Fitness Photography

Raleigh, North Carolina Fitness Photography

With all the ups and downs of commercial photography, there is one thing I never want to stray away from, and that’s fitness photography. No matter what is going on in your life, fitness should always be an answer. Have a bad day? Go work out. Bad week? Go sweat. You never regret working out, but as they as, you’ll always regret not working out. Sort of comparing apples to oranges, but I also get an immense amount of satisfaction from documenting others working out. Just being a fly on the wall for the sufferfest is almost as good as getting my own sweat.

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San Diego Fitness Photography - Person doing a kettlebell workout with a tattoo that reads "Strive for Greatness" on his back.

Strive for Greatness

A person working out in an empty warehouse gym in San Diego, California. Bear Republic Gym.

Raleigh Fitness and Health Photography

A guy working out with kettlebells at Bear Republic Gym. San Diego Fitness Photography.

Fitness Photography - Raleigh, NC

An athlete with large blisters on his hands after an intense workout. San Diego Fitness Photos.

Health and Fitness Photography - Raleigh, NC

Two girls high five each other after an intense workout in a gritty gym. San Diego Fitness Photography.

Health and Fitness Photography - Raleigh, NC

An athletic girl sits on a medicine ball after an intense workout at a Crossfit gym. San Diego Fitness Photography

Raleigh Fitness Photographer

Health and Fitness Photoshoot - Raleigh, North Carolina

If you’re in the fitness world then chances are you follow brands like Rogue, Nike, 2XU, Rhone, and Reebok because of the guaranteed stream of fitness related content. They are easy follows. I realized a while back that I’m a hard follow. My photography is focused on my interests, which are quite varied. Just look at the blog post previous to this one. It leads off with an older women in a white fur jacket and hat riding her bicycle down a cobblestone street in a postcard European town. So what does that have to do with gritty images of an athletic girl working out? Nothing other than both subjects interest me. Admittedly the woman riding her bike could be classified as a fashion photograph, a subject that bores the hell out of me. I’d classify it more as a culture or travel photo though. The point is, if you’re following someone like me, it’s because you like my photography, not necessarily all of the subject matter. People will always say “you have to specialize”. Why? It certainly make it easier to market yourself that way, but why limit yourself to shooting one subject matter your whole life? I love photography and using it for various purposes like documenting life, not just to create ad campaigns for clients. That’s fun too, but there’s got to be more than that. Stay tuned for the next post on a subject unrelated to fitness that will no doubt preach about the value of personal project, again……

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San Diego Fitness Photography

Last night California was hit with an official “Stay Home” quarantine due to the Coronavirus. What the hell does that have to do with fitness? A lot actually. The virus is hitting the whole world with effects that will last well past the next couple weeks or months. People will lose their jobs, and worse, their business’. It’s heartbreaking to think about all the small business’ out there that could possibly crumble from this pandemic. We are all restricted from living normal lives in order to restore order, and really, health. The stress that all of this will cause is much higher than most are used to. The one thing we can control however is activity. All of the normal places we turn to for fitness are closed down and for good reason. That’s not a reason to become sedentary however. Quite the opposite. If anything, this is a time when we should all turn to activity and physical fitness. Not just because of the obvious, but because of the emotional advantages it can give you. I’ve always been a believer in the positive effects working out can have on the mind and in relieving stress. So it’s time to get creative in how we all do this. Most of us are now faced with too much more free time , and the worst thing we can do is sit on the couch watching TV and stressing out about the current situation. Fitness helps everything. All aspects of life. Get creative.

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Raleigh Fitness Photography

Multiple Exposure Fitness Photography

The box jump is an exercise that I find strange to photograph. For some reason the images always just seem boring. So why not play around a little?

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Southern California Fitness Photographer

Gym Shark Photo Shoot

Health and Fitness Lifestyle Photography

Been a long time since I’ve posted some commercial work, but here are a couple outtakes from a shoot I did for UK based fitness apparel company Gym Shark. They make really nice stuff and gave me a lot of freedom to shoot pretty much on my own, which I always love. The athlete just did his thing and I did mine. No real staging of any kind. Good times.

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San Diego Crossfit Photography

Bear Republic Crossfit

More experiments with sweat. As always, just looking for those different angles.

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San Diego Fitness Photography

There is always a particular itch that is scratched when I shoot fitness like this. Unrehearsed real workouts. Nothing staged. Just as a fly on the wall waiting for things to unfold. While looking at these images months after the shoot I realized that neither of them was sweating, which is very strange. Then I realized how hot it was that day and that their sweat was just instantly evaporating. They didn’t complain.

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CrossFit Counterculture

CrossFit Photography - San Diego - Encinitas

More Crossfit photography. An itch for me that will never be scratched enough. 

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San Diego Fitness Photographer

Bear Republic Crossfit

Can't ever see becoming sick of shooting CrossFit. It's too real, which means that it never gets boring.  There is never a need to stage anything. You just let everything happen in front you and do your best to capture it. Real sweat. Not that from a spray bottle bullshit. 

www.robhammerphotography.com/crossfit