They are gifted athletes and beautiful women. Fierce competitors on the court and sisters who have each other’s back and push each other to be the best they can be.

For the past four years, Ron Sachs Communications has had the great privilege of branding the Florida State University Women’s Basketball program and creating a website, seminolehoops.org, where recruits and fans alike can see what the team is all about. To reveal the essence of the team, we stage an annual photo shoot to capture the many dimensions of the players.

From the start, the FSU brand has made waves in the world of women’s basketball. Year one, we shot team members in formal eveningwear juxtaposed with basketballs and sneakers. This year, the shoot takes the team in a new direction, to be revealed in the weeks ahead.

The reaction of the players at the end of the daylong shoot was telling. Several players said the shoot was empowering, exhilarating, something every young woman should get to experience.

The photos show the players to be powerful and beautiful, warriors and women. They express an essential value of the FSU Women’s Basketball brand: The program recognizes and develops these young women as whole people, not just athletes, preparing them not just for the game, but for life.

Here’s one of the final photos from the campaign (plenty of surprises will come out when the full campaign launches though):

Here are some behind the scene shots of the photo shoot: