There's a version of graduation photos that exists for other people. The cap and gown in front of the tower. The smile that says I did it in a way your LinkedIn connections will understand. Your mom printing it and putting it in a frame before you even get home.

Those photos matter. We took them. And they're beautiful.

But there's another version. The one that actually looks like you. Where you're in your favorite spots, caught in the candid moments, or where you're in front of the building you spent all your time in and you look exactly like someone who just spent four years learning to see the world differently.

That version is the one that will bring you back to your college years when you see them in a decade.

Both things can be true

I think there's sometimes pressure to choose. Do you want the classic photos or the fun ones? And the answer is: you don't have to. A single session can hold both and the contrast gives a richer story.

When we shot at Tech Tower, the setting carries weight. Standing there in your regalia, it's hard not to feel something. Those photos are grounded and they'll mean something for a long time. Then we walked around the corner to the architecture building's patio — her place, the spot she'd been going to for four years — and the whole energy shifted. Looser. Warmer. More her.

"The traditional photos say you graduated. The others say who you were when you did."

Use what your major gave you

Architecture students spend years being taught to look at light, at proportion, at the way a surface catches shadow at four in the afternoon. That instinct doesn't turn off just because you're out of studio.

Shooting with Anna was special because we got to collaborate through our designer's eye. We pointed out stops along the way and she brought up shots that I didn't think of and vice versa. That kind of eye is a gift — and it shows in the images.

If you've spent time in a program that trained you to notice things, trust that. The most interesting frames often come from someone who knows what they're looking at.

Collaborating during the session leads to more unique photos that have a special feeling to you

Don't overthink the in-between moments

Some of the best images from this shoot weren't planned at all. Sitting in the flowers happened because it was there and blooming and she went for it. The lipgloss moment happened because she was touching up between locations and the reflection on the glass was too good to ignore.

Those in-between moments, the ones that feel too casual to count, are often the ones that end up meaning the most. They look like you because you weren't performing for them yet.

Be open to spontaneity. Some of the best images aren't planned ahead.

She graduated with a degree in architecture, which means she's spent four years learning that the best spaces aren't just functional, they're felt. These photos are the same way. Some of them do the job. Some of them make you feel something.

You deserve both.

↓ Scroll down to see the full spring graduation gallery at Georgia Tech