My two cents on high school graduations: Marlboro did it right.
Marlboro held it’s first outdoor graduation this year and, of the graduations I’ve been witness to in the past couple years, it was the best.
They timed it right. The 7 p.m. start, though not unique to Marlboro, meant missing the afternoon heat and a good-looking sunset.
They organized well. The podium, for example, was placed obliquely. The students faced the audience and EVERYONE could see the speaker. It was a nice touch that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
They had fun. I’ve been to some joyless graduations where faculty members kept the graduates in lockstep. The Marlboro faculty, I was glad to see, didn’t stop the graduates from letting loose a little. The fun didn’t get out of hand, so they didn’t need to intervene.
They cared. At Marlboro’s graduation, I sensed a genuine affection between the students and faculty and among the students themselves. Though I’m sure this feeling exists at other schools, it didn’t come across in the graduation ceremonies the way it did this year at Marlboro.
Congratulations.
Valedictorian Ravi Thackerdeen receives a standing ovation from his classmates at the 2010 Marlboro High School graduation.
Ginormous gnome
The sun was behind the gnome, so I had to set up two flashes on the light stand to the side of the 13.5-foot gnome. Then I wanted to get different angles to give the editors more choices. To get the photo at right I put the camera (set to a 10-second timer) on a tripod and then held the tripod over my head. That way I got a high angle that shows some of the farm in the background. I’ve tried this type of shot with a monopod before, but I had to use the tripod this time to get a vertical photo.
I also tried a low angle that include the sun in the frame and another photo with Maria Reidelbach looking up at Gnome Chomsky:
Here’s a link to the recordonline story about the gnome, which was recently overtaken as the tallest in the world..