The unique lessons hiding within a familiar type of picture

I know you think you’ve seen these pictures before. But you haven’t. Not really.

Yes, they bear striking similarities to each other. Hundreds of flat-topped caps in blue or red or black or crimson or green or whatever the color that defines a particular school. Huge smiles on bright young faces in groups of two and three and more. A young man or young woman speaking from behind a podium. Caps and tassels frozen against the sky like flocks of spring birds.

Graduation is a spring ritual, and in one sense, there is little to distinguish it from school to school or year to year. Oh, there be the odd humorous cap decoration to capture a moment, or some telling exchange of expressions between parent and child or celebrating students, or some fluke of wind or weather that creates an arresting moment. But aside from such rarities, graduation pictures might seem to be mere repetitions of a familiar story.

They are, however, more than that, even when it seems like you’ve seen the contours of a certain picture before. The details vary with each individual and each picture. Each face tells its own contemporary story. Each setting carries its own meaning.

Of course, we cannot capture every moment, every person nor even every school. But we still strive to tell important and engaging stories with every image we present.

As Paul Valade, our director of visual journalism, explains, “We challenge and push ourselves to look for photos out of the ordinary, by arriving early to look for candid photos, something different away from the ceremony venue. High fives, brightly colored caps, long cheerful hugs and groups of friends taking selfies always winners. But we dig deeper into our creative side, keeping an eye out for interesting lighting or shadows, unique weather like high winds or finding a graduate whose car matches his robe.”

You’ve seen some pictures like those already this season, and there will be more to come in the days ahead. And even where there are strong similarities from year to year, school to school or person to person, there are basic truths about this story that bear repeating. One is tracking the transition of a young person to adulthood. One is reflecting a community’s values and expectations for its young people. One is purely celebrating along with those youths the accomplishments each of them has made in just getting to this point.

There is one other observation that occurs to me as I think about these pictures and what can make each one unique in its own right. There is a philosophy about photographs that describes every picture as a view of infinity, the capture of a single moment in time that has never existed before and will never be repeated. The graduation picture, it strikes me, is something of a variation on that theme, with some important differences. For, in every picture, you certainly see what is going on with the individuals at that moment in the present. But their smiles, grimaces, hugs, selfies and tears also carry evidence of what has gone on before to bring them to this moment as well as of their aspirations and expectations for the future ahead.

So, however familiar the circumstance may seem, be aware that in every picture, you are indeed seeing that specific story for the very first time. Look for yourself at those we print, as well as the additional images online at www.dailyherald/galleries.

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on X at @JimSlusher. His new book “Conversations, community and the role of the local newspaper” is available at eckhartzpress.com.