With one exception, these 13 people receiving their diplomas from Lake Area Technical Institute president Deb Shephard, are graduates of the BSA Photo/Media program at LATI. It is the second group of graduates from the program I started two years ago and the last group at Lake Area that I will call “mine.”
I can live with that. I think the program has made excellent progress in the last two years and it is being left in good hands.
Leave it to one of my photography students to apply a little artistic flair to what is otherwise a pretty monotonous sea of black. Actually, several of the Lake Area Technical Institute Photo/Media students added bling to their hats, though Elsa’s ended up being the most well posed cap of all I photographed.
Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/2.8 ISO2500 200mm
Do you want to see the entire 2 hour and 15 minutes ceremony in 60 seconds? Hold on to you hat and watch:
Here are three of my Lake Area Technical Institute photo/media students taking photo at the Coke Museum in Atlanta. I enjoyed our visit to the museum, though I think it is interesting that throngs of people (like us) are willing to pay Coca Cola Company $16 to be immersed in a giant advertisement. America: it’s a great country.
Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/10.0 ISO1600 22mm
It is a rare occasion that I can get Deb and Glenyce to pose for even an informal portrait. This opportunity presented itself at the 2012 Lake Area Technical Institute Festival of Trees. And they both look “mahvelous. . . “
From left to right, top to bottom, you are looking at Danine, Lexi, Sara, Kendra, Kaila, McKenzie, Ashley, Holly and Kelly. The were all students in our Photo/Media program at Lake Area Technical Institute. And, if you’ll forgive me for saying it, they were my favorite nine graduates walking across the stage yesterday.
Click here if you want to see more from the Lake Area Technical Institute graduation ceremony.
Having marched in, the Lake Area Technical Institute class of 2012 wait for the ceremony to begin.
Canon 5DII 1/60s f/2.8 ISO1000 200mm
On April 23, 2012, Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown South Dakota, dedicated the glorious new student center, aka Phase 3. There were speeches, fireworks, and treats. And there was also a very good crowd, as you can see in this photo.
Giving an idea of scale in a big space can be difficult. My thinking when I took this photo was that if I could frame the crowd on the first level with people standing at the railing of the second level, you would get a better sense of space. Plus, it’s not bad to find elements within a scene that provide framework within a photo.
Canon 5DII 1/80s f/4.0 ISO800 24mm ©Scott Shephard
We are putting the finishing touches on the new student Photo/Media Program photo gallery at Lake Area Technical Institute. This is one of two walls of student photos. Tomorrow, the Governor of South Dakota comes to LATI to help dedicate the new wing of our campus and we are hoping he comes to admire the student photos.
If you live in Watertown, you might consider coming to the LATI open house, which starts at 2:00 and ends at 6.
This is yet another photo that found me. I was walking back to the Photo/Media studio at Lake Area Technical Institute, where I work, and I was almost past the Cosmetology Department when I walked by this partially opened locker.
I was all the way by the locker when I realized that there was a photo opportunity here. I took my iPhone out and took a few photos but this is the one I liked.
No, we don’t keep the heads of former students in lockers. But the cosmetology department does store rather good looking “dummy” heads in lockers. I’m sure there is a name for these model heads and I vow to learn it when I am back to teaching tomorrow.
Last night the city of Watertown, the Watertown Chamber of Commerce and Focus Watertown hosted a celebration for Lake Area Technical Institute (LATI).
As you may know, LATI was recently named one of the top five two-year colleges in the United States by the Aspen Insitute.
Pictured here is Gary Williams, mayor of Watertown and former Director of LATI.