How our mobile photo booth and event photography documented decades of Sylvania Schools graduates and made new memories!
Have you ever wondered what happened to the people in the classes above you and below you in high school? You know the ones. The ones on the sports teams with you, or the ones in study hall with you, or even the ones you secretly had a crush on. They don’t get invited to your Class Reunion, and you don’t get invited to theirs. But they were a part of your high school journey, and you remember them. They may have moved away or moved on from your circle of friends.
On Thursday, August 20, Sylvania Schools Foundation helped people find out what happened to the students they lost track of but remembered and wanted to find. From the idea that Jodi Hess had, the Sylvania Schools brought people together from all the graduating classes for an epic get-together at Centennial Terrace. Three different bands composed of past Sylvania graduates played to a crowd of over 1,500 people who showed up to celebrate 50 years since the Sylvania High School split into Northview and Southview. There was even someone who came who graduated in 1948!
We were happy to be a part of the celebration and captured so many memories with our Walk-About Social booths. I was roaming with one, and we had a photo station set up on the west side of Centennial Terrace.
I was also tasked with capturing the classmates in attendance. It was decided to do a “decades photo” for each decade for the schools to make this process go as fast as possible between the bands. I stood on the stage as everyone gathered below. I tried to get them all as close as possible, but most of them couldn’t really hear me, and I didn’t have a microphone.
And I’m not sure if the 1970s had the most in attendance, but they were spread so wide that I could not get them in just one image. So I had to take separate images from each side.
They also combined all the students who were in attendance from the 1940s through the 1960s.
And it wouldn’t be a true reunion without all of the favorite faculty and staff and retired teachers in attendance.
We also created a couple of fun photo booth experiences using AI filters. The first one was a watercolor effect on the photos, which looked great at the graffiti wall inside Centennial Terrace, where our photo station was first set up.
We also created a fun yearbook page AI filter that everyone loved, and most people chose it for their AI-created photos. AI filters can turn a traditional photo that anyone can take into something memorable. And what is more memorable at a class reunion than a yearbook photo!
I want to thank Jodi Hess and her committee at the Sylvania Schools Foundation for having Kurt Nielsen Photography capture the memories at the first-ever Sylvania Reunion Festival. I also want to thank all of the sponsors for making this event happen.
Before the gates opened for the event, I asked Jodi what she was hoping to happen, and she said she hoped that there would be at least 100 people show up. They estimated that over 1,500 Sylvania graduates were in attendance. If you build it, they will come seems fitting for this event!
Explore all of Kurt Nielsen Photography’s photo entertainment experiences.
Learn More about Kurt Nielsen Photography’s event photography.
View all of the photo booth photos from the Sylvania Reunion Festival.