During the first week of every school year Montclair Kimberley Academy, one of New Jersey’s great independent schools, gathers up every student, every teacher, administrator, janitor and driver for an all-campus meeting to get everyone excited and enthusiastic for the year ahead. Appropriately, it is called The All-School Gathering.
This year is extra special. The Montclair Academy was founded in 1887, making 2012 a whole year of celebrating MKA’s 125th year.
To kick off the festivities, I was asked to photograph everyone. The entire school. That’s the first time I have ever had to photograph over 1100 people! It took a lot of planning. Because the camera angle was above and in front of the group, I set up 2 hours before the shoot, while everyone was in the gym listening to speeches. I had to layout markers and rope on the football field to make a TRAPEZOID that would photograph like a rectangle. Then all 1100 kids and adults had to file onto the field, line up in age/grade order, staff and faculty had to insert themselves at various locations, and the photograph had to be taken in about 3 minutes, because everyone was hungry and ready for lunch! Here’s a link to video I made about the Making of The Gathering.
