I had my largest photo event ever this winter with the Faison Recreation Department in Faison, NC!  It took four days to photograph basketball players, cheerleaders, and coaches. There were 32 different basketball teams from varying age groups and a group of almost 30 cheerleaders. I switched between photographing athletes individually and their teams. The Faison United Methodist Church was kind enough to lend us their facilities for the photo sessions.

I always like to go above and beyond what I did the previous year so that I don't get bored and my clients can look forward to something new and exciting. Originally, I wanted to use a fog machine with each individual portrait but quickly realized that it would slow down the process too much. Fog machines and wind currents don't always go where you want them to go. Fog does help accentuate light, but in this case, it would have slowed us down to a crawl and I didn't want to keep clients waiting. I opted for a simple black background and decided to use blue gelled lights as a rim light on the athletes. I used five lights for each individual portrait and three for the team photos. It can be difficult to have constant lighting when you move the lights between photographing individual portraits and team portraits. I tried putting tape on the floor where my light stands go, so that the lighting would be as consistent as possible.

The younger athletes aren't quite as skilled at following posing directions, so I limited their choices.  I gave them the option of holding the ball in various ways. The older athletes had a few more choices as they could hold the ball in various ways or pretend they were shooting or passing the ball. I've posed thousands of athletes over the years and I always try to keep around five poses in my mind that I think they will like. 

I've already been told that spring sports portraits will also be the largest of their kind, so I look forward to working with them again!