However, whilst preparing your base package of locations is crucial to ensure everything goes smoothly, you still need to have the courage to be creative and try something new during a shoot. Some of the best photos I got from this graduation season were the compositions I spotted out of the corner of my eye on the go, or the locations that were suggested to me by my clients based on their personal experience. So, it is important to stay creative during your shoots. The way to allow yourself to do this is by prior practice and preparation, and knowing your equipment and settings, so that you can trust yourself to step out of your comfort zone under pressure and still get great results.

Finally, it is paramount to remember that the more relaxed an environment you as the photographer can create, the more genuine the smiles in your photos will be. Make small talk, smile, and get to know your clients – that is how you will make everyone feel at ease so that you can capture those ever-treasured candids and the raw natural emotions. Therefore, once I mentally overcame the intimidation of the sheer number of clients and the immense pressure to do justice to such an important event in your photos, I ultimately found that graduation photography is one of the best learning opportunities out there. It forces you to trust your ability as a photographer, teaches you a quick eye for composition, and solidifies your knowledge of your equipment.

It will also give you a very good insight into the life of professional photography with the amount of post-production work you will have to do. The editing backlog can easily stack up during a busy period like this, so the way I try to manage it is by never finishing for the day until every photo I have taken that day has at least been sorted through and organised into ‘Name_Ready_To_Edit’ folders. This means that you will often find me with my 15-minute lunch taken up by a coffee shop date with a hard drive. However, doing this means that, come editing week, it is all ready to go. As a heads up, the editing crunch is one of those stages of a graduation season that can easily feel like it will never end; but just trust the process – and the coffee! When you finally look at the end results, see your own improvements and, most importantly, get to deliver great photos that your graduates will treasure, it is the most amazing feeling that will make you incredibly excited to do it all over again!