Living The Promise

Being an event photographer often means being front row and center to a special occasion. Usually this means a ticketed or invitation event. This time it was the inauguration ceremony for the University of California Riverside's new chancellor Timothy P. White. Appointed by the Regents of the University of California in May 2008, White was inaugurated March 17, 2009. The event was aptly themed Living The Promise.

This was my second chancellor inauguration, having covered Francis Cordova's crowning in 2002. These events are not unlike a graduation ceremony. There is music, there are speeches, there is pomp and there is circumstance.

As The Academics marched single file through the crowd up the center aisle, one could not only see their distinction, but feel it. The Academics are separated from everyone else with their caps and gowns of various colors. They look distinguished because they are. They are the top of their fields, scholastic experts everyone.

Yet what I noticed right away was that the man of the hour Mr. White was also set apart. Distinguished among the distinguished.

Firstly, despite his academic excellence, this man was not afraid to
show his happiness. The glee was apparent on his face, like a boy in a candy store. He simply beemed with delight.

Later his cap came off during the invocation, and I took the moment to capture the visual of his cap in his large and stoic hands.

When he came forward to receive his medallion during the Ceremony of Investiture, there was a brief moment where the future Chancellor just paused before the logo of the Chancellor's Medal hanging on the curtain behind him. (see top photo)
It was a nice moment. I had decided to gamble away the "safe" front and center angle where he would be receiving the medallion from President of the University of California Mark G. Yudof. I went instead for an angle that had the large emblem in the background. Later, during editing, I saw that I was glad that I took the risk. I had made the better choice to not stay obvious. While this new angle was not good for faces during the Investiture, it was this moment of pause just before that I was most proud of.

Later during his speech, Chancellor White paused briefly and looked up towards heaven where he reflected on the sacrifice of two loving parents. For when we shed the robes, and status, we who are parents who are also sons and daughters know that we live to give our kids a life full of opportunity. Chancellor White's pride was not in himself, but in being able to live his parents' promise to him.

Here was a man of humility.

Here was a man of class.

And it was these moments by Chancellor White that made this event of pomp and circumstance both different and special.


Living the promise indeed.