On June 15, 2023, Xavier Becerra, then the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and now a candidate for governor of California, toured Samuel Merritt University in Oakland. The university asked me to photograph the visit: the simulation center, the nursing students, and the conversations in between.
A cabinet secretary’s visit runs on a tight clock. There is no posing and no second take, so the work is the same as covering a news assignment: know the route, be in position before the moment, and get the frame the first time.
The university wanted two things from the day: press-ready images that could go out the same afternoon, and a set for its own communications that showed students at the center of the visit. Both come from the same instinct, which is to photograph the people the visitor came to see, not just the visitor.
Samuel Merritt University is a long-time client, from commencement and pinning ceremonies to campus events. Visits like this one are where a background in news photography pays off for a university communications team.
Planning a campus visit or VIP event? See Oakland corporate and event photography, or get in touch for a quote. Half days from $2,000, full days from $3,500.