This is the time of year where my normal sports photography routine gets interrupted by high school graduations. Our local newspaper is covering nine graduations ceremonies this week. I had my first graduation assignment tonight at Newton-Conover High School. The ceremony was held on the school’s football field at 7pm, and the temperature was still in the 90s, so the heat and humidity made the work tough.

I was wandering around the area before the ceremony started looking for some feature-type shots to accompany my standard obligatory graduation ceremony photos when I stumbled across the school’s JROTC group preparing to present the colors at the opening of the graduation. I snapped a few photos, including the one above, and then stopped to talk to the group. The most interesting thing about this color guard was that each of the four members of the group were freshman class members. I suppose the senior members of the group were probably graduating, but it was nice to see the younger group taking on the task at hand.

I had another interesting realization at tonight’s graduation ceremony. As I watched each of Newton-Conover’s seniors receive their diplomas, I could recall many of them as freshman athletes during their high school careers. I have been covering sports for the local newspaper for just over four years now, and the 2008 graduating class represents the first class that I have covered for their entire high school careers. Maybe some of them have scrap books with newspaper clippings containing some of my photos, along with stories of victories and defeats written by our newspaper sports staff.

1000 Faces, Photojournalism