Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco — SFSU Grad Session

We met at the Palace of Fine Arts on a mild, overcast Bay Area morning — the kind of soft grey sky that actually makes colors pop without any harsh shadows to fight. She came in her SFSU gold and purple, navy blue dress, and a smile that was already at full wattage before I even picked up the camera. The sash said it plainly: SFSU. She'd earned it.

We started under the colonnades, those towering sandstone arches that frame everything like a painting. I had her walk toward me down the center path with the rotunda columns stacked behind her, and she just relaxed into it naturally — shoulders back, grinning, the SFSU medallion on her sash catching what light there was. That ease in front of the camera made the whole session move quickly in the best way. We worked through the arch toss too, and she launched that purple cap high enough that it was practically kissing the carved stonework overhead.

We crossed over to the lagoon side and the full rotunda dome came into frame behind her — that warm terracotta against the still water is one of those combinations that never gets old to shoot. She held the cap out to one side, arm raised, laughing, and the dome just anchored the whole image. Then we slowed it down a little — she sat on the grass along the colonnade side, cap resting in front of her, and those quieter frames ended up being some of my favorites from the day. There's one close shot on the bench near the garden wall, ferns soft in the background, where she's just looking straight at me with this calm, knowing smile. That one's going to print well.

By the time we wrapped up, we'd covered almost every angle the Palace has to offer — the arch, the rotunda, the lagoon, the lawn, the bench. She brought real energy to all of it. Congratulations on finishing at SFSU. Whatever's next, you're clearly ready for it.