The University of South Florida in Tampa recently made headlines by prohibiting graduates from taking “selfie” pictures while being individually recognized on stage during commencement. Making a similar announcement was Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Both institutions are valued clients of GradImages, so this story certainly caught our attention.

Postal mail, email, and text message are all ways GradImages can provide graduates with access to their proofs from commencement and student portrait events. However, without the ability to acquire address information, proofs cannot be delivered. Consequently, without the ability to deliver proofs, the vast majority of graduates and their families will never see their images from these special events.

Each year, thousands of schools across the United States and Canada rely on GradImages to capture memories for almost two million graduates.  We are honored to be the most trusted name in commencement photography.

The majority of commencements across North America have graduates crossing the stage in only one direction, either right-to-left or left-to-right.  When commencement professionals talk about a ceremony having two lines, they are referring to a process by which graduates approach and cross the stage from two different directions simultaneously.  (The word "simultaneously" is important.)

At commencement, offering close-up photographs is a great way to provide additional photo options to your graduates and their families.

In this article, we will explore why using a reader list to announce graduate names as they cross the stage is not a best practice for commencement ceremonies.

When a school enters into an “all-inclusive” agreement for photography services, this typically means one (and only one) photographer has been retained for all pictures at that institution, regardless of the event type. This arrangement is most often seen at middle schools and high schools, where the photographer could be asked to capture everything from marching band pictures to prom portraits.

A ceremony portrait is a posed photograph taken of each graduate during commencement. Typically, these images are taken as graduates approach or depart the stage.