For Teen Couples, It’s a Rite of Spring, Gone in a Flash

In 1/1000th of a second -- faster than you can lip the ch in cheese -- memories that will last a lifetime are frozen onto wallet-sized glossy paper.

Captured in that shutter frame are the moments parents want to frame and display on fireplace mantels. Teens will trade the images between classes. It’s a rite of passage you can hold in your hands: prom photos.

“Chin this way, head down just a bit,” photographer Rob Paino said at El Segundo High School’s prom Saturday. “Chin down, gentleman, just a bit more. Big smile!”

Ruben Figueroa, 18, wearing a zoot suit and a fedora hat, had one hand on his girlfriend’s back, another by her elbow. On “three,” they smiled broadly.

His date, Emily Curtin, explained the significance of ritual -- the part they’d remember.

“It’s not the picture,” she said, “it’s the moment.”

Millions of such moments are captured this time of year, when teenagers across the nation don gowns and tuxedos for this hallowed high school tradition. And like a lot of high school traditions, it can be exciting, giddy, and, as many adults will remember, a little awkward.

Here in 2004, technology has made for some changes. Rather than wait three weeks for the photographs to arrive by mail, couples can review pictures on a computer screen and select their favorite.

And due to the influence of the movie “Dumb and Dumber,” which featured two dweeby characters in pastel tuxedos, traditional black tuxes are so five years ago. Retro colors are back, Paino said. Pick any school dance today, and you’ll find baby blue and cream orange ruffled suits, top hats with matching canes, and heavy gold chains worn ostentatiously around the neck. The El Segundo prom, held at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro, even included a couple with a kilt and matching dress.

High-tech advances and cultural shifts aside, much of prom photography remains the same. The cheesy backdrops. The stilted poses. The uncomfortable closeness of “just friends” cuddling up for a picture.

“Look right here. I’ll take two pictures,” one photographer said. “One, two, three big smile!”

Bradley Harris’ lips were twitching. As the photographer counted to three, he waited until 2 1/2 to display his toothy grin. A bright flash illuminated the couple’s faces, and then, a sigh of relief.

“It was kind of weird; they were pushing us close,” the 17-year-old said of the pose.

His date, Christina Pellican, 17, compared the two pictures on the computer screen.

“I like two,” she decided.

Picture No. 2, not much different from picture No. 1, showed the couple standing in front of a simple, not-too-cheesy magenta backdrop with clouds and twinkling stars. He wore a classic black tuxedo, she a flowing, light blue dress.

This is the busy season for Paino’s photography studio, which handled five other school dances last weekend. Typically, his company will gear up for 50 proms each spring.

“I’m a firm believer this is the most important picture of their high school career,” Paino said. He recalled his own prom photos, which his father’s company took. “Being in the yearbook is not something as important as prom pictures.”

Hierarchy

At his company, Albert and James Photographers, there’s a hierarchal chain of jobs based on experience, Paino said. The most coveted position is the group photographer, who handles large clusters of teenagers who want to be photographed together.

“It really is a different ballgame,” he said. “It’s a shot in the dark in many cases; you have to get 15, 20, 30 smiles.”

Matt Roberts, who graduated from El Segundo High, led one such assembly. His group of 16 people decided to take a group shot, and he played cashier, trying to collect $80. Packages for couples range from $8 to $60, and can even come in book or CD-ROM format.

“I still need money from Megan and Adam,” he said. “Oh, and Susan and A.J., too.”

Once assembled, the ladies squeezed onto two “granite” benches, made of plastic. The gentlemen stood behind their dates. But one of the guys, wearing a white suit, was throwing off the all-black tuxedo color balance and kept trying to find the right place to stand.

“OK, we need to hurry up and take the picture,” someone said.

“Dude, I’m real hungry,” another complained.

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Why does he need to be in the middle? It’s way off-balanced.”

The camera flashed, and the group scattered to the dining room.

One step down in prestige from group photographer, though equally important, is the couples photographer. Novices will typically begin their careers as posers. But Paino said that could be the toughest job of all.

“Make sure his hands are on her shoulder blades and not showing any finger tips,” poser Irma Olivas instructed a trainee. The trainee asked the couple to keep their fingers together.

“Very good,” Olivas said in approval.

A lot of posing is based on gut instinct.

“When they first come over, if the couple is close together and touchy-feely, I assume they’re boyfriend-girlfriend,” Olivas said. “I’ll give them a more intimate pose.” Upon giving the couple the once-over, she directs them to stand on a marker in front of the starry-sky backdrop. Immediately, Olivas will put his arm on her shoulder blade, her arm around his waist, and offer gentle commands. Chin up, shoulder down, heads slightly to the left. No, your left. OK, now you’ve gone too far left.

All the while, the couples stand like pliable action figures, contorting to the whim of Olivas.

“I need you two to stand closer to each other,” she said on several occasions.

Some couples snuggled in with no hesitation, while others awkwardly inched closer.

Taking in the scene was Aline Fillers, an English teacher spending the night as a chaperone. She remembers at her senior prom, when there was only one photographer, she and her date stood in line for an hour and a half.

Fillers was in awe of how beautiful and elegant the students looked, in contrast to her own senior class of 1962. With a laugh, she recalled her own prom pictures.

“I couldn’t remember looking that geeky,” she said.

By 9:30 p.m., the line for photos had stretched to a hundred deep. Earlier in the evening, photographers spent three minutes for each couple. By now, they’re shooting three couples every five minutes.

Tough Question

At one point, Olivas saw a couple approaching and knew she had to ask the single most uncomfortable question a prom photographer can ask.

She looked at the young man square in the eyes and asked: “Do you want to stand on a box?”

This is not the first time that Jeremy Anderson, a 17-year-old senior who is 5 feet 5, has been posed this question at a school dance.

“I’m not standing on a box,” Jeremy snapped back. “Don’t want a box.”

His date, freshman Colleen Murphy, stands 5 feet 6, but looked about 5 feet 10 with her heels on.

“She’s taking off her shoes,” he told Olivas.

Colleen appeared visibly irked.

“See, now you’re in trouble,” Olivas jokingly tells him. But sensing he wouldn’t budge, she put aside the booster box, about the size of a round birthday cake. But Colleen was equally adamant.

“Why should I have to take off my shoes?”

“Because it’s my senior prom. I’m a senior,” Jeremy said. “I’d laugh at somebody if they stood on a box.”

Prom photos show only from the knees up, Colleen told him, so why make a big fuss?

“It’s about the surroundings,” he said as couples waited in line. “I was here last year, and instead of a circular box, it was a big box with steps leading up to it.”

Colleen rolled her eyes and grudgingly took off her shoes. “He cares too much about how it makes him look.”

The photographer brought the couple back to the moment: “One, two, three ... big smile!”

The shot done, Colleen put her shoes back on and, still slightly peeved, the couple walked away.

But look on the computer screen, and there’s Jeremy and Colleen, two vibrant-looking teens gushing with youthful delight.

All signs of petulance had disappeared -- just a moment in time when a group of friends were having the time of their lives.