On the job: Photographing lasalle university’s presidential inauguration
Daniel J. Allen Ph.D. is the new president of La Salle University in North Philly.
One of my favorite things about this job is capturing historic institutional moments as they happen. Whether it’s just being in the right place at the right time to capture a perfect moment or being lucky enough to attend an event that’s been planned for months — big or small — I love being a part of preserving an organization’s history. I was asked to photograph one of those historical moments a few weeks ago for La Salle University.
In January, the university announced they had selected a new president to lead the school into the future. Their most recent president left in June of last year and the board of trustees spent six months combing through candidates to find her replacement — Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D. I am somewhat new to the LaSalle community, and I was very excited to meet and photograph Dr. Allen.
As often happens with university announcements of this nature, Dr. Allen started his tenure at La Salle this past April, but his official inauguration wasn’t until just a few weeks ago. So, at the end of October, I made my way to North Philly to photograph the inaugural events for the new president of La Salle University.
La Salle really pulled out all the stops for this event and put together a celebration that hindered both modernity and tradition. The two-day event consisted of a Mass and reception on the first day to welcome the 30th president to campus, followed by an official ceremony with a picnic and dinner the next day.
The challenges of a shoot like this always intrigue me because it’s a true blend of journalism and portraiture, both of which I love. For the bulk of the event I was tasked with capturing candids of the celebration — with an eye toward highlighting the La Salle community and the new president’s relationship with the university’s students. While this type of photography is nothing new to me, I still get excited every time I get to step onto a campus for a new and historic opportunity.