One of the first questions JMU graduates ask me when booking their sessions is if they should do a morning or an afternoon portrait session. Which is better for photos? Which will give the better experience? Which will create the best JMU graduation portraits? Let’s walk through the decision together!

Throughout this blog post I’m going to give photo examples of morning vs afternoon sessions on all the major locations around the James Madison University Quad. These are locations we’ll most likely visit during your session with me. You can either look at the photos themselves and make a decision, or you can read all the tips and tricks I have below to decide!

Let’s walk through all the pro’s of both morning and afternoon sessions.

Pro #1 for morning sessions: there are generally less people taking photos.

This isn’t a set rule, but generally, most people take their JMU graduation portraits in the afternoons and on weekends. There will often still be people taking photos in the mornings, but I’ve found that lines are usually shorter in the mornings and we have more space to ourselves. Often we’ve had the Quad entirely to ourselves, especially during super early morning time slots. This isn’t always 100% true (some mornings I’ve seen dozens of grads!), but it is usually the trend.

Pro #1 for afternoon sessions: you don’t have to wake up before dawn to get ready.

I’ve had grads tell me that they’ve woken up at 4 AM to get ready for their 7 AM sessions with me. Most don’t get up that early, but a good number do get up before the sun. For morning people this isn’t a problem at all! But if you’re a night owl, I don’t recommend going against your internal rhythms and forcing yourself to get in front of the camera when your body knows it should be asleep. The last thing you want is to feel exhausted for your session.

Pro #2 for morning sessions: it’s generally less windy in the mornings.

We all have experienced those Harrisonburg afternoon winds. All day there’s been nothing, and suddenly 3 PM hits and your hair is flying sideways. I’ve had some very windy afternoon sessions on the Quad. I will always work with the wind and make sure that we’re still having fun and getting great photos, but this usually incorporates movement. If you know that you prefer your photos to be very settled and your hair to be laying in a particular way, maybe you should book a morning session when the wind is usually lower.

Pro #2 for afternoon sessions: it warms up quite a lot by the afternoon.

I still remember wearing my winter coat on the walk to class in the mornings and carrying it in my arms while I wear t-shirts on the way home. I’ve had some days where the morning session is in 30 degrees and the afternoon session is in 70 degrees. Early JMU graduation April sessions in particular are quite chilly in the mornings and still cool in the afternoons. Once we reach May it becomes nicer in the mornings, and sometimes a little too warm in the afternoons! Know yourself and your body. Do you do better in colder or warmer weather? If you tend to sweat easily, look for morning sessions. If you shiver when it’s less than 60 degrees, look for a later afternoon session.

Pro #3 for morning sessions: there are rarely students hanging out on the grass.

I’ve had countless morning sessions where we’re standing at the bottom of the Quad with Wilson in the background and there isn’t a single other person in sight. No other grads taking pictures and no other students sitting outside. When nice weather comes to JMU, students love to sit outside on the grass. On some days, almost every inch is covered in blankets or by people tossing footballs. When there are a few people behind you, I can easily edit them out, but when there are dozens, I cannot. It will be impossible to get photos without them, but to be honest, I love it. When there are dozens of students behind you, it means that you went to a university that people loved to attend. They felt safe and happy sitting in its main area surrounded by dozens of other students who feel the same, and everyone is creating happy memories. Those are the kind of emotions I wanted in my JMU graduation photos, but if you know you don’t want people in your background, maybe you should look into a morning session.

Pro #3 for afternoon sessions: we don’t generally have to worry about class times.

The one exception of having an empty Quad in the mornings is in between classes. During that 20 minutes you will have streams of students walking along the paths to get to class. As soon as the period starts, 99% of them are out of the picture. We can almost always time it so that we take our Wilson photos during class to avoid this, and we can take the rest of our photos whenever. There are a few exceptions in which we didn’t time it well and had to switch things around in the moment, but it all turned out ok. There are of course still classes happening in the afternoons, but it is noticeably less.

Pro #4 for morning sessions: you won’t have to squint for Wilson photos.

If you absolutely hate the idea of looking into the sun, you might enjoy morning sessions more. I will almost always have the sun behind you in all your photos. Unfortunately, to get photos with the Quad and Wilson in the background in the afternoons, the sun will be in front of you. I try to make it as quick and easy and painless as possible, but these are the big JMU graduation photos that we definitely want to get.

Pro #4 for afternoon sessions: there’s a chance for an amazing sunset.

If you’ve booked a later afternoon session with me, there’s a chance we might get an amazing sunset. Golden hour can be spectacular on the Quad in a lot of ways, but we have to be careful. Sometimes the sun goes behind buildings and makes campus very dark, especially if there are clouds, which is why I generally schedule my sessions earlier in the afternoons. But sometimes those clouds can create the most spectacular colors in the sky, and it’s all so worth it.

I hope the photo examples and pros for both morning and afternoon sessions have given you a little clarity into which type of session you want to book! There is no right or wrong answer, just whichever fits you best and will give you the best personal experience.

If you’re ready to book your session with me, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. I can’t wait for our session together!! Go Dukes!!