UT Graduation || Sunspot || Celeste Ritchason

Celeste Ritchason had her graduation last week from the University of Tennessee. Before graduation began, we all met just outside of Thompson-Boling Arena for some quick pictures of Celeste and her family. It just happened to be the coldest day in December, so after a few outside we headed in for some additional family pictures out of the cold. Just in case you haven’t been to a University of Tennessee event lately (sports related, concert related or graduation), they have implemented a new rule that if you do not carry a clear bag, that you cannot bring it in if it’s over 6 inches. So you can imagine the amount of people that finally got through the cold and up to the doors just to turn around and head back to their cars to return purses. I feel so so bad for the people that had to park blocks away! They almost didn’t let me in with my flash because I had it in it’s case and the case was longer than 6 inches! Anywho, we did a little searching and probably found the best spot in Thompson-Boling for pictures. You can see below… but the curtain prevented us from seeing just darkness and other seats, we were far away from the crowd so there aren’t any strangers roaming around in the background, the painted walls allowed us to squeeze in some of that famous UT orange in the background, and it was right in front of a dozen doors so it was flooded with natural light (turns out I didn’t need that flash after all).

Then after graduation, I met up with the whole family again at Sunspot on the strip to get some candids of Celeste opening her graduation gifts and blowing out her graduation candles (which might I add were the coolest candles EVER!). Let me tell you, this girl is loved and has SUCH a supporting family. I’m not sure where all the extended family members lived, but I do know that she is from Nashville, so I’m sure some of them drove in just to be there for her graduation. It was such an honor to get to photograph this precious memory for this family!

I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel… I shoot anywhere! If you have any questions about pricing or booking with me, click here to contact me now! If you liked what you saw above, go ahead and follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see my daily updates of the latest sessions!