I have a secret. I don’t own anything green. Like really. My family would laugh – most of my wardrobe is black, but I do have some variety of other colors in my closet – but not green. It’s just not in my wheelhouse. When I photographed Sydney’s cap & gown session when she graduated in 2018 from Regis Jesuit High School, I told her to bring her future school shirt – she puts on a green sweatshirt, from Colorado State University. Green. It looks good on Sydney. Her eyes really light up when she wears green. At the end of her session in 2018, Sydney and her mom ask “will you come out to my graduation at CSU in four years?” yep. Give me a call.
2022 – Sydney calls. It’s happening! Graduation!
We work out the details. Graduation on Saturday, I drive up on Sunday and we spend an hour at the ‘oval’ which is near the administration building. Capturing college graduates is a bit different with cap & gowns – your college has a building that grounds you to the college, and even if you never took a step into the building, this building represents the college. It has to be in the session.
For CSU – the ‘oval’ is this gorgeous grassy area with beautifully lined trees that lead to the administration building. Place Sydney in her cap & gown, with a CSU green ram emblem and lined “1st Generation” sash, her diploma, and a splash of yellow from her cap, she was just flawless. FLAWLESS!
Sydney had brought her puppy to her high school cap & gown session, so it was fitting that the current puppy was in the photos – green bows and all! She was so cute! So with very little effort in guiding Sydney, I told her to own the diploma, that she was a graduate, and to have fun! From her 2018 session, we had photographed her by the school sign and mom asked for us to do that again, as we are wrapping up her session, we had to drive a bit to get to the marquee sign of CSU. I pose her in the traditional stance, holding her diploma standing next to the stone, and captured it but wait! Sydney… get your cell phone. Take a picture of yourself with the sign in your background. That last photo became the epic favorite for everyone. That moment, saying “I did it” with our cell phones really made the image pop. I can tell you – my studio will have that photo hanging in there.
Before we said our goodbyes, I gave Sydney a hug and said… “call me when you get your master’s.”
“Deal”
