High School Graduation Photos

I didn’t have any children graduating this year and one of the normal photographers had a last minute knee surgery so the high shcool asked if I could fill in. Given my past experience with shooting in their gym, I decided renting the 85mm f1.2 was a necessity. Also, after having shot with the older version of that lens for years, I really wanted to try the new version with the native RF mirrorless mount. I did want to convince myself that buying the 85 L was necessary but $2500 was not something I could justify.

My only responsibility was candid shots which is good because I despise posed photos and hate trying to get people organized for posed photos even more. It’s like tied to deep childhood trauma. A couple people did ask for photos and I was happy to try to try but mainly I just hijacked other people’s posed shots from different angles.

Choosing the 85 was a bit of a risk. No zoom and I knew that in cramped situations I would struggle to get group shots. I brought another lens and contemplated bringing another full body with a different lens . . . but that would have added a great deal of work. I was also aware we were going to move from a dim gym to a really bright day at 11AM. So we’d be moving from dim interior light to harsh natural light. My other main consideration was the 70-200 2.8 but I figured a number of photographers would have that or something similar. So I just decided to have fun and go with the 85 at 1.2 the whole time.

I ended up taking roughly 3000 photos over 3 hours. Post-processing took a couple hours. Given I’m handing these off for use in various ways, I didn’t crop them as closely as I would if I were making the final proofs. I figure that gives people more options for use in various formats. The school puts out some really nice print media and it’s always fun to see the images there in the physical world and on their webpage in various ways.

The entryway was shaded and who can resist a picture of a nun? Both people had style. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have anyone in the background but the bokeh of 1.2 goes a long way to help.

I was spotted but I liked it anyway. Kids today seem much more aware of cameras and have some very well-rehearsed poses. This is one I’d probably crop more on the final.

Posed and it was rough to get them all in frame. The person in the center will be playing football at UVA and is an all-around great guy. His younger brother is in 8th grade is dunking already.

She’s looking at her family. Her mom works at the Montessori school the kids went to.

There were some really excited parents.

And some really excited kids. I’m going to miss seeing this person in the annual school music show. They were always amazing musically and doubled down on the visuals with animal horns of various kinds. You’ve probably seen shots of them before if you’ve looked at these posts over the years.

Cigars have become increasingly popular and I feel the same way about this trend.

I do just love this lens. The new version focuses fast enough that I’d love to shoot some games of various sorts with it.