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Say Cheese! School Photos Spell Success

Published Monday Oct 3, 2022

Author Matthew J. Mowry


Geskus Employees taking school portraits.(Courtesy photo)


As students head back to the classroom, Geskus Studio and Yearbook Publishing in Seabrook is gearing up for a busier season of taking school photos.

During its 18 years in business, Geskus has become the largest provider of school photos in NH, with Richard Carroll (pictured), president, claiming to have 73% of the market share for school photos in the state.

“We will photograph 300,000 children this fall,” Carroll says, stressing that their success also comes from providing quality photos and good customer service. “Our average retake this past fall was 3.4%,” he says. “Part of our job is to make you feel comfortable in that 45 to 60 seconds we are with you, to capture a really nice smile.”

And the Geskus team has worked hard to grow its clientele. “It takes time to build confidence,” he says of courting school administrators, who know the wrong choice could have them facing many angry parents. “We build relationships that take seven meetings to convince principals it’s worth taking the risk.”

Carroll, who ran a Lloyds of London brokerage in London, joined Geskus shortly after a friend, Ed Geskus, started the business in 2004. “He asked me to leave my corporate job to work on a business that barely had any business,” Carroll says, admitting he was ready for a change. By 2013, Carroll bought out his two partners, Geskus and John Abbiuso, and now fully owns the company.

Carroll faced his biggest challenge during COVID when schools shut down. “A lot of my competitors decided to close up shop,” he says. “We had to do some layoffs, but we kept the business open.” Geskus sent parents a free digital download with various backgrounds and allowed them to create their own school pictures at no charge.

That paid off. When schools came back on line, Geskus was able to immediately serve them. Our commencement business tripled during the pandemic, Carroll says.

To accommodate social distancing, Geskus held photo days outside in tents and used an iPad to confirm students’ orders rather than passing paper. And now school pictures and yearbook publishing are back in full swing. “Schools still wanted to keep school picture day. It’s a family tradition,” he says. “Things are all back to normal.”

That said, the industry is evolving. Parents now buy magnets with their charming Charlie on them, key chains and ornaments. Carroll says he also produces yearbooks, which can be customized for students, for about 70% of his clients. Also online ordering has spiked from 10% to 70% in the past five years.


A Geskus employee ensuring a correct color balance for prints. (Courtesy photo)


Carroll says Geskus is busy year-round, taking holiday pics with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus at malls, photographing about 100 sports events annually and shooting about 5,000 senior high school pictures over the summer.

“Each year, we are photographing 30,000 to 40,000 more students than we did the year before,” he says, adding he expects to be one of the top school photography companies nationwide within three years. For more information, visit wearegeskus.com.

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