She’s on the field every Friday night, at both home and away games, right on the 50-yard line, but you may have missed her tucked behind her Nikon camera.    

Senior head manager and team photographer of the Legacies dance team Elaina Eichorn has taken her passion and talent for photography and turned it into a side business that she hopes to continue to pursue.

“I love taking photos of all my friends on Legacies dance team or taking their senior photos,” Eichorn said. “It’s really special to be able to capture their talents or personalities.”

Along with taking pictures at all the Legacies’ performances, Elaina is currently the head manager for the dance team. She has been a part of the program for three years.

“Her role as head manager is to communicate with us as directors and make sure everything’s put together,” assistant director Ashley Bonner said. “They carry our props, waters and any extra items for football games. That takes a ton of organization and a lot of time. We have been so fortunate to have her on the team. Taking photos for us, she has blossomed into such an amazing photographer.”

Elaina got her first DSLR camera in eighth grade, but it wasn’t until her freshman year of high school that her interests began to shift from dancing to photography. 

“When I stopped dancing freshman year, I picked the camera up and started taking pictures of my sister, Natalie, who was a Legacy,” Eichorn said. “This sparked my interest and I later branched out into all types of photography.”

Elaina is self-taught and has run a photography business for three years. She covers events such as marching band contests, performances, weddings, senior photos, baby showers and anything she can at Vandegrift. But there’s more to photography than just a photo.

“A lot of stuff I do is behind the scenes,” Eichorn said. “Planning photoshoots and working with clients is one aspect, but I mainly spend hours editing, organizing, and uploading photos and videos.”

Elaina is attending the University of Auburn in the fall of 2019. She’s majoring in business but dreams of taking photos for college sports and events. Outside of college, she hopes to incorporate photography into her job and keep her side business going.

“I want to have my name out there and work with bigger people like celebrities or big businesses,” Eichorn said. “But for now I like to focus on impacting my community and people around me with photos.”

Elaina is also involved in yearbook and has previously taken photojournalism. She is currently working on a campaign video and recently travelled to San Antonio with the Band and Vision Dance Company to shoot photos and videos of the state marching contest.

“She’s super selfless,” Bonner said. “She puts the team above herself in every capacity. She not only contributes to the Legacies and Vandegrift, but also to the community as well. She loves photography and people, her talent is truly amazing.”

Check out Elaina’s photos or book a session at elainaphotography.com.