Stanley Baker established a school photography business in 1964 with his business partner, George Wheatman. They timed it well, just as colour school photography was becoming widely available. The business grew steadily over the next twenty years but in 1984 the partners went their separate ways. Stanley Baker Studios Ltd was set up with only 6 employees and a small office in Colchester.
Today we have a team of 43 people and one dog on the payroll. (Maddie gets paid in dog biscuits!) The office is an old school building circa 1880 but on the inside is a very modern digital photography laboratory. Here we produce the photographs taken by 18 photographers in 540 schools twice a year! Hectic at times but the holidays are good.
This continued steady growth has been achieved by consistently delivering a reliable and professional service to schools and by taking much of the administration away from already busy school staff with our on-line shopping site. Around 65% of parents now order on-line and this is only expected to rise, meaning fewer orders passing through your school. We are approved suppliers of school photography with Sims and provide names data for all school administration systems. This data also enables us to quickly and efficiently identify pupils in the event of a parent enquiry. Our customer service is very important to us — and you!
Not only do we have the largest selection of products of any school photography company but we also offer the widest choice of photography styles as well. We provide traditional portraits with a choice of background colours, formal class groups and whole school groups of up to 500 children and staff. On the more unusual side, we have contemporary style school photographs, shot in black and white, in the class room itself (very arty) Then we have the fun and visually appealing white background class groups and studio style portraits. Whatever your taste in school photography, or if you just want to try something different for this year, we have a style to match.
With all of our ranges, parents are free to choose single print options, photograph packs, canvas prints and a wide range of frames as well as many gift ideas, all home delivered within 2-5 days. Our customer support team of Lisa, Carly, Diane, Terry and Karen take great care of all enquiries from the first booking of a school, through courtesy calls to check satisfaction levels, onto resolving parent enquiries. We know that happy customers stay with us!
That’s what we will do for you!