Yesterday was Alyson's graduation, and a good time was had by all. It was held at 7 PM on the high school's football field, with the audience in the bleachers and the graduates in folding chairs set up on the field. The weather was cooperating nicely. The last rain was Wednesday, and everything dried out nicely. As the sun went down, it got a little cool (into the upper 50s), and most of us wished we'd brought another layer, but we managed fine. They do things quickly here. The ceremony started right on time and they graduated a rumored 198 or 199 young adults and wrapped the whole thing up in an hour's time.
We brought Mom in her wheelchair, since there was no way she could walk all the way from the car to the other side of the football field. Rick's Mother-in-law, Lois, and Father-in-law, Gerry were already there with Annette's sister, Chrissy. Since we had Mom and Lois in their chairs, we were able to sit on the edge of the field in front of the bleachers, so we had an unobstructed view. I shot with the D200 using the 70-200 zoom lens which, given the digital conversion factor, is about 105-300 mm in film equivalent terms. It's a good thing the lens has internal vibration reduction, as I didn't bring the tripod (didn't want to stand out too much). Since the sun was going down, I adjusted the ISO equivalence to 400 for speed (hopefully, I'll remember to adjust it back). Here are a couple of pictures.
The graduate on her way to the ceremony.
Mom (left) and Lois before things got rolling, just as it started to cool off rapidly.
The "Suits" (aka School Board) doing their MIB impression. Rick's the 5th from the left.
The graduate takes the field.
As I mentioned, it was a pretty quick ceremony, especially given the number of graduates. All in all it went very smoothly, with a couple of interesting quirks that let you know you're in a small town. First (for me) was the number of references to Jesus, not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm used to a more PC environment; I half expected the ACLU to run on the field and call a halt to everything. Second, the valedictorian's speech concluded with a reading from Dr Seuss, which seemed like an interesting choice. And third, you gotta love parents who'd name their kid "Rusty", especially when his middle name is "Chevy".
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