This Kid's School Pics Failed So Hard They Won

This kid wore a green shirt for his class picture and ended up completely blending in with the background

Before 12-year-old Carter headed to school for class picture day, he practiced his smile with his mom, Laurel Hutsell. She told him to run his fingers through his hair right before the picture was taken and instructed him not to squint. On all counts, Carter was prepared. There was one problem, though. He decided to wear a bright green shirt that day, which didn’t exactly pair well with the photographer’s bright green screen.

Carter expressed some concern about his fashion choice after the big day. The conversation, per Hutsell’s now-viral Facebook post, went as follows:

“My son – ‘Mom, I shouldn’t have worn the green shirt for pictures. It will blend in with the green screen they used.’ Me: ‘They used a green screen? What?! I probably should have read some fine print. Maybe they will be ok.'”

Um. They were not ok — and it’s the most amazing thing ever.

Turns out that that pesky green screen worked its magic (how high tech are middle schools these days?!) and Carter ended up becoming a floating, dismembered head on top of every single one of his class pictures.

He was the American flag.

A brick wall.

A lovely autumn day.

An explosion of purple.

And, honestly, not totally sure what this theme even is.

Hutsell told TODAY that she was completely shocked when she saw copies of the pictures. “I opened it on my phone and I did a double take,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I said out loud, ‘He was right, it really happened.”’

She decided to put Carter’s pictures on Facebook, and her post quickly racked up 58,000 likes, 42,000 shares, and thousands of comments. Turns out, Hutsell was definitely not alone in her snafu. “Moms for all over are reaching out saying, ‘This is something I would do!”’ she said. “You try really hard to prepare, and it doesn’t always come out that way, which is typical of parenthood in general.”

Meanwhile, Hutsell noted that she’s leaning towards purchasing the American flag for Carter’s picture (A+ choice) and isn’t at all fussed by the final results. “At least his hair and smile were on point!” she quipped.