Tens of millions of dong spent on yearbook photos just to 'get likes'

(Baonghean.vn) - Seeing the late 9X and early 10X generations hiring professional studios to take yearbook photos costing tens of millions of dong, this is very strange to the 8X and early 9X generations.

The 8x and early 9x generations skipped breakfast to save some money to go to internet cafes and go online, which was a great happiness. If a family had a computer and internet, it was even more of a luxury. Back then, the internet had to be used via a telephone line, so every time they went online, they couldn't use a landline. So they couldn't go online much.

At that time, anyone who had a phone that could take pictures and knew how to post pictures on their personal page (back then, they used Yahoo's 360 blog, no Facebook yet) was considered "advanced".

A yearbook photo considered to be magnificent of the 8x generation. Photo: Hoai Hoan.

Now, looking at the students of the late 90s and early 10s using smartphones, laptops, tablets, and communicating with each other via Facebook and Zalo, we see that life has changed miraculously. In their final year of high school, they dress up by renting clothes or having their uniforms tailored, and hiring professional studios to take yearbook photos. Many photo sets have been published in newspapers and netizens have admired them for their splendor or their "magnificence".

Of course the prices are not cheap, at least 10-15 million, at most several tens of millions. For the generation that is used to a 500 dong breakfast, spending a few thousand to go to an internet cafe is a great pleasure like us, all of these things are strange.

The yearbook photos were carefully invested in the ideas of the 10x generation. Documentary photo.

Time passes, life changes. That is the law. Perhaps you find it boring to hear the older generations say, “It was like this or that in the past,” “It was not like this in the past,” “The young generation today is much happier than in the past”… But that is the truth.

Those magnificent yearbook photos worth tens of millions of dong do not come naturally. I know many students who, when they need to buy something or participate in a class activity, innocently ask their parents for money without ever thinking about their burden.

Or there are children who know but cannot help but follow the trend initiated by their more well-off friends, so they still insist on asking their parents to let them "follow". Fearing that their children will be self-conscious or isolated, their parents have to force themselves to let their children enjoy things beyond the family's ability.

Yearbook photos are to preserve memories of school days, so just a white shirt and black pants are beautiful and meaningful enough. It is not necessary to rent costumes or tailor-make uniforms. Taking group photos is the most meaningful, there is no need to take a few photos of each person and increase the total number of photos by a few hundred styles.

Taking photos at school or somewhere in the city is fine, why take each other somewhere far away, wasting time, money and not being practical when the university entrance exam is approaching?

The photo series was carefully invested from costumes to background. Documentary photo.

Sometimes when I see yearbook photos that are invested in so elaborately and startlingly, I wonder if those photos, which are arranged, staged and “acted”, can capture more feelings and emotions than photos that are taken naturally and intimately? What do students take yearbook photos for, to preserve their student relationships or to compete with each other, to become famous?

A simple group photo, all in white shirts standing in a neat line in front of the classroom door, sometimes makes us feel more moved than those colorful, staged photos. That is if the emotions are still there, the memories are still there. Otherwise, the photos are just inanimate objects, without soul, after completing the task of "getting likes for virtual life" on the internet, they are immediately forgotten.

CoughHoan