<p>I am sure different college does it differently. However, I would like to hear your experiences on taking pictures at their child’s commencement weekend . </p>
<p>There will be three main events at DD’s school: Baccalaureate @ Quad, Commencement ceremony @ Stadium, and the Diploma ceremony. </p>
<p>Do they typically allow parents to move around during the ceremonies to take pictures? Do all the parents line up the walk path to take pictures of their student? What camera did you use?</p>
<p>We bought the professional photos offered by the college. Couldn’t afford a camera when our oldest graduated.</p>
<p>S’s school specifically prohibits people from moving from their seats to take pictures. For which I am profoundly grateful. Nothing spoils an event like that faster for everyone else than people blocking everyone else’s view to get their shot. Or, doG forbid, excessively noisy displays like cheering, shrieking, and using noisemakers.</p>
<p>We get that you are proud and happy. So are we. Now sit down and shut up!</p>
<p>I imagine it depends a lot on the set up at each college. For DD, we were able to get a few pictures at the beginning of Baccalaureate from our seats, but once the dignitaries come in, pictures are probably going to be intrusive. The best pictures came from the small individual college ceremonies where the diplomas are actually handed out and the awards are announced. The university had someone taking pictures of each student for this, so there was a minute where we could get our pics from the aisle near our seats as well. During the whole class Commencement ceremony- Class Day, they called it at her university- we didn’t see much of D1, but we did get some photos of the pageantry to capture the overall feel of the event.
The best photos are usually from the smaller events afterwards- a PBK ceremony, a luncheon in the Dean’s home, etc, and of course the dinners we took D1 and friends to, group photos on the library steps, and other more casual settings. There will be many opportunities for memorable photos. I just used a Canon Elph and was happy with my pictures.</p>
<p>For DS at his smaller LAC it wasn’t too different in terms of ceremonies, but because there were fewer people, everything was about 10 times easier. The best photos were of son with my mom on the quad during a banquet afterwards, and some fun, goofy photos of him with his friends. </p>
<p>Both the university and the LAC sold videos of the entire commencement weekend. We bought them. I hope the technology to play them still exists by the time either kid is interested in watching them. ;-)</p>
<p>Depends on the college. To be honest, at both or our kids’ schools, the pics taken at the ceremony were ok but not terrific. We, however, took some wonderful pics of them around their college campuses in their cap and gown…with family members and friends.</p>
<p>In DS’s case, I had taken a picture of him as an incoming freshman in front of a sign for his college…took a graduation shot in the SAME spot four years later.</p>
<p>DD’s graduation was outdoors so there was a lot of moving around. In fact, I thought it was a bit of a free for all once they started awarding the diplomas.</p>
<p>We only went to DS’s departmental graduation. Like I said…the pics later were much better and more important to him than the ones of him actually GETTING his diploma.</p>
<p>NO FLASHES were allowed at either graduation.</p>
<p>We used a plain little digital camera with the built in lens…nothing big. We didn’t think it would be polite to have a HUGE lens that might block the views of others:)</p>
<p>I’ve gotten some really good pictures of grads as they walk into the ceremony. Typically there is a crowd, so you can blend in and get a good candid portrait. People always look so happy on their way in to get their hard-earned degree! </p>
<p>At my neice’s college grad, there was a clearing off to the side of the stage where they would come off with their new diplomas in hand. People would queue up to snap their grads pic and the move on. For an informal system, it ran very smoothly and we got a very nice pic. </p>
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<p>I wish I’d done this!</p>
<p>Pugmadkate…believe me…it was just lucky!!</p>
<p>Funny thing…I made him stand in the same spot on graduation day (outdoors) in the POURING RAIN so I could have that picture. Luckily, the picture looks like the sun was shining.</p>
<p>Dadll, that sounds like a Stanford graduation you are describing. There will be a video for sale of the stadium. The one on the Quad you will be able to get pics - the kids will walk right past you and nobody cares where you go and if they do, too bad! </p>
<p>If you will be getting an engineering diploma, you will be quite far away to get photos, and the kids walk in from behind a stage and not past the parents. That is in a basketball gym, and the ceremony will be broadcast on a screen you can photograph, but results are blurry.</p>
<p>I’d bet the majority of pics will be taken with an Iphone.</p>
<p>may have to plan the picture in front of a college sign freshman and graduation, that sounds great !</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, especially Parent1986. these are exactly the information I am looking for. </p>
<p>I would probably drag my 328 all the way over there. Of course we will take a small P/S one too.</p>
<p>T1, I really like the idea of taking the photo at the same spot 4 years apart.</p>
<p>D2 is the photographer in our family. She took some great pictures of her sister marching in while we set up on stadium seats. She was equiped with professional cameras. I had my little digital camera and also got some good pictures. D1 had a camera with her, she took many pictures of herself and friends while goofing off. Like Thumper1, we walked around the campus and took pictures of D1 in cap and gown with us. </p>
<p>We had a graduations party for D1 at the lake house we rented for the week. I think we had close to 100 people - graduates and their families. We got a lot of great pictures of that day - sunset, lake, and D1’s favorite people.</p>
<p>We took a picture of DS on the Cut at CMU during a spring break trip during high school, then when he moved in as a freshman, and again in his robe after graduation. Exact same spot. I actually took pictures with him in robe all over campus, which fortunately is small. It was a beautiful day.</p>
<p>They had both the official graduation outside in the stadium, where I managed a great shot of him before the ceremony began. The students marched in, stood when their college was announced and officially graduated, and marched out. The college diploma ceremony was indoors, where I got a couple of dark shots. Some parents did run up the aisle when their child was named, but it wasn’t very disruptive. The school took one official picture after receiving the diploma which was posted online for free.</p>
<p>I’ll order professional photos if possible. I agree with Thumper. This is not the time/place to do something that would obscure the view of another parent.</p>