Celebrating Cheer - Kalee 2016

March 16, 2016  •  1 Comment

I love it when high school seniors share ideas for their sessions.

Sometimes clients just know what they like and what they want, and that's what I try to create.

I completely get that.

In some regards, clients with ideas make my job easy. On the other hand, it also creates a fair amount of stress on my end to deliver what they envision.

I'd photographed Kalee in July in a beautiful patch of Southern Illinois sunflowers. It was an ideal evening. The weather was perfect. There was a slight breeze. The site she had picked out was a dream. Despite me losing my footing by the lake and nearly making my own splash, I couldn't have asked for more. Days like that in Southern Illinois can be few and far between.

When I was contacted again in late October to do some cheerleading photos for Kalee, I was nervous about the weather, which in Southern Illinois is completely unpredictable.

We met at Robinson High School. It was a mild evening, but it certainly wasn't July anymore. The leaves crunched on the ground beneath my feet and that "you know it's almost winter" chill was already in the air.

Kalee, however, was prepared. She had several ideas in mind, and we were able to quickly bang through her list.

Because of the chill, and the fact that Kalee was dressed in her cheer uniform, I tried to keep us moving from site to site so we'd stay warm. It wasn't freezing outside, just uncomfortable.

Kalee was game.

There are several images that stand out in my mind from her session, but it's the image of her doing a back handspring that was the most fun for me to photograph. It was the only image we truly had to "plan" out.

Kalee had wanted a photo of her flipping over the 50-yard line, so placement of her and where the flash should be was fairly easy with a few minor adjustments. Assessing the background was a no-brainer - to the west was a parking lot and to the east was the press box and bleachers.

​We set up the poms and put Kalee into position.

Now all I had to do was time the image to capture Kalee arching perfectly over the 50-yard line.

​It took a couple attempts to capture her at just the right moment. Thankfully, she's a great tumbler so she was willing to repeat the action so we could get it just right.

I remember looking in the viewfinder and seeing this shot right after I took it. The human body and its capabilities never cease to amaze me.

I'm always up for a challenge and even now when I look at the photo, I see there are things I might have adjusted here and there. It's still, however, one of my favorite senior images this year. 

Special thanks to Kalee and her mom for the privilege!

 

 

 


Comments

Cher(non-registered)
Thanks for sharing this on your blog, it was good timing with the crazy few days we have had. So glad we got the back handspring shot. It's definitely one of my favs too!
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