On Saturday, June 6, 2012, I had the honor of photographing the graduation ceremonies for the Santa Barbara Christian Homesteaders Inc. a group of local home schoolers throughout Santa Barbara.
My dear friends Chris and Maggie Graham had a seven children participate in event. (WOW! Congratulations!)
The afternoon started off with families coming over to a small garden area at the side of the church. I had a single Paul C Buff Einstein studio strobe set up camera right, with a five foot octobox as my modifier of choice. Families were then welcome to come over and have portits taken of their graduating children, as well as having pictures taken with attending family members.
Wow! What great looking kids! I was really struck by how well mannered and well behaved these kids were. They were an absolute joy to photograph.During the portrait session, I had to keep things moving, yet tried to keep things upbeat and fun, as there were a lot of families waiting for portraits. It was bit of a challenge, but a highly enjoyable experience.
When the graduation ceremony started, it was more of a run and gun type of a scenario. Each child was instructed to hold up their diploma after they received it and that was my cue to take a picture. Armed with my Nikor 70-200 f2.8 lens and on-camera flash, I was able to bounce the flash off of the white ceiling giving the pictures a bit of fill light.It sounds easy, however the kids names were called out very quickly. The good news is that I was able to match the tempo of the event, so everyone got a decent picture out of it.
Before the graduating seniors came out, my friend Drew Kawiecki, an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara gave the commencement address for the graduating class.
Then the seniors came out one by one, and I had to snap a portrait as they walked down the aisle.
Did I mention what a a good looking group of kids these were?
When it was all said and done, I came home feeling absolutely blessed for having had the opportunity to participate in this special day for these young people who love the Lord.
