Before I made the switch to full-time, professional photographer, I spent ten years working at a boarding school. My primary role was as an Admissions Counselor. I traveled the world marketing the school, interviewed prospective students and families, oversaw the building of two of the school’s viewbooks and helped launch the school’s first ever website (in the late 1990’s when the internet, as we know it, was in its infancy!). But you never have just one role in a boarding school so I also coached, advised some students, and was a dorm parent. With that background I love any opportunity to work for a school and capture what makes that place special.
This project – photographs for a new Tilton School admissions viewbook – was shot over multiple fall days and involved the good folks in Tilton’s communications office as well as Lisa Leidy, principal at Square Spot Design (the graphic design and branding firm with whom the school works). Tilton and Square Spot had designed much of a new viewbook so most of our schedule was making styled and thoughtfully curated photographs that supported certain aspects of the design. But part of what makes schools like Tilton so great is all of the moments that occur in the seams of the day – hanging on the quad between classes, seeing a faculty member walking his dog or catching up with a few friends on the way to dinner. Tilton and Lisa allowed me time to just roam – to follow the light or action or whatever might catch my eye. In those moments, I’m thankful for my past immersion in schools as I find that I can see moments that other photographers might miss.
This was a great team to work with and I think we made some really fun photographs that will encourage potential students and families to want to learn more about the school or go see it for themselves!