Lakewood High Class of 2010 - Graduation

This is way over due, but I didn't want to just post some shots. Rather I wanted to speak from my heart about my son's graduation.

On June 17th, 2010 my son graduated from Lakewood High School, an event that I really didn't think was going to happen. It wasn't until a few weeks before graduation that I finally knew that the big day was actually going to happen. My son is a very intelligent kid, but then again I'm sure most parents would say that about their kids. In this case it's very true. My son and I have argued over the last 7 years about classes, grades, and homework. You name it and I'm sure we've argued about it, but what's important is that I believed in him and never gave up. I made sure that he truly knew that I would always be there for him and help him in any way I can. As a matter of fact I think it made us so much closer, more than just a dad and son.

So needless to say when it was real, when I knew that my son was going to walk on that stage and receive his high school diploma, I was very emotional and wasn't sure how that day was really going to effect me. Lakewood runs a program that allows those parents who volunteer their time throughout their child's high school career and accumulate enough points to go on stage with their child while they receive their diploma. Initially this was for only one parent, but we found out just prior to the start of graduation that both my wife and I would be given the opportunity to go on stage with our son. What a wonderful experience that was.

I initially thought that the day would be very emotional for me, but I have to say that I was running around like a little kid taking pictures of my son and his friends. It was the best experience having such a great opportunity to be so close to all the excitement and on the field with my son.

Now on with the pictures, which of course has to start with shots of my son.

These next three shots are of my son's girlfriend.

Now for some of his close firends.

Senior Prom

This last Saturday (yep, I'm a little behind with the posting) was my son's Senior Prom. Of course I just had to be dad and take a couple of shots at his girlfriends house where they all met for the Limo. It was also requested that I follow them to Seal Beach to take a few shots, but once there it was very windy and cold. So we took a few shots so the young ladies wouldn't freeze too much.

These first two shots were taken at my son's girlfriends house.

These remaining shots were taken at Seal Beach.

Although they were both cold and my son was a little upset that his hair was getting ruined with the wind, they smiled for the camera.

John's Senior Portraits

My son's senior portraits.

I can't believe this time is getting so close, where did it all go. I remember him falling asleep in my arms and on my lap. I remember him sitting on my lap while I played games on the computer. I remember taking him to the hospital for stitches when he split open his chin. So many memories, some good and some bad, but I honesty wouldn't ever want to change a thing.

When I look at him now I see a young man who is getting ready to meet and face the world. What will life hold for him and where will it take him? If we knew the answer to this question then life just wouldn't be all that exciting.

I have been looking forward to taking these for quite some time now and have finally had the opportunity to take them. I have to be honest though. Although I am happy with what I ended up with, I'm not overwhelmed with the results and will let my viewer's be the judge.

My Son's Last League Track Meet

This last Wednesday was my son's last league meet. Due to work I missed my daughter's last league meet the following Thursday, which I'm really disappointed about.

While waiting for his meet to start I was watching him warm up and thought, "What the heck am I doing, I should be taking some nice tight shots of him throwing", so that's what I did. I was looking for some tighter shots of him throwing.

I also thought that I'd do something different for his last meet and ran these through Lucis Arts for a slight effect.

California Relays

My son was invited to attend the California Relays held this last Saturday at Cerritos College. He participated in the discus and shot put.

This is a huge relay consisting of both high school athletes and college athletes and really opened his eyes as to the level of competition there is and what he will face if he makes CIF championships.

He started the event with the discus throw with his best being 130 for the day, which was 1 foot less than his personal best. He did not place in this event, but hopefully knows what he needs to work on.

Next was the shot put. He did very well in this event adding one foot to his personal best going from 42 to 43'. Although he increased his personal best he did not place in this as well.

Either way, I'm very proud of him and can't tell anyone how much I enjoy watching him compete.

As I normally do, while waiting for my son's shot put event to start I managed to take some shots of the long jumpers. These young ladies were competing at the college level.

I also managed to get a couple of shots of this young college athlete during the high jump. She had already won her event and was going for height now.

I decided to take two different shots to show how background can either add or take away from a shot. The first shot had the field and empty gray sky as a background. In the second shot I moved so that the stadium would be in the background, which added to the event and color of the background. I prefer the second shot much more.