From the foyer to Madetoja Hall – a graduation ceremony for OAMK

I photographed the spring graduation ceremony for OAMK, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, at Madetoja Hall in Oulu. The assignment came straight from the university's communications team, and there was work in both the foyer and the hall: the reception, the ceremony and the cake and coffee, one after another that afternoon.

Graduations had not been photographed there for a while, so the university wanted material for later use too. We agreed in advance on which situations to cover: the mood among the graduating students, the speakers and the performers. The first batch had to reach the communications team for a social media post that week.

We started in the foyer. OAMK's photo wall stood beside the glass facade, and guests stopped there with speech bubble signs on their way to a glass of sparkling wine. An acoustic duo, singer and guitarist, played in the corner. The glass wall let in so much daylight that the flash stayed in the bag and the room kept its own mood in the pictures.

In Madetoja Hall the light changed completely. The stage was lit red, the auditorium dark, and the programme moved from the lectern one speech at a time. Each degree group stood up in turn as its name came up on the screen. I kept two cameras round my neck, one wide and one long, so I never had to swap between stage and audience mid-speech.

The programme also included music and dance: a pianist at the grand piano, a singer with a band and two dancers in orange and black. The piano sat at the edge of the stage and the dancers had all the rest, so the same framing did not serve both. I shot these from the edge of the auditorium without moving, because the only route to the front crossed a full hall.

After the ceremony people returned to the foyer for cake and coffee. The graduates had roses and folders in hand, and groups gathered on the marble staircase to be photographed. At the cake table the queue moved one way, so I took my place at the end of it rather than beside it, which put faces in the frame instead of backs.

The pictures went to OAMK's social media and to the university's own communications, and the most urgent batch was ready on schedule. The day also left an archive to draw on later: the foyer, the speakers, the performers and the graduates in their own groups.

Do you have an event coming up that you would like photographed for social media and the archive? Get in touch, and let's look together at what is worth photographing on the day and in what order you need them.