Every May and every December, thousands of people in Austin put on a gown and go stand in the same three or four spots on campus. The photos are fine. They are also identical to everyone else's, and you usually wait forty minutes for your turn in front of the tower.
There is a version of this that takes the same hour and produces something nobody else has.
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The Photo Session Version
A styled setup in a park — tent, flowers, candles, warm neutral fabric — and you in the gown, in real afternoon light, with no queue behind you. The neutral palette matters here: it makes school colours read clearly rather than fighting with a busy background.
- ✦Works for UT, St. Edward's, Texas State, ACC and every high school in the area
- ✦Bring the cap, the stole, the cords and the diploma cover — they photograph well against cream
- ✦Bring anything else that says something about the four years: a jersey, an instrument, a lab coat, a stack of books
- ✦Family can be in the frame or stay out of it. Most people want both versions
Shoot before graduation weekend, not during it. The weekend itself is chaos — relatives arriving, ceremonies overrunning, everyone in a hurry. A relaxed session two weeks earlier gives you better photos and one less thing to do on the day.
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The Celebration Version
The other half of graduation is a meal with family, and in May every restaurant in Austin is booked solid with the same idea. A picnic solves the parts that make those dinners difficult.
- ✦Everyone sits together instead of splitting across two tables at opposite ends of a room
- ✦Grandparents can actually hear the conversation
- ✦It ends when you decide it ends, not when the next reservation arrives
- ✦The photos are of your family outdoors in good light, rather than lit by a ceiling fixture
Planning something like this?
We set up styled picnics all across Austin — built before you arrive, packed away after you leave.
Book Your Picnic✦
What to Book
- ✦The Gathering — from $350, five guests included and up to sixteen at $10 each. Two tables, umbrellas, infused water and warm tea, and a 15-minute photo session
- ✦The Canvas — from $500, with a creative activity included for the whole group
- ✦Just the graduate, or the graduate and their parents — an intimate package from $200 is enough for a portrait session
- ✦Glowing letters and a chalkboard sign with the year on it are worth adding. They date the photos in a good way
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Timing, Which Matters More Than Usual Here
- ✦May graduation weekend is the busiest weekend of our spring. Book three to four weeks out, minimum
- ✦December is calmer, and the light in late afternoon is beautiful — the sun is low by 5
- ✦In May, take a morning or a late-afternoon slot. Midday in a gown in Texas is a bad hour
- ✦Home and backyard setups work well if the family is already gathering there — there's a travel fee beyond 15 miles from North Austin
Four years of work deserves better than a phone photo in a car park.