Behind the Photo: Cheerleader
My mom recently sorted out all the remnants of the days when you had to print the whole role of film to get the one picture worth keeping. Over the years the best photos were picked over for frames, albums, and other display pieces.
These are the left-overs. But not the throw-away left overs. The ones that tell the story of the real family behind the Christmas card photos.
Ask any sports photographer and they will tell you: people make horrendous faces when they are physically exerting themselves.
Nonetheless, when I made the varsity cheerleading squad at the end of my freshmen year of high school, I immediately began to picture myself looking like this:
However, a cheerleading uniform does not a Gabrielle Union make. In cheerleading, the head bobbling and flirty uniforms belie the level of difficulty. You are doing things that are far more demanding than a layup, a pass, or running in a circle…and yet you have to do the whole thing with your hair in place and a big ol’ goofy grin (or a fierce, open-mouth, club face).
Or you are me, and your face tells the world exactly how hard you are working.
The moment I found out I had made the squad is captured on film, and it gives an accurate forecast of things to come:
This showed up some time later. I have thrown it away at least three times:
