Commercial Story: Campbell Homecoming Alumni Weekend

Y’all, this is Martha’s debut to the SP blog! (YAY). We are so excited that this will be the first of many blog posts for Story Photographers featuring Martha’s work. Over the years, I have enjoyed photographing events at Campbell University’s campus as an alumni myself. The last homecoming event that we photographed was back in 2019. With the pandemic pretty much erasing an entire year of moments captured through our lenses, we were thrilled to have Martha experience the extra excitement from Campbell University alumni celebrating homecoming as it returned in 2021. This year is the first time that someone else on the SP team has needed to cover a Campbell event because I was already booked. Hearing Martha’s experience at this shoot warmed my soul, y’all. She experienced all that makes this place and these people so special to me, and so many others! It brought so much joy to hear about how things went from Martha, so let’s just hear what she has to say about it….  

“The homecoming weekend shoots were a highlight for me in 2021 after such a hard year. It honestly felt like a needed warm hug to my soul. Not previously familiar with the fact that Campbell is such a welcoming, sweet place, I assumed it would feel like I was on the outside looking in to cover all the events. That would have been totally fine since as an artist, I’m used to peering into special times and events and capturing them without interfering in the flow of things. And while I did this, I left feeling somehow like I’d been brought into this wonderful spirit around Campbell as some kind of alumni in heart! The people from leadership to alumni to professors all carried such pride and joy in their school, I couldn’t help but keep smiling throughout the special events that Saturday. It ended up being a sunny fall day with the clearest blue skies, so all the tents in alumni village were a welcome shade to pop over to. Anytime I happened to walk by a group or ask groups to get together for photos, everyone thanked me and asked how I was connected to Campbell. By the end of that day, I was like, “I am coming back here!” and I know when I do, not only will I be able to find my way around campus, but I’ll wear some orange with pride!”