School portrait in early to mid 1940s. Sweater was green.
Toronto. As photography expanded, an increasing number of photographers specialized in various areas. Some went into school photography with group shots of the pupils and staff sometimes complemented with individual student portraits. Occasionally a panorama view took the entire student body and staff in one photograph – I have one such panorama of my mother and her younger sister taken around 1928 when just the two of them were of school age.
Some photographers resorted to taking individual classrooms of students and teacher, perhaps accompanied by a portrait of each student. Purchases were always optional, and families chose the item and number of prints each.
Poorer families could ill-afford the modest fee. For other families, the photos were the only ones taken of their children. A family heirloom to add to a shoe-box for safety!
