This past Saturday, we attended our first Cheerleading Competition hosted by Minisink Valley. While we’ve photographed cheerleaders at football games before, this competition turned out to be a completely different animal for us!
We setup in the morning for portraits in the far corner of the gym and found a nice spot behind the judges to video record all of the performances. We had a slightly smaller crew this time with Sean working the video camera, Loretta and Jenny at the table and myself shooting action shots during the event.
As things got underway, I quickly found that I was trying to anticipate the next flip, kick or jump. Needless to say, I did so with very little luck! Everything was extremely fast paced and moved over every inch of the mat. As the day went on, Jenny would join me in front of the judges and would shoot group shots to get the action as it happened while I would shoot closeups on a few of the competitors. Some of the shots we captured were interesting!
In our new Photo Of The Week section, we also posted a great shot of one of the cheerleaders with a memorable face that became an instant classic!
In between the competitions, we would watch the crowd and sidelines for things that might catch our attention. The little boy pictured below was hanging out with us at the edge of the mats and decided to pick up one of the megaphones that was being used as a barrier. I think he might have a future in this 
During the morning set, I hopped up during one of the breaks to make sure everything was alright at the table with Loretta and Jenny and to check out the video Sean captured so far. As I came around the judges table, I found this couple who seemed to support their little cheerleader 150%!
Overall, it was a great day for everyone and we were even invited to do the same for the Cheer For All Winter Fest at Pine Bush High School on February 16th! Let’s see what kind of shots come out of that one!