class of 2009

first friday in june spells graduation 

this is one of those yearly challenges, because having shot it so many times over the years, there are certain pictures you just can't keep taking - the bubble blowing, the beach balls being bounced through the seats of the 400-some graduates - although this year, someone actually snuck in and managed to inflate a blow-up doll - like the cheesy sex toy kind of thing - it was actually pretty hysterical - even the security guy was laughing at it, and the kids just totally fell out when that thing went airborn! anyway, these are a few that i liked from the night...

the teachers lined up, forming a tunnel as the class processed onto the football field - at some point, they held out their hands to high-five a few of the kids, but then everyone just kept doing it - "hey, who started this?!" joked one of the teachers - there are about 400 kids in this graduating class

i don't normally stay until the very end of the ceremony, but as mentioned in the first post, i had to, which was cool, because i've not shot the hat toss before, and i wasn't even sure they'd do it, but i tried to position myself in the center aisle so i could scope out both sides for some kids who looked like they could be pretty animated - i was set to shoot a different section, but then i noticed this row - they were trying to start a wave near the end of the ceremony, and so i shifted down to where they were at the last minute - pretty lucky, because right before they threw their caps up, these two turned to each other and kissed - it was just a sweet moment and completely unexpected, so i felt pretty lucky - as for the caps shot, it's not the coolest - i've seen it shot a lot better compositionally, but still, i like the energy of it, and just the way the girl is kind of hunkering down in anticipation of the oncoming rain of falling caps