i am a graduand

As I’ve probably mentioned ad nauseam, I missed my undergraduate graduation earlier on in the year. The doctors said they’d try their best to get me there, and it’s a shame that they couldn’t, because I would have been spectacular. They could have wheeled a skeletal figure draped in academic clothing onto the stage, and little whispers would have filled the auditorium. The audience would have seen a drain hanging out of my chest, and my gaunt, wasted face could have put on a clenched little smile saying “don’t worry about me”, making everybody feel all the more awkward and pitiful. The uneasiness hanging over the crowd would have erupted into long and loud applause as I held out a limp hand to receive my graduation certificate, and the audience would always look back upon the graduation ceremony and remember me. They wouldn’t remember me fondly, but they’d remember me.

Maybe missing that ceremony was for the best.

I had a replacement ceremony the other day, which allowed me to experience the fun of dressing up in funny clothes and a funny hat, and getting an endless procession of photos taken with friends, family, colleagues, assorted random people, and every possible combination of the above. Here are some of the photos I had taken with my family.


I reckon my sister and I are particularly good photographers. I think that we take portraits that contain a wealth of emotional gravity, and go a long way towards capturing what one could describe as an essence of character. Here are some of the photos we took of our family.