I find school photos a hassle as well. Pointless, and only a handful of people actually look "good". The rest either have some weird facial expression going on (me in year 10, wth was I doing lol), look alright or look nothing like they do in real life due to bad lighting (untrue skin colours...
For some units, the recommended textbooks are actually readers. So some units may require readers, others your lecturer will probably inform you (or you can ask them).
It was a lot easier and less stressful than I thought it would be, took an hour. Queuing wasn't bad either, had people to talk to, and was pretty organised. Staff were helpful, answered my questions and helped fill out the forms (there was barely anything to fill out anyway). This was at...