Under the sandstone arches of Stanford’s campus, the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages — the DLCL — gathered to send off its newest graduates. Cardinal-red doctoral regalia, a few gold balloons, and, between the formalities, a whole lot of joy. I was there to photograph the ceremony, and intimate department graduations like this one are some of my favorite work as a Bay Area commencement photographer.
The intimacy of a department ceremony
The university-wide commencement is a spectacle — tens of thousands of people, a stadium, a speck-sized view of the stage. A department ceremony is the opposite, and that is its magic. The DLCL graduation is small enough that faculty know every graduate by name. Advisors hood the students they have mentored for years, and families are close enough to actually see the look on their graduate’s face. That intimacy is what makes these ceremonies a joy to shoot — and what you have to be ready for, because the best moments are not on the schedule. They happen in the half-second a professor pulls a former student into a hug.
The traditions — and the moments in between
A commencement runs on ritual: the procession, the regalia, the hooding, the handshake, the diploma. Those are the frames every family wants, and you have to nail them cleanly. But the pictures people keep are the ones between the rituals — the cheer at the end, the quiet pride on a parent’s face, the friends who cannot stop laughing. The job is to come away with both: the formal record and the human story.
Commencement photography in the Bay Area
Whether it is a single department like the DLCL or a full university commencement, the goal is the same: documenting a day people will remember for the rest of their lives, with images that hold up for years. If your school, department, or program is planning a ceremony, here is what to look for in a commencement photographer — or get in touch and let’s talk about your graduation.
Looking for a Stanford commencement photographer — or coverage for any Bay Area graduation? I would love to help you tell the story of your big day.