Graduation: Dan & Diane

Friday was a very important day in my family's life. My little sister graduated from college!
And not just any college.
Caltech to be exact.
With honors.
Yes, my little sis is a genius.

And we are ridiculously proud of her.

My mom had the bright idea of doing a graduation/love shoot with my sister and her boyfriend (who also graduated!) before they head off to Yale(!!!) in August to get their PHD's. Did I mention they are brilliant?

Dan & Diane, thank you for letting me shoot you guys. I know it was hard to be romantic and cutesy in front of your big sis, but I think the pictures turned out amazing! I hope you are having fun in Europe and we'll miss you when you go to Yale!

Caltech has a funny way of putting their students into dorms. They have houses, like Harry Potter. The first week of freshman year they get a chance to check out all the houses, rank their favorite houses while the houses rank their favorite students, and then they get sorted into the house that they will live with, eat with, and party with for the next four years.

My sister and her boyfriend Dan happen to be in the best house at Caltech, Fleming! They are known as the jocks of Tech and their nickname is "Big Red". They have a cannon that sits outside their house that they set off for special events and is kind of the symbol of their house. You might have heard of this cannon before since Harvey Mudd & MIT has stolen it as a prank a few times... Needless to say, this cannon is kinda important to these Flems.

I swear they love each other...





On top of being geniuses and sports stars, Dan & Diane also somehow find time to be amazing swing dancers. I think they've found a way to add more hours to the day and they arn't sharing their secret with the rest of us :)





Facebook picture!



If you're a huge fan of NUMB3RS like I am, you might recognize this staircase.



Thank you for being cheesy for me Dan :)







Caltech has some of the most amazing architecture. Across from the brand new chemistry building was this amazing window. Who would have though?







My little chemistry major!



This pool is called the "Gene Pool". It's got the shape of DNA tiled into the bottom of the pool.

Just a little nerd humor for you :)











If you know anything about Caltech you might know that their color is Orange. That being said, you might get a little confused if you went to a Caltech graduation and saw a group of students graduating in red robes. Well one thing you should know about Flems... they like to break the rules. They are the only house to graduate in their color. And the other houses hate it. But they are Flems and they do it anyway.

Plus, it makes spotting them in a crowd pretty easy :)







Dan and his proud parents:



Diane and her proud parents:



The proud sister (and sister's husband).
Did I mention we look nothing alike?



Happy Graduation!

Sneak Peek: Engagement, Graduation, and Wedding!

If it seems like I've fallen off the face of the earth, you might be right. These past two weeks have been insane since the school year (aka both my husband and my day job) has been coming to a close there are more end of the year parties, talent shows, meeting, and just about anything else you can think of. And we're just a few weeks away from moving into our Sweet Home on Alabama, which also makes us busier then ever!

Speaking of crazy busy weekends.... it was the busiest weekend ever for Laura Laing Photography! Here's a few sneak peeks of what's to come this week:

Oli & Jeni's Engagement

Dan & Diane's Graduation


Edward & Daniela's Wedding

Andrea: Graduation

Andrea became best friends with my little sister in middle school. They both went to different high schools, but our families became close friends. They join our family for our giant Thanksgiving every year. They are practically like family.

Then it came time for college. Andrea decided to come to Cal State Northridge, where I was going! She was on the fast track to graduate in 3 years. We discovered that we both needed to take an Astronomy Lab the same semester, so we took it together! I don't think either of us would have walked out of that class with an A if it wasn't for the other one. I knew how to work the computer and she could figure out the math. Perfect team! Through that class we discovered how much we had in common and have become wonderful friends.

Andrea, we are all so proud of you! It takes a lot of determination to graduate in 3 years. You are going to go so far!

So now onto the photo shoot!

Andrea and I headed over to the park near her house to get some nature shots. She was such a good sport and hopped on the swings in her robe and hid in the bushes for me.

After the park, we headed into Downtown Burbank for some city shots and a yummy mall food court lunch!

And last but not least, I had to show off the card I made for her. I was so happy with how it turned out! Everything on the front of the card was hand cut by me... now you know what I do when I'm not photographing thing ;)

Andrea, Thank you for being my first subject!