Over the years, I must have photographed over thirty university, college, and high school graduation ceremonies. Mostly the ones for the University of New Brunswick and St Thomas in Fredericton. The challenge was always finding something interesting…because they are pretty much the same every year.
The students line up at the student union building, fix their gowns and hats, and have pictures taken. Then they walk up the hill and wave to their parents and have their pictures taken. They enter the Aitken Centre, more waving, more pictures. They take their seats. The University President gets up and speaks. Some people get honorary degrees, and one of them speaks to the graduates. Then the hundreds of grads line up to get their degrees, and their family members cram into the photo area to get pictures. (You can see examples of all of these in this post about taking great photos at a graduation ceremony.)
The key is finding something interesting, and that involves paying attention and looking around.
I was at the edge of the graduates as they stood during God Save the Queen, and as I looked to my right I saw these two heads popping up from the crowd. Remember, we are all STANDING up here. I thought to myself “Holy moly, those two guys are tall!”
I got myself into a bit better position to get a clearer shot of the these 6 foot 5 inch twin brothers Tim and Chris Beatty as they towered above their classmates. As always, I needed to get their names, so I made my way quietly and an unobtrusive as possible through the grads.
When I told them who I was, one of them remarked “Let me guess, you took a photo that makes us look really tall, right?” To which I replied “Yeah…sorry.” But they were good sports about it and gave me their names. I even got a nice letter from their dad saying how much he liked the photo. Always appreciate that!
Technical info:
Lens: 70-200mm
ISO: 1600
Shutter Speed: 1/250
Aperture: F2.8
Whitebalance: Flourescent
Metering: MANUAL of course!
Noel Chenier
Photographer and teacher
Connect with Noel on INSTAGRAM or TWITTER or via EMAIL
Want to make sure you get all the latest posts and info? Subscribe!
More Stories Behind The Photo Post
Canada Games Portraits-Chef du Mission Jennifer Bent Richard
The final shoot in the series of Canada Games Athletes is of chef-du-mission Jennifer Bent Richard. As she wasn’t an athlete, but more the head of the whole New Brunswick team, I asked that she bring some NB stuff, including a flag. Started off with some simple shots of her …
Canada Games Athletes-Kayaker Sean Wells
Today’s Canada Games Athlete is kayaker Sean Wells, who was motivated to make the team to make his late father proud. Since there was a bit more emotion to the story, I wanted to come up with shots that could convey that kind of mood. Me and my assistant Tanner …
Canada Games Athletes-Beach Volleyball Player Jill Blanchard
Today’s athlete portrait is of Canada Games women’s beach volleyball player Jill Blanchard. This was the final shoot done for the series, and it was a great way to end it. Before you get too exciting, you won’t see the normal photographs that get taken with women’s beach volleyball. If …
Making Something Out Of Nothing: The Boardroom Shot
There is nothing more challenging that trying to make an interesting photograph in a boardroom…. On this particular day, I had to photograph William Stanley of Atlantic Hydrogen at the office as he was coming through town. Normally we would have gotten him with some of the company’s technology, but …
Canada Games Athlete Portraits-Baseball Player Sean Silliphant
Today’s portrait is of baseball player Sean Silliphant. Similar set up as many of the other images. Set the subject up in front of a bright background, expose for the background to make them a silhouette, and add light on them with the flash. Sean plays a number of positions, …
(264)