Congratulations to Jack!  As a new Florida State Grad, we headed over to Westcott Fountain at Ruby Diamond for his graduation portraits!  I love that we did these AFTER the actual graduation, so we avoided the biggest crowds, but there was still lots of confetti and champagne corks everywhere.

These kinds of crowds make it virtually impossible for me to create the kind of images I want to create for my graduating clients.    For more examples of this, check out my blog post at: https://www.longsphotography.com/fsu-graduation-photos/ 

 Moving forward, the month preceding graduation, I will only be able to offer evening or sunrise sessions so that we can avoid the crowds.   

Florida State University Graduation Photography by Long’s Photography

I have posted many times in the past about crowds at Westcott fountain and the Unconquered statue as graduation approaches.  For Tiernan’s session, we did the evening of Easter Sunday with the hopes that we could avoid the crowds. Even with the holiday, we waited over an hour just to get our time in front of the fountain. 

These kinds of crowds make it virtually impossible for me to create the kind of images I want to create for my graduating clients.    For more examples of this, check out my blog post at: https://www.longsphotography.com/fsu-graduation-photos/ 

 Moving forward, the month preceding graduation, I will only be able to offer evening or sunrise sessions so that we can avoid the crowds.  

For Tiernan, we didn’t intend for it to be nearly dark, but with the crowds and the wait, it was what we had to work with.  I actually prefer Westcott at dusk- the lights come on and the sky has beautiful color.  I am so glad we were able to make his session happen despite the crowds!

Florida State University Graduation Photography by Long’s Photography

A few years ago I changed studio policy that we don’t do graduation or cap and gown sessions on campus the two weeks before graduation.  The lines for images at Westcott Fountain, Ruby Diamond or the Unconquered statue at Langford Green will take an hour or more to get through at each location and then you still have tons of people in the background.  These kinds of crowds make it virtually impossible for me to create the kind of images I want to create for my graduating clients.    For more examples of this, check out my blog post at: https://www.longsphotography.com/fsu-graduation-photos/

So, for James, we scheduled his session in June so that we are FAR away from both Spring and Summer graduation.  Although we got rained out a few times, we were still able to do his entire cap and gown session without the crowds.  As an added plus, since James is on the football team, we got access to Doak Campbell and Bobby Bowden Field for a few of his graduation portraits!  I won’t lie, being on the field with the lights on, Tomahawk Chop playing on the speakers and a thunderstorm rolling in the background is a pretty cool way to celebrate your graduation and I am thrilled we captured those moments in his images!

Florida State University Graduation Photography by Long’s Photography

I have been photographing graduation portraits at FSU for more than ten years and in that time it has changed DRAMATICALLY.  When I started a few people did portrait sessions at Westcott or Unconquered, but it wasn’t hard even close to graduation to get the images I needed.  In the last few years, I can barely get a session done a month before graduation due to the lines and crowds.  For more examples of this, check out my blog post at: https://www.longsphotography.com/fsu-graduation-photos/

So, for Jeremy’s graduation session I knew we needed to do the session either more than a month before graduation or after graduation.  Now that we have done his session, I would strongly encourage more people to book their sessions after graduation.  There is NO way we could get images in front of Westcott without people in the background before graduation.  Even more than that, we captured an image of Jeremy with his car in front of Doak Campbell without a ton of people and cars!  Even though the weather is definitely warmer during the summer, its totally worth it for this kind of results!

Florida State University Graduation Photography by Long’s Photography

Graduation portraits at FSU are RAPIDLY growing in popularity!  I used to get a few inquiries per year, but now I get multiple inquiries EVERY WEEK!  We photographed Jessica’s cap and gown graduation session more than a MONTH before graduation, but when we arrived at Westcott Fountain there were already probably 50 other grads trying to do their sessions as well!

If you are interested in doing graduation portraits on campus I STRONGLY encourage you to schedule them as far from graduation as possible.  I even have cap and gown sessions scheduled weeks AFTER graduation to avoid the crowds!  Please don’t think these images can be captured the day of graduation or even the last few weeks before graduation– the crowds and the litter of champagne bottles and confetti just make it impossible!

For Jessica, we found a few spots around Westcott and Ruby Diamond, but ultimately we chose to move down to Langford Green and the Unconquered statue to avoid the crowds.  

Florida State University Graduation Photography by Long’s Photography