I may have posted this before, but it’s worth seeing again. This was one of the first videos that I made with my iPhone 5S and iMovie. I’d say it turned out okay for a first timer, but I came to the conclusion that you can’t take photos and take videos at the same event and do both well…at least I can’t. Photos it is…for now.
In this edition of Flashback Friday, we take a look back at the 2016 Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders final auditions, which were held at The Forum in Inglewood, California. In the first year back in Los Angeles, the Rams Cheerleaders attracted a large and distinguished group of candidates. There were former cheerleaders from the Laker Girls, Clippers Spirit, Charger Girls, Chivas Girls, the UCLA dance team, USC Song Girls and a host of other local semi professional dance teams. It was a special day and the setting made for some wonderful shots.
I have been covering the Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders auditions since 2009 and they regularly attract some of the most beautiful girls in area. This photo was taken in 2016 and it is of one of the most photogenic girls at the auditions, Darby. She went on to make the squad and she has become one of my favorite Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders to photograph. And if you want to see more photos from that year’s auditions, click here.
Many years ago, the PAC 12 held their annual basketball conference championships at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and I could understand why the conference would do so. Los Angeles was pretty much the central location for all of the teams and it was a relatively new stadium in the most media centric city on the west coast. But for whatever reason, the venue rarely sold out and the conference decided to move the championships to Las Vegas.
But while the championships were in L.A., they used to have a battle of the bands contest before the two scheduled teams were playing and they featured the spirit squads of both teams. And I attended one of these sessions and took this image of a pretty UCLA dance team member.
So enjoy this college edition of Flashback Friday.
A few years ago, I was in attendance at the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders final auditions and I had a blast covering the event. It is another pageant style audition and there’s a lot of dancing and entertaining as it is more of a showcase than a preliminary dance audition, where there is a lot of dance instruction and repetition before a panel of judges. Not this audition. It was two hours of non stop dance action.
The Miami Dolphins final auditions are usually open to the public and if you have a chance to go, do so. It’s a lot of fun and you won’t regret it.
It’s Jelly time! Anjelica “Jelly” Kaylor was one of my all time favorite Charger Girls to photograph and the years she was on the squad were a fun time. Tall. Beautiful. Photogenic. Talented dancer. Great smile. These are all the ingredients for a great model/dancer. I loved photographing her…she was special.
Here are some bonus photos of her. Enjoy.
In 2015, I attended the Pro Bowl with my friend Max and we had a great time at many of the game related activities, but for me the highlight was the game itself. Over the years, the Pro Bowl has become a bit of a disappointment in terms of the players’ effort and activity level, but the NFL Pro Bowl Cheerleaders always give 100% effort. They are wonderful ambassadors for the NFL and they are always a treat to photograph.
One of the attributes that makes for a great cheerleader photograph is a girl with a great smile. Why? Because cheerleaders are supposed to be friendly and engaging. They’re supposed to be beautiful and they are that. They’re supposed to be great dancers and they are that. But they’re also supposed to make you feel like a part of the family and they do that by smiling and engaging with the home town crowd. So for me, a great cheerleader photograph is one of a girl smiling and enjoying the game day experience.
In this edition of Flashback Friday, we take a look back at Charger Girl Marissa who exemplifies all those aforementioned qualities in the photo below.
In this edition of Flashback Friday, we take a look at the 2013 St. Louis Rams Final Auditions. The Rams Cheerleaders used to do a brief performance to open the final auditions and since I was there early to cover the event, I was able to snap a few photos of the girls as they rehearsed. And I took this photo of Holly, whom I considered one of the most beautiful cheerleaders on that squad, and I am glad I did because she was special.
I purchased my first digital DSLR in 2002, if I recall correctly. It was the venerable Canon EOS 1D and it took decent photos. Prior to that I shot film and I would typically shoot 6 or 7 rolls of film at each game. That’s roughly two rolls per quarter or 64 shots per Charger Girl line. Processing that film was expensive, roughly $7.00 per roll, so that was the limiting factor in terms of the number of images I took.
When I switched to digital, those costs were no longer an issue and I shot many more images per game…perhaps four times as many. The only limiting factor was memory cards and storage. So for me, the digital revolution was a watershed moment in my photography. I no longer dropped off film to be processed at Costco and I no longer viewed images via prints or via a loupe if I shot slide film. Everything was done on my computer and I learned a new term…workflow. Digital photography eliminated the film processing color lab, but that process was replaced by computer based post processing and I had to become the digital imaging equivalent of the old photo lab technician. In the digital era, you had to be proficient in two disparate skill sets in order to produce a great image…photographic skills and computer imaging skills.
So this image is from my early days with digital photography and it is an image of a very special Charger Girl named Lauren. She was very popular with Charger fans and I could see why. Beautiful, great dancer and very photogenic.
Well I hope you enjoyed this look back to 2006.
