CHEER | Liberty University Cheerleading Tryouts 2013-2014

The tryout for the 2013-2014 Liberty University Cheerleading squad is a challenging three days that involve learning sideline cheers and the fight song dance and demonstrating your tumbling abilities.  In addition, it requires you to be adaptable to learning new stunting techniques and changing stunting groups and partners.  Personal interviews are held to find out more about each individual's character and whether they would be a good fit to represent the university and Christ.  All of those skills are being taught and tried during the first two days all while the attendees are being whittled down.  The final day is where each one demonstrates their acquired skills and their knowledge of the cheers and fight song.    

As we prepare to kick off the Liberty University football season away this weekend against Kent State, I wanted to share some cheerleading images from earlier in the spring.  These images tell the story of day two of the three days.  I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did shooting them (I'll explain at another time how I came to photograph them rather than participate!)

SENIORS | Taylor, Class of 2014

This is Taylor!  Some of you may recognize her (and her sister, Bailey!) from their cheer session earlier this fall!  I met Taylor when I started tumbling classes a couple of years back at the National Artistic Sports Academy here in town.  She's been tumbling and cheering since she was young and she's extremely talented.  She cheered for her high school for a few years and has participated in several all star cheerleading squads.  She's currently in her second season with FAME All Stars!

One of her best qualities (and there are many!) is her attitude!  Taylor exudes a quiet and persevering confidence in her abilities and has a humble spirit about it.  She's never without an encouraging word or suggestion to help others improve their skills.  Definitely a team player!

Cheerleading isn't the only venue in which she shines, Taylor is also smart and successful in her education.  In addition to all her cheer and tumbling practice, she maintains a heavy college prep course load.  All her hard work has finally paid off - she'll be graduating this spring from E.C. Glass High School and will head off to college in the fall! She's received acceptance from some really great universities and I know she'll succeed no matter where she attends.

We met in downtown Lynchburg and at Old City Cemetery for her session!  Good luck Taylor and the FAME All Stars this season!  Congratulations! 

PERSONAL | Brittany's Bachelorette Cruise

You may remember from some of my previous posts (here and here) that my younger sister, Brittany was engaged to be married!  I say was engaged because she got married on August 3rd and is now Mrs. Timothy Oberlin!  However, before she walked down the aisle she walked the plank (just kidding!) on a surprise bachelorette cruise with some of her favorite ladies!

We scheduled a sunset cruise for the Monday before her wedding out of the Mystic Shipyard on the yacht Epiffany.  We were a little worried about the weather because it started off gray and cloudy but the sun eventually came out and set gloriously while were out on the water!  The ship's captain, Chazz, and his first mate were great hosts - providing us with some wonderful refreshments and a delightful time!  I, personally, had never been sailing and I completely understand how someone could love it so much!  I would go sailing again!

Maria, Erica, Alex and I headed to the yacht early to decorate the cabin, put together the food, and queue the personalized playlist for the evening.  Vanessa, the maid of honor, picked up our bride and brought her to the shipyard.  We sailed down the Connecticut shore, dining on some of the bride's favorite appetizers and desserts.  We danced to the music and ventured out onto the bow of the boat!  Later in the evening, Brittany opened some gifts and personal messages from each of us as well!

After our sunset cruise we headed to the local Mystic restaurant, Margaritas, where we laughed and each of us took a turn wearing a sombrero!  It was a fabulous evening full of fun, friends and lots of fond memories!

PERSONAL | August Goals

Ok, I know that I never posted goals for July!  I've fallen a bit behind!  So I've decided to start fresh with goals for the remaining 2 weeks in the month of August!  Here they are!

AUGUST BUSINESS GOALS:

1. Prep marketing materials for the start of the fall!  I've gotten a start on this.  I need to finalize designs and get some posters/flyers printed.
2. Line up a couple more cheer portfolio sessions and shoot them by the end of the month if possible!
3. Continue to blog 2X per week!  I'm still doing okay with this but it still varies a little from week to week.
4. Prepare a new product and materials for an upcoming business meeting!

AUGUST PERSONAL GOALS:

1. Contact my wedding photographer about getting my own album! Still need to do this!
3. Allow time to adjust to a new work and home schedule (hubby and I are now working the same schedule and home together at night)!

I'm amazed I'm even showing this picture of myself!  And, no, I am not sleeping my eyes were just closed!

 

What do sunsets and sombrero's have in common?  Stay tuned for the blog post next week to find out!!

CHEER | Bailey & Taylor, FAME All Stars

I'm so excited to have Taylor and Bailey, sisters and FAME All Stars cheer powerhouses, to feature on the blog!  They are both beautiful inside and out!  They are in their second season cheering for FAME All Stars, an elite all star cheer gym that has several franchises in Virginia! They and their mom graciously agreed to help me out with some more images for my cheer portfolio - so here they are!  I can't forget to mention that Sean Washington of the Liberty University cheerleading squad helped us out with stunting so Taylor could demonstrate some of her top girl skills!  It was a huge help to get some of those images for my portfolio - so a big shout out to him too!

PERSONAL | Tim & Brittany's romantic coral and gold Connecticut country club wedding weekend

Previous to this post, I was sharing about Brittany's bridal shower and then a little bit later her bachelorette cruise.  I can't believe that it is finally time to tell you all about her wedding!  My sister pored over each and every detail for the entire six months of planning their big day.  It was filled with light coral colors, beautiful gold accents, chiffon, lace, and gorgeous florals.

For the wedding day photography coverage, Tim and Brittany selected Nathan Rohrer of Nathan Rohrer Photography to capture their day.  Since I had been asked to stand beside my sister as a bridesmaid that day, I could focus on just taking pictures because I wanted to and of course, I wanted to share some of the images that I took over the course of the weekend!  The celebration was filled with lots of laughter and abundantly more love, which was expressed eloquently by Brittany and Tim during their wedding vows and was evident to all who shared their day with them!

Congratulations to my little sister, Brittany, and my new brother in law, Tim!

CHEER | Brianna, Amherst High School Lancers

Brianna is a student at the National Artistic Sports Academy here in Lynchburg and that is how I came to meet her! She's attends Amherst High School and has just started cheering for FAME All Stars this year in addition to her high school team.  You always see her with a big smile which just demonstrates her incredibly upbeat personality!  She's also extremely bright and works very hard to improve her tumbling and cheer skills to be her best! 

I love to photograph cheerleading and I'm working on expanding my portfolio so I asked her and her mother if they would be interested in doing a session.  They excitedly agreed and I was thrilled!  I met up with Brianna and her mom at the Amherst High School football field in early August!  We decided to piggyback my session right after the official team pictures since she'd already be dressed in uniform.  Seeing the team dressed in maroon brought me back to my own high school cheering days at Wheeler High, where our colors were also maroon and white.  It was ridiculously hot that day but she worked the camera like a pro and looked gorgeous doing it! 

Good luck to Brianna, the Amherst High school cheer team and your FAME All Star team this season!

ENGAGEMENTS | David & Vanessa summer evening engagement session at Buttonwoods Farm

This is a couple very near and dear to my heart and so I'm very excited to share their engagement session with you all!  The main reason being that the bride is my younger sister, Vanessa!  I haven't been home during a lot of their engagement since I live in Virginia but while I was home for my other sister Brittany's wedding in August (check out her posts here and here) - I managed to snag them for a quick 30 minute session!

The sun was going down over Buttonwood Farm in Griswold, Connecticut where we had just gotten ice cream and the backdrop was perfect!  I'll be sharing pictures from Vanessa's bachelorette weekend and bridal shower soon so keep you eye on the blog!  Here are some of my favorite images of this beautiful couple and the gorgeous ring that David gave to Vanessa when he proposed!  They will be married on November 2nd, which is getting closer and closer by the day!