difficult to manage than several actual disciplinary matters I’ve dealt with this term.”
The Retakes, In Increasingly Farcical Detail
Early attempts were derailed by a rotating cast of individual mishaps, including one boy who reportedly blinked on seven separate occasions, a run of bad luck his housemates found “genuinely more entertaining than it probably should have been,” and another who insisted on adjusting his tie between nearly every single shot, adding what the photographer estimated was “a good ten minutes of pure tie-related delay across the whole session.” By the eighth or ninth attempt, several younger boys had reportedly begun visibly losing patience, a mood the housemaster addressed with what he called “a firm but understanding reminder that we were, in fact, going to get this photo eventually.”
Success, Eventually Achieved
The fourteenth attempt finally produced a genuinely usable image, greeted by what witnesses describe as “a spontaneous and entirely sincere round of applause” from the assembled boys, relieved as much as anyone that the ordeal had finally concluded. The photographer, reviewing the earlier rejected attempts afterward, admitted that several of the failed photos were “honestly far more entertaining than the actual finished product,” a sentiment several boys have echoed since seeing the outtakes.
The Outtakes, Unexpectedly Popular
The London Prat understands the housemaster has since shared a small selection of the funnier failed attempts with the house itself, a decision that has proven considerably more popular among the boys than the actual official photograph, several of whom have already requested prints of specific outtakes rather than the finished image.
A Tradition Likely to Repeat Itself
Whatever lessons might be drawn from this year’s fourteen-attempt marathon, the photographer has confirmed he has no particular expectation that next year’s shoot will go any more smoothly, joking that “some things about group photography with sixty teenage boys are simply beyond anyone’s control.” The housemaster has since suggested, only half-seriously, that future photo sessions be scheduled with “at least double the time anyone thinks they’ll actually need,” a recommendation the photographer has enthusiastically endorsed.
More from this section at Britain & World and coverage of the wider school world at The London Prat.
For further reading in a similar spirit, see The Onion and Private Eye.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk
