Recently I had the pleasure with working with the Panther Cheer Athletics adult team at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The original intent of the shoot was to capture "silence" in which I would not only capture photographs that embraced silence, bur also be silent myself. Throughout the whole two hour practice I didnt say a word, but instead just observed and worked. I chose to work with a cheer team for this project because what we see traditionally when we think of cheer leaders is bright lights, loud music and lots of energy. What I wanted to capture instead was a behind the scenes look at the intensity and dedication that is put into this sport. Working with these girls was definitely an eye opening experience as not only are they highly athletic, but the sport itself is a legitimate extreme sport with injuries being a common occurrence. I hope I was able to do the sport justice with these photos.
-w
