Graduation Fun

It's that time of year again. Here are shots of Chaparral High School students rehearsing for their commencement ceremony and picking up their caps and gowns for the big day. And don't fret... there are more shots from actual graduation day coming soon! Right now I'm almost done editing through the 1,800 photos I shot at the Chaparral, Mojave and Western High School commencement ceremonies this week and last. Graduation!

The Final Test

It's always an interesting assignment to be a fly on the wall while people receive big news. The other week at Chaparral High School, a reporter and I sat in as students found out whether they passed or failed their Nevada high school proficiency exams. These tests are necessary for graduation. All the kids I photographed are seniors, so they will have only one more chance to take the tests. If they fail again, they won't graduate with the rest of their class. So as you can imagine, their reactions were quite powerful.

Read more about the make or break nature of Nevada high school proficiency exams here.

From Orange Portrait to Orange Cover

When I shot this portrait of Brandi Harris, senior at Chaparral High School, I didn't think it had a chance for cover of Las Vegas Weekly. Though I really liked the way the portrait turned out, and knew the story was going going to be the cover story for this week, I thought the actual cover would turn out to be a collage of images or an illustration of some sort. I was overly excited to say the least when I spied Weekly art director Ryan Olbrysh mocking up the cover last week with my portrait front and center. Below you can see how the original portrait looked and then see the final cover. Ryan did an amazing job. I will never get over having one of my photos printed on a large shiny piece of paper and distributed all over the city.

Terry Spieker

One of the many college student that may be affected by the upcoming budget cuts: Terry Spieker is a CSN nursing student who takes care of his two severely autistic daughters full time when he's not studying or in school. His patience and calm is breathtaking to observe. There should be more people like Terry in this world.