Local Photographers Donate Senior Pictures to Grand Rapids Public Schools Students

Senior photos are expensive. I don't know exactly how expensive, other than my mom joking about having to take out a second mortgage on their house just to pay for mine back when I was a senior.

With the price being so high, some families are having to go without this time-honored tradition. Well, not if a group of local photographers has anything to say about it.

Photographer Terry Johnston was scouting a school for photo shoot locations, when he had a troubling conversation with one of the administrators. He learned that nearly half of the slots in the senior section of the year book would be marked with "No Photo Available" because some students simply could not afford to have senior pictures taken.

Johnston sprung into action, contacting a variety of local photographers, asking them if they would be willing to donate their time to help these kids out. From that,  they launched GRadPICS, a project assembling local photographers to take close to 800 senior photos across Grand Rapids Public Schools this week - completely free of charge.

The group will be shooting at six Grand Rapids high schools: Ottawa Hills, City High, Union, Central, Creston and Grand Rapids Montessori.

The team of photographers consists of Johnston, Grand Rapids Press photographer Katy Batdorff, Seth Thompson, Tim Motley, Michael Cook, Mitch Ranger and Ryan Pavolich.

All of the pictures will be shot on school grounds, in prime locations featuring unique architecture, or other features that make it stand out.

The photos will be uploaded to GRadPics' Facebook page, where the students will be able to download them. Those students without Facebook will be given their photos in some form.