It was another eventful year at UC Riverside marked by new building openings, large events like Commencement and Homecoming, and a variety of exciting research.
Stan Lim, UCR photography manager, captured the big and important moments as well as the small intimate ones throughout the year. He shares his 20 favorites images of 2024 and some of the stories behind them below.
UCR Bell Tower and Rivera arches
I am always trying to find new ways of capturing the unique architecture at UCR, and the bell tower and the Rivera Library arches are likely the most photographed structures on campus. On a late evening, I found this angle I personally had not seen before and I am happy with how it came out.
Wildlife crime lab
A great part to my job is meeting all the students, staff, faculty, and alumni I get to photograph. Over the summer I went to Oregon to document the work of alumni Ken Goddard who is the director of the world’s only full-service lab dedicated to solving crimes against animals. I was overwhelmed walking into the lab’s Morphology Center, and it took me a while to figure out how to capture a portrait of Ken. But how could I go wrong photographing him with all the animals they use for research and species identification? That was an eye-opening experience.
Center for Environment Research and Technology (CE-CERT) blue lab
Part of my job is to take photos for marketing materials like brochures, websites, socials, etc. I had seen photos of CE-CERT’S atmospheric chamber before, and after six years of working at UCR, I finally got a chance to do a photo shoot inside it. When I saw the reflective floor, I knew I had to get a shot of a subject mirrored in it. The blue hue coming from the lights in the chamber was a bonus.
Commencement jumper
Sometimes you just need a little luck to get a great image and that happened while covering the Black Grad celebration. When Maurice Mason II walked onto the stage and started dancing, I knew I wanted to get close, but I never imagined he would leap the way he did. Luckily, I had a wide enough lens on my camera to capture this joyful moment.
Bug dining
Occasionally, I am tasked with coming up with a photo to illustrate a story idea and sometimes these requests are pretty unusual. Our department was working on a magazine story on entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, and I needed to photograph Professor Erin Wilson-Rankin. She was a trooper when I suggested this wild idea of setting up a dining setting with her holding a plate of insects. The funny part was asking Stephanie Falcone, the executive analyst and assistant in our department, to place an order for freeze-dried crickets, meal worms, scorpions, and beetles.
Hummingbird
On shoots you have to be prepared for anything and you can usually find me lugging a large roller bag with cameras, lenses, and lighting equipment to my assignments. On this day I was photographing an artist who created a sculpture at the Botanic Gardens. While he was being interviewed by the writer I heard a buzzing sound coming from a hummingbird that was feeding from a nearby flower. I grabbed my telephoto lens, got a few shots, and just like that, the moment was gone.
See additional photos in the gallery below.
