You’re graduating from college – congratulations! You probably have big changes coming – a new job, a new town, maybe another university. Your college senior graduation portraits will commemorate this big achievement, be part of your family history and hopefully bring back some happy memories of your college years.
Let’s do this!
I will ask you to choose 2-4 favorite spots on campus, depending on which length of session you have chosen. Usual choices might be the building of your major area of study, one or two pretty or iconic campus locations, and your university’s sign. At Oregon State University we often go to the Memorial Union, Weatherford Hall, and the big OSU sign near Reser Stadium. Choices over the years have included the cow barns, a river where the graduate liked to walk her dogs, and the place where a graduate met her fiance, so you can make this reflect what was important to you during your college years.
What to wear
Usually graduates will choose a business casual to formal outfit. A dress or pants with a nice top for girls works well. For guys, either khakis and a nice shirt, dress pants with a shirt and tie, or a suit are the usual choices.
Most graduates will bring their cap with tassel, gown, stole and cords. We’ll do some photos with the full graduation outfit, and others with different parts of it – just the cap and stole for example. It’s really important to try and get the creases out of your gown and stole. They come out of the package with stubborn folds and creases that will show in your photos. If you have an iron or a little steamer the creases will come out with some work. If you can’t get your hands on an iron or a steamer, think about taking it to a cleaner to be pressed. Or at least let it hang up for few days – it doesn’t do much but it’s better than nothing!
We’ll also do some photos without your graduation gear so you’ll have a couple of straightforward headshots for future use.
A couple of weeks after the session you will receive a link to a private online gallery where you can view and download your images. You can share it with parents, aunties, grandparents and everyone else who has cheered you on over the years!
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