Photojournalist - Susan Markisz - Behind the Viewfinder

June 13, 1998

It's that time again, when students who have put in 5 years of elementary school and/or 3 years of middle school, 4 years of high school and/or 4 years of college (or more) are graduating. And we have to cover these graduations, year after year...and look for something a little different.

Lorenza Payano gets a kiss from her dad Rafael after graduation from Riverdale Country High School.

On Thursday, I covered the Riverdale Country High School graduation. When I've covered them in the past, I generally try and get to the schools a little early to get pictures and not have to stay through the whole ceremony. But I had arrived only a few minutes before it was to begin and didn't get the pictures I needed.

After the graduates began to file in, I thought my "goose was cooked," that is, no picture opportunities until the end. But then I took out my 80-200 lens, and then a 300 mm. to see what developed.

I noticed several parents taking pictures of the graduates filing in to "Pomp and Circumstance." I dumped half a roll of film trying to get as many parents as possible with their cameras up to their faces at once. Visually, it didn't quite succeed, but the thought was there.

Then from a high vantage point at the top of the campus, I noticed a graduate seated at the end of a row. There was constant interplay between her... and virtually every graduate returning with his or her diploma. She made hi-fives, and low- fives; she gave embraces and kisses; she also made frequent eye contact with someone in the crowd, perhaps with a parent, making loving gestures, blowing kisses, etc. I couldn't help but focus my lens on her and catch her "in flagrante delicto."

Then I noticed Neisha Butler, a star of the Riverdale girls basketball team, in the front row, show off her diploma to her dad, who was standing off to my right, behind the graduates.

I was glad to have stayed to listen to Joss Whedon, a Hollywood screenwriter and 1982 RCHS graduate, as he gave the graduation address. He began by introducing himself as a writer, and told the graduates that they are all storytellers. He asked them to think of their lives in terms of the story thus far, and the story to come. He said that today was a very exciting day because from this day forward, they were going to be able to do something they've never had the chance to do before:

Niesha Butler looks at her dad and points to her diploma during graduation ceremonies at Riverdale Country High School.

...rewrite their story.

"If you were unpopular in high school," he said, "you can rewrite the script. If you never had a cool nickname, well then, now's your chance. You can't change the past, but...let's say, your first day in college, someone asks your name, you can say: 'Well... they call me 'Sling!'"

He went on to say that the way you start your story will affect how your story goes.

Joss Wheadon also told the graduates that the greatest gift they could give themselves is a plot twist. "No matter where you think you're going," he said, "go somewhere else...lose the map, at least for awhile."

His last piece of advice was that he believed the most exalted state a human being can achieve is genuine surprise.

"Surprise yourselves," he said.

So, in taking the time to listen, I also had an opportunity to "see" a little differently. I surprised myself with pictures that, while perhaps not extraordinary, made me see the nuances of friendship, made me look for the plot twist.

Teachers congratulated graduates as they filed up-campus to a reception

Susan B. Markisz

June 13, 1998

Susan Markisz

< smarkisz@digitalstoryteller.com >
Contributing Photographer
The Riverdale Press, NY
Freelance for the New York Times

Other journals by Susan Markisz

334	November 10, 1999	I have a New Boss
328	Is Photojournalism Dead? Susan Markisz	I am not a photojournalist here (at the U.N.)
322	September 20, 1999	The heavy artillery has arrived
321	September 21, 1999	My adrenaline was already running high when I was given today's schedule.
318	September 14, 1999	7:45 AM: I note as I arrive at St. Bartholomew's Church on East 51st Street for the Interfaith Prayer Service
317	September 13, 1999	Milton hands me two Nikon F4's and an assortment of lenses and assigns staff photographer Evan Schneider to accompany me on my first assignment in the GA
314	September 10,1999	Milton Grant, Chief of the Photo Unit, welcomes me to the department and takes me on an informal tour of the UN.
312	August 31, 1999	The Boy Who Fooled New York.
311	August 20, 1999	I Went Scuba Diving
310	August 16, 1999	The Junkie Priest
306	July 21, 1999	The relentless quest for (Kennedy) imagery
296	July 7, 1999	Hot Hot Hot
294	July 3, 1999	The Sleepovers
288	May 31, 1999	Bad Judgment / Good Judgment: The Picture That Never Was
285	May 27, 1999	Shut Out
281	May 17, 1999	I received a letter recently that reminded me that I'd been taking some things for granted lately.
278	May 7, 1999	A Mass for Littleton
250	March 15, 1999	It's been three months and I've finally developed the rest of my film.
245	March 11, 1999	The picture-taking took less than 10 minutes.
242	March 3, 1999	I don't want to get in a mudslinging contest about the future of photojournalism
235	February 24, 1999	Lately, I seem to be the queen of features and the environmental portrait.
219	February 9, 1999	Does Color Matter?
208	January 29, 1999	Let Me Take This Call
194	December 28, 1998	Last July on this website I wrote about an assignment I had had, to photograph a mother and her young son, both of whom were battling leukemia
193	December 27, 1998	Girls, curls and slipjigs
188	December 19, 1998	Around this time last year I wrote that one of my goals was to find out how photography fits into my life.
172	November 4, 1998	We've all had to do our share of one computer genius/computer programmer/computer innovator/computer geek photograph after another... and it begs the question: How many ways can you shoot a computer without taking out a double barreled shotgun?
165	October 28, 1998	Baseball legends
162	October 26, 1998	"Keep following the story, sounds like fun!"
149	September 17, 1998	Something about Harry
144	September 6, 1998	Photography enabled me to bring my own vision and interpretation to the canvas, at first fairly effortlessly, at least compared to what it had been like trying to eek out an image from a glob of burnt sienna to replicate a paper bag still-life.
136	August 21, 1998	A Day in the Life
134	August 17, 1998	What was startling was that one of the kids who used to play there not so long ago, now a young mother herself, was there with her 3 year old.
117	July 18, 1998	This story is not about a war on another continent. It's about a silent one being fought here...and in just about every corner of the world
113	July 15, 1998	I don't do wars...
112	July, 1998	Lighting 101
107	July 5, 1998	Hundreds of people would gather and watch as unscripted---and illegal---eye candy unfolded.
104	June 25, 1998	How many ways can you spell G-R-A-D-U-A-T-I-0-N ?
102	June 24, 1998	Simple Pleasures
99	June 22, 1998	Life Begins at 40
95	June 15, 1998	"I am woman, hear me roar..." ...Ok, so it's only a muffled "Yesssss!!!"
93	June 13, 1998	Pomp and Circumstance
88	June 9, 1998	Anything Goes...
86	June 3, 1998	Shooting for Stock
85	June 1, 1998	Baby, think it over...
79	May, 1998	Art.Rage.Us -- An Essay
64	April 19, 1998	Thursday I took the day off ... well, sort of.
60	April 14, 1998	Bernard L. Stein, Co-publisher of The Riverdale Press, wins Pulitzer prize.
57	April 10. 1998	A Homecoming of sorts
56	April 6, 1998	"I am not Julia Child"
54	April 5, 1998	The Photojournalism Roller coaster: Of Extremes and Insecurities
49	March 30, 1998	The dark side of humanity reared its head in one of our communities over the weekend.
48	March 29, 1998	A mitzvah is a good deed...
46	March 29, 1998	Today, it was over 80 degrees
45	March 28, 1998	"the (not really) begging phone call."
41	March 22, 1998	In Search of Art
36	March 12, 1998	And today's assignment is to photograph...real estate brokers.
26	February 23, 1998	I always breathe a sigh of relief when I edit my negatives after a basketball game.
19	February 18, 1998	Newsroom Decisions, Dilemmas and Cut Lines
15	February 10, 1998	These are the things about journalism that are truly joyful
4	January 23, 1998	One of the last photographs I took in 1997 was of firefighter John Usai. . .
2	January 14, 1998	My hope for 1998 is an ability to come to terms with what role photography plays in my life.

Contributor since 1998