49ers Gold Rush shooting calendar in Lake Tahoe
OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) — The San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush cheerleaders are getting ready to cheer on the Niners for the upcoming football season. And this week they’re shooting their annual Gold Rush calendar. News 4 got an exclusive behind the scenes look at what it takes to make the one of a kind calendar.
The Gold Rush shoots their calendars all over the United States and this year, pictures are being taken in one of the most beautiful places in our region, Lake Tahoe. “No other place besides Tahoe really shows the diverse nature of California, there is creeks, rivers, snow, pools, resorts, just about everything,” said 49ers Gold Rush cheerleaders operations manager Christi Dean.
The 49ers Gold Rush are taking over Tahoe all week. Group and individual pictures have been shot all over the region since Sunday and managers say they’ve been planning the calendar shoot since April. “Every day we have about three shoots, different locations, the girls come in and get their hair and makeup done, we style them for the day, and then we are just moving in and out,” said Dean.
More than 400 women auditioned to be part of Gold Rush this year, but only 40 made it including rookie Charlese. “We’ve been putting in a lot of time for practice, so it hasn’t felt real yet, but I’m really looking forward to that first game,” said Charlese.
Fifth year veteran Melissa says she really enjoys showing her rookie teammates what a calendar shoot is all about and says this experience is one of a kind. “I am so excited to be here, this is one of the best destinations I’ve done so far,” said Melissa. “It has been amazing, this scenery, Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe is just incredible.”
Managers say they will go through thousands of pictures before choosing the winning ones and their photographers say it definitely takes a while to get that perfect shot. “It takes pretty long, a lot of people don’t realize how many takes it takes, that’s funny,” said director of photography Austin Heppler. “But probably about 30 test shots before we actually start working with the perfect shot.”
The Gold Rush will finish shooting in Tahoe Thursday and their official 2014-2015 calendar is expected to go on sale by the start of the regular season in September.
