5 Ways to Make Your MSU Graduation Photos Personal and Memorable 🎓

Graduating from Michigan State University is a huge milestone, and your MSU graduation photos should celebrate your story, your friends, and your time on campus. Here are 5 tips to create Michigan State grad photos that are personal, fun, and truly reflective of you.

1. Highlight Your Favorite Campus Spots

In addition to the classic Michigan State graduation photo locations like Sparty Statue and Beaumont Tower, include places that really mattered to you:

• Dorms or college houses where you made lifelong friends

• Program or major-specific buildings where you spent late nights studying

• Favorite sport centers, cafes or bars where you spent some of your best days

Including personalized campus spots ensures your MSU senior photos feel authentic, unique, and memorable.

2. Include Props That Tell Your Story

Props make your Michigan State University graduation photos more personal. Ideas include:

• Items related to your major or extracurriculars (instruments like stethoscopes, sports gear/clothing)

• Fun personal touches like a decorated graduation cap, stole, or favorite accessories

• Meaningful mementos from your college years

3. Capture Moments with Friends and Classmates

Some of the best MSU grad photos feature the people who made your college experience unforgettable:

• Roommates or dorm friends

• Study groups or program classmates

• Club or organization friends

Candid moments with friends — laughing, cheering, or even goofing around — make your photos feel alive, joyful, and full of memories.

4. Mix Up Your Outfits

Variety makes your Michigan State graduation photos more dynamic and visually interesting:

• Dressy outfit for classic grad shots

• Casual campus look that shows your personality (jeans, sneakers, t-shirts, etc)

• Something that represents your major, hobby, or future plans (i.e. a headshot for Linked In)

Multiple outfits ensure your MSU senior photos showcase all sides of you — fun, professional, and personal.

5. Capture the Right Vibes

Your MSU grad photos should reflect your energy and personality. Think about the vibe you want to show:

• Chill and relaxed with friends hanging out on campus

• Playful and spontaneous with champagne, confetti, or fun poses

• Proud and confident in your cap and gown

When your session captures the right vibes, your photos will feel natural, memorable, and totally shareable — exactly what college seniors care about.

Final Thoughts

Your Class of 2026 MSU graduation photos should capture you, your story, and your memories on campus. From meaningful spots and personal props to friends, outfits, and the right vibes, every choice makes your photos more authentic.

💚 Celebrate your accomplishments and make your Michigan State grad photos uniquely yours.

Tis the season for grad photos! April is always so exciting for a photographer. It almost feels like coming out of hibernation after a long winter. The flowers are starting to bloom, the leaves on the trees are starting to pop, and at MSU, the champagne is starting to be sprayed! I love shooting graduation photos. Hearing the excitement in grads voices- about how much fun they had at MSU, but also hearing the excitement about what comes next- grad school, moving to the big city, a job lined up, studying for the LSATs or MCATs…it’s truly inspiring. Here are some of my favorite grad photos taken of Violet in March!

Grad sessions are so much fun, but here are some tips to help your photo session go more smoothly!

1. Before your session, make sure to iron your gown! Wrinkled gowns are pretty noticeable in photos, so make sure to spend 10 minutes ironing it beforehand. Your photographer will not photoshop out any wrinkles.

2. Pick up two bottles of champagne per person in your group! This allows one bottle for a group spray at Beaumont Tower, and then another bottle to do solo shots at another location.

3. Wear a comfy pair of shoes and pack your dress shoes to change into. Campus is big! You can swap shoes back and forth and you trek around campus.

4. Bring a bag or a wagon to haul everything in. You’ve got shoes, your gown and accessories, champagne….it’s a lot to carry! If you have a large group, a wagon will be so helpful and easy the day of your shoot.

5. Carefully consider what outfit you’ll wear under your gown. Are you going to do photos with the gown open? Do you want a professional headshot? If so, make sure your clothes are ironed, bra straps are hidden, and nothing is too low cut. Or, bring an extra top to change into. Pack a collared button up you can throw right over your dress. Also, consider colors- you don’t want your outfit to clash with your gown. You also don’t want it to clash with your friends’ outfits!

6. The last tip is an important one- if taking photos the last few weeks leading up until graduation, make sure to arrive one hour before your appointment time to wait in line if starting at Beaumont or Sparty. The lines here can be anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hour graduation week! Nice days will be very long as well. Pack your patience!

It's almost that time again and I can't wait! There's nothing like the smell of freshly sprayed champagne wafting through campus, cheers and shrieks as the champagne sprays (or doesn't spray!), and hearing all the excitement about young grads' plans for post-graduation. If you're an MSU grad, I would love to capture photos of this amazing accomplishment for you so get in touch! And here are some favorite's from Emma's grad session, Class of 2025! Congrats, Emma!

These three are graduating in December, so instead of waiting until the snow fell and the bitter cold set in they decided to have their session in fall. We had a ridiculously warm fall day so there was no shivering in little white dresses happening. Bonus of doing a grad session in fall? NO LINES! We could easily walk up to Beaumont and Sparty and grab photos without waiting in the typical one hour plus lines that are typical in spring. So, congratulations to these three grads! Here are my favorites from their session.

When I graduated, graduation photos weren’t a thing, and I so wish they had been! It’s such an amazing life milestone to graduate from college, and it should be celebrated and captured! I would have loved to have photos like these to look back on as an adult far removed from college. What a fun way to celebrate!

I loved getting to know Mikayla and Macken! These two are headed to Belfast for graduate school in the fall, and I’m so jealous! They will get to hop around Europe in their free time! What an incredible next step. We were lucky all of the spring blooms came early this year and we were able to walk around the campus of MSU snapping photos with them in the background. I love how the photos turned out! Congrats again, you two!

When Julian’s babysitter asked if I could take graduation photos of her and her friends at Michigan State University, of course I said yes! Even though over the weekend it had been 82 degrees, just two days later we were dealt 32 degrees, high winds and even snow! It was seriously crazy. We started at the College of Engineering and then headed over to Beaumont Tower and the bridge for the Spartan sign. We ended by grabbing some individual shots in front of the gorgeous spring blooms that are all over campus. These 6 crazy smart soon-to-be engineers powered through our chilly two hour session in cute dresses and gowns. Here are a few of my favorites!