Photos

During the summer at camp, we try to upload 50-100 photos each day. Parents are able to see what their campers are doing and follow along with their camp adventure for the week. Parents appreciate it and I think it is a good service. However, there are a few headaches that come with the photos.

We get complaint calls about the following issues- 

• when we don't upload often enough
• when there aren't enough photos or a parent doesn't see their child in enough photos
• when a child doesn't appear happy in a photo

Whenever a parent calls to complain about the photos, I always think, "seriously? Is this really a big deal?" I think of the photos as a fun extra, but not that important. 

And then the dog daycare started posting photos on facebook and I immediately understood every camp photo complaint I've ever gotten. 

The daycare she attends has three different sites. Despite attending 3 days a week, they never took pictures at her location on a day she was there. After weeks of no photos, I asked if there was a schedule and they told me that it was just sort of random. So I was patient. But weeks later, they were posting photos several times a week but never her site when she was there. So I made a comment on facebook about how much it would make my day to see her. 

At camp, sometimes parents think we are bigger than we are because pretty much every comment (phone, email or facebook) gets back to me, so if someone complains about the photos, I make sure that we follow that kid around for a few hours until we get some good shots of him or her smiling. I assume dog day care is smaller than I realize and that someone finally said, "make sure we get some pictures of that fat dog before her crazy mother complains again!" (For the record, I was very nice both times I asked). The next day, there were three pictures of Olivia on facebook, and I was happy to be able to sit in my office at work and see my baby at "school".

Except that she didn't look like she was having fun. As I debated whether or not I should call the day care to ask how her day was going, I had an "ah ha" moment while flashes of parent calls about our camp photos came rushing back to me. I finally understand what it must be like to look through photo after photo, hoping to see your baby, only to see her not looking like she is having fun. 

In all fairness to the day care, Olivia almost always looks slightly disgusted or like she is judging something or someone, so I'm not sure why expected anything different. I decided not to call and just to be satisfied that there is a picture of her. She is excited whenever I tell her she is going to "school" and I am confident that they are taking good care of her. She comes home at the end of the day tired and happy. I would love to see some action shots of her running around, playing with other dogs and looking enthusiastic, but for now I'm satisfied that she was featured and I will save that request for another time. And from now on, I won't be so judgmental when the parents call about their campers...