The gown's not being worn so much as it's being carried — held open at his side so it catches the wind and flares out behind him like a cape, instead of hanging flat the way it would if he'd just kept it buttoned. That one choice turns a walking shot into something with actual motion in it, rather than a person strolling past a palm tree.
I shot this at Cal Lutheran, with the Swenson Science Center's brick and glass forming the backdrop and that palm tree doing more compositional work than it has any right to — it's the tallest thing in frame, and it pulls the eye straight down to him without me having to force it.
It's a good example of how I like to shoot graduation portraits on a real campus: let the scale of the place do some of the storytelling, and let the subject move through it instead of just standing in front of it.
Location: Cal Lutheran University.
1/400; f/1.4; ISO 64; 28.0 mm.