Wanamaker Photography Blog

Behind The Scenes Of A Photography Studio

The final entry of our coverage of the 2008 High School Graduation series ends with Eldred High School. While Chris was attending the S.S. Seward Graduation, I headed north to Sullivan County to cover the graduating class of Eldred High School (which my younger brother was a part of).

After a few days of rain and a close call at the Minisink Valley Graduation the previous evening, Saturday turned out to be extremely beautiful and very hot! It was one of the hottest days in recent memory!

As the ceremony got under way, students received awards for various achievements and accomplishments throughout the year as well as throughout their entire life as a high school student …

With nearly 60 graduates, the ceremony was brief … and I am sure that the students appreciated that it was because of the ever increasing temperatures. As the final names were announced, I positioned myself to capture one of the traditional shots at every graduation …

As everyone made their way to their parents, my brother and two of his friends stopped for a quick, candid shot!

Continuing our coverage of area High School Graduations, I headed over to Florida, New York for the 2008 S.S. Seward Graduation ceremony …

Even though it is a small school with only 61 graduates, there were a lot of people at the ceremony. Thankfully, the weather was incredible and no one had to worry about the possibility of rain!

Arriving early, I checked out the area (since I had never been there before) and waited for the first seniors to start arriving. I wandered between the setup outside and the gathering seniors inside. While grabbing a few shots of things going on around me, I ran into James Reilly, a new local photographer for the Times Herald Record. We chatted for a bit and then headed inside as the Seniors were getting ready for the ceremony.

Inside, we captured a bunch of candid shots between friends …

As the day went on and the ceremony got under way, I photographed the Seniors as they received awards and honors for their achievements. The time came when they would finally be receiving their diplomas.

As the names were read off and the Seniors made their way off the stage to receive their diploma, I snapped a ton of shots. However, there was one student that stood out … not only because of his picture … but because of his last name.

As they called Patrick Wanamaker down, I chuckled a bit as it is not a very common name in the area and I found it ironic that I would be photographing another ‘Wanamaker’ with absolutely no relation. However, the photograph he would provide me would be the best one of the day …

As the ceremony came to a close, the graduates made their way off the stage and back behind the main tent. Just before heading out for the day, I turned around the saw my final shot of the day!

A few weeks ago, we announced that Minisink Valley High School had selected Wanamaker Photography to cover their graduation ceremonies. When the day finally arrived, I think we were a little more excited than a lot of the Seniors!

Since September, we had the opportunity to follow a bunch of the Seniors through many of the different sports that they played for Minisink Valley. From Football to Lacrosse to Baseball, we had captured hundreds of shots of each Senior … and now we had the opportunity to capture their final photo as they graduated from High School.

As we arrived at the school, the day brought with it uncertain weather. I continually checked the radar on my phone hoping for some luck. As the clouds became darker, I would check more often. We headed out to the field and started taking some pre-ceremony shots of the band, arriving parents and the Minisink Valley ROTC practicing for the main event …

As the Minisink Valley Seniors began walking out onto the field, everyone’s prayers were answered. The dark clouds disappeared and the sun poked through … as bright as ever!

As our coverage continued, we took over 3,000 photos of the graduates during candid moments and while receiving their diplomas. In the end, we were extremely happy that we could share in such a special day with all of the 2008 Minisink Valley High School Seniors!

* We took so many photos that it was extremely hard for us to pick a few for the blog and the homepage. If you are a 2008 Minisink Valley Graduate and would like to see all of the images we captured, please contact us and we will be more than happy to provide you with a special access code to our online gallery!

We have great news for all of the seniors we’ve had the chance to follow through football, wrestling, lacrosse and baseball this year …

We’ve been asked to photograph the 2008 Minisink Valley Graduation on June 27th! We’ll be out in full force on the field capturing each and every senior receiving their diploma as well as all of the candid moment between friends. We look forward to sharing this incredible day with all of you!

Back in May, my baby brother, Robert, had his Senior Prom. I still cannot believe how fast time has gone by! It seems like just yesterday he was in Kindergarten! Anyways, enough looking to the past …

Being the photographer of the family, he asked us to follow him from the Eldred School to the Riverview Inn in Pennsylvania where the dance was being held. I accepted (of course) and decided to treat him like a celebrity that day!

As the time came closer, we kept checking the weather as it was supposed to rain on and off during his entire trip to the dance. As we arrived at the school, things seemed to hold off long enough for us to grab a couple of shots before heading in for the announcement of the couples. So we picked out some locations around the front of the school and grabbed a couple shots before heading in. In this shot, we asked Robert and his date, Katie, for a little attitude …

After the announcement of each couple, we headed back outside and got everything ready to head to our next stop … a local playground. Utilizing the kid that is in all of us, we decided to play on the swings for a bit and grabbed this shot …

After being attacked by the all of the bugs, we decided to head down to the Hawks Nest and test out some shots there. As we headed down along the river, the rain could hold out no more and downpoured on us. Forging ahead, we grabbed our umbrellas and towels and decided to give it a try anyways.

Robert and Katie were already parked further down the Hawks Nest with a heavily modified Subaru WRX. As we closed in on them, the rain began to let up and we setup our shots as quickly as possible. We’d check the traffic and when all seemed clear, Chris would jump out into the middle of the road and grab a few shots before the next car would come along. Here was one of his shots …

As the rain moved in again, we decided to head out and down to the Riverview for his last few shots before dancing the night away! On our way down, the rain let up and the lightbulb went off. We wanted to grab just a few more shots before heading to the dance … so we pulled off the road and headed out onto the bridge between Matamoras, PA and Port Jervis, NY. We grabbed our umbrella just in case that downpour followed us.

We started playing around with some different ideas once we got onto the bridge and captured as many shots as we could before the weather got ugly again. As cars passed by, the passengers kept looking at us trying to figure out what was going on. After capturing these shots, we decided to wrap things up and let Robert and Katie head out to their dance …

After leaving them at the dance, we headed back and literally started working on the images. Playing with them inside of Adobe Lightroom was incredible and everyone loved the shots. Robert and Katie felt like celebrities for the day as they had their own paparazzi following them around!

Now I get to look forward to his graduation!