An Elon for all seasons

Graduating senior Kyle Hoganson spent much of the past year taking photos of Fonville Fountain from the same spot under the Alamance portico – and a new photo collage is his gift to the university community.

DOWNLOAD A HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTO OF FONVILLE FOUNTAIN THROUGH THE SEASONS

You won’t ever be able to say that Kyle Hoganson never made the most of his time at Elon University.

Hoganson cheered the Phoenix at every men’s and women’s basketball home game during his four years on campus, and he served as president of the Baptist Associated Ministries (formerly the Baptist Student Union) and the Men’s Club Basketball program – all while triple majoring in finance, entrepreneurship and economics. 

So a confession he made three days before his college graduation comes as a bit of a surprise. “I took a lot of Elon for granted my first three years,” the bespectacled California native said Wednesday morning over hot chocolate at The Oak House. “This year I’ve soaked in as much as possible. … I had never stopped to ‘smell the roses.'”

To remedy that oversight, Hoganson set about in September to photograph Fonville Fountain every few days from the steps to Alamance building, and the graduating senior’s yearlong effort led to a photo collage he’s making available to anyone with a love for Elon.

The photos were taken with his Samsung Galaxy S4 cell phone. Of the six individual photos that comprise the collage, four were taken during the lunch hour on Sept. 22, Nov. 5, Dec. 10 and May 12. The other two images were captured in early morning hours – a Feb. 26 image of a pristine snow blanket undisturbed by plows or foot traffic and a March 31 portrait of a foggy plaza.

Hoganson notes that he needed to alter the snow image by adding the American flag superimposed from a previous photo. Without it, he said, the true character of the plaza would remain incomplete.

Hoganson said he hopes that people who download his image will consider using it for their computer desktop wallpaper or Facebook cover photo. 

“There are certain things that change and certain things that stay the same,” said Hoganson, who is now weighing job offers from both the East and West coasts. “I’ve realized that over senior year. … I’ve really grown to love Elon and have a passion for spreading word about it.”