Graduation ceremonies are filled with traditions: caps and gowns, proud families, and the certain photo opportunities. But have you ever wondered why those professional graduation photos often come with a hefty price tag?

Many graduates and their families express frustration over the cost of commencement photos, often sold by companies like GradImages. Online forums are filled with complaints about the expense, with some graduates even resorting to using AI to remove watermarks from downloaded images.

However, university officials often have a different outlook. they highlight the convenience and expertise that these photography companies bring to large-scale events.Melissa Goitia, the director of university ceremonies at Arizona State University, concurred. James Vitagliano, an associate dean at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, told me. “We have never had a complaint,”

These companies, like GradImages, handle the complex logistics of photographing thousands of graduates at multiple events, something many universities are not equipped to do themselves. “I can tell you why we don’t do it,” she told me. “We’re taking thousands of photos over the course of a week at multiple events. A company like GradImages is very well versed at taking lots of photos at a quick pace. Very few institutions have the staff to do it.”

the story of commencement photography’s rise to prominence involves technological advancements, market dynamics, and the emotional meaning of education. “This is the story of how a handful of companies came to dominate the market for commencement photos-a tale of technology, market power, economic inequality, and the emotional value of a good education.”

In the past, capturing that perfect graduation moment was a challenge.jack O’Connor,who ran O’Connor Studios,recalled how a graduate’s blurry Polaroid sparked a new business model. “There was no one taking photographs of graduates,” O’Connor told me. His company shot New England schools like Harvard, MIT, and Holy Cross before it was purchased by GradImages in 2018.

Early photographers faced numerous hurdles, from managing long film rolls to tracking down student addresses. “When we started, it was very elaborate,” said O’Connor. “we had people tape-recording, saying ‘Connor, tall and blond’-and we’d have to match the images to names.”

Universities embraced this model because the photographers offered a valuable service at no upfront cost to the institution. They shot the ceremony for free and sold the results to the students afterward.

Bob Knight, who founded Bob Knight Photo, explained that graduates now take this service for granted. “They take it for granted now as every commencement of size is photographed, but the schools never did that themselves,” said Bob Knight, who founded Bob Knight Photo-the antecedent of today’s GradImages-in the 1970s and sold it in 2007. “From the beginning, it was being done by a specialist and outsourced.”

These specialists soon realized the emotional value of these photos. While a basic print might be affordable, companies often upsell packages and add-ons. “We did a lot of studying, and who we were trying to sell to was women. The No. 1 decisionmaker was Mom.” Although a 5-by-7 GradImages print can be had for $16 today, including shipping, the website pushes buyers toward add-ons and “package” deals that cost upward of $100. Such offerings helped nudge the average sale to $75 by the 1990s, Knight recalled.

Graduation is a symbolic event attended by many affluent individuals, making expensive photo packages seem less critically important. At vanderbilt university, Knight said, the team managed to sell even 25-by-30-inch posters.

However, not all graduates can afford these prices. Christopher Snyder, a professor of economics at Dartmouth, explained that the “optimal price” for photo companies might exclude many students. “Getting 10 percent of students to buy at $40 is worth more than having 70 percent of students buy at $5,” Snyder told me. (OK: 10 x 40 = 400; 70 x 5 = 350.) “The high-demanders are cutting the low-demanders out of the market. You’re losing a lot of social surplus-a lot of willingness to pay is being lost.” But you can’t charge two different prices to the same set of buyers.

Bill Campbell, vice president of event management and photography services at GradImages’ parent company, Balfour, told me in an email that at some schools just 10 percent of students make a purchase.”Our prices for our products are reflective of this type of photography and are competitive or lower than our competitors’,” said Campbell. He reminded me that price isn’t the onyl reason someone might not want a photo of themself: “Photography is such a unique business, in that images are so very personal, capturing the essence of a person, and they may not always come across exactly how the person wants or how they felt in that moment.”

Despite lower purchase rates, the business remains profitable. Private equity investors have seen significant revenue growth after acquiring these companies. In 2021 GradImages was bought again and placed under the collegiate souvenir clearinghouse Balfour, with a new majority equity holder, New York-based PE giant Cerberus capital Management. It’s part of a pattern: Another PE shop, apollo Global Management, owns Shutterfly, which operates school photo giant Lifetouch.

To combat the seasonal nature of graduations, these companies diversify their services. O’Connor estimates he has shot 13.5 million elementary school photos; Knight got into the Santa and Easter Bunny businesses and bought the road race