Missy Franklin for The New York Times

Hello, all!

I’m sorry we have been neglecting you here on the A&D Photography blog lately. We have been booking weddings for the summer season and working on some exciting things here in the first two months of 2012. I hope you all have been experiencing an equally good start to the new year!

At the beginning of February I had a great opportunity to photograph an assignment for The New York Times.

Missy Franklin, a 16-year-old swimmer, is as talented as they come. She is expected to not only make the Olympic team for the 2012 Summer Games, but also to compete remarkably well. But rather than focusing solely on those aspirations, as many of her other hopeful-Olympian peers might, Missy has opted to continue her involvement with her high school swim team. It’s no small task to juggle high school classes, homework, team swim practice, her individual training, time with friends and the international attention her athletic achievements have gained her. But if anyone can do just that, it’s Missy.

In the brief time I spent with her and her teammates at a traditional pre-meet pasta party for this assignment, Missy really impressed me with how centered, assured, and humble she was. She was very much just one of the girls, a part of the team, a friend, a sister, a teenager.

Take a look at Karen Crouse’s article, “Before the Olympic Trials, There’s This Big High School Meet,” and the accompanying photo gallery that a good friend of mine, Justin Edmonds, also contributed to for the story. He is a talented photographer, and the fellow who recommended me for this assignment.

Dan and I will be back with more soon!

— anya