Fitness Photography

Fitness Photographer

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.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF MY FITNESS PHOTOGRAPHY

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

Fitness athlete with a tattoo that reads “Strive for Greatness”

A person working out in an empty warehouse gym

Denver Fitness and Health Photography

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

Fitness Photography - Denver, CO

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

Health and Fitness Photography - Denver, CO

Two girls high five each other after an intense workout in a gritty gym.

Health and Fitness Photography -Denver, CO

Photograph of an athletic girl siting on a medicine ball after an intense workout at a Crossfit gym.

Fitness Lifestyle Photography

Kirstie Ennis

Fitness Photography - Los Angeles

Kirstie Ennis - GNC - General Nutrition Center

GNC - I AM UNBREAKABLE

Made a previous post with one BTS image from this shoot and wanted to follow up with some of the actual campaign images. Said it last time, but this was an incredible thing to be a part of. The still images were piggy backed on the video production with a very inspiring theme. GNC, the client, teamed up with former military people and Jay Glazer/his gym (Unbreakable in Hollywood) that made a line of supplements. The video would tell the story of these military veterans who had gone through some extremely tough patches in their life due to the experiences they encountered during service. Those physical and mental problems held them down for a time, but was later used as fuel for repair, ultimately putting them all in a better place. All along the way using fitness and community as the two major components of change. It was really moving to see these alphas in front of the camera being so vulnerable and honest. Something that is almost non-existent in todays world. The shoot involved 4 different athletes, but the images here are just Jay Glazer and Kirstie Ennis.

On ad shoots like this there is always a considerable amount of planning done ahead of time in order to get as much done as possible in a very limited amount of time. The video crew had a lot to get done as did I. So we had to work together, making slots for us all to get what we needed. Initially I planned on using all my strobes and having them set up to move in the second the video crew was done with a take. Nothing ever goes as planned though. It was immediately obvious that there would be no time for lighting set-ups on the go. The only option was to just shoot with available light. So all the images you see here were shot with video lighting. That’s part of what I love about commercial sets. You’re constantly solving problems and making decisions on the fly as they come up. You do your best in the beginning to plan, but “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”, as the great Mike Tyson once said.

Click here to see more of my athlete photos.

Kirstie Ennis

Kirstie Ennis - Athlete

Did some shooting for GNC a couple months ago. It was a lot of fun, but that’s probably not the right word for it. Motivating. Inspirational. Those would be more accurate. The images I shot were for both advertising and general Behind-The-Scenes stills to show what went into the production. Side note, this image made me go back into my archives and realize how much BTS I’ve shot over the years. Could probably be its own body of work. The premise of the “I Am Unbreakable” shoot was to highlight military veterans who have gone through more than your average amount of physical and mental battles as a result of their time served overseas, then overcame those battles and used it as motivation to put themselves in a better place. All of the people who participated were incredible. They were real and unafraid to be vulnerable. Seeing them in this state was, in a sense, refreshing. Not because I like to see people in pain, but because it’s actually rare for people to be so honest and real about their problems. The world today has been overtaken by the “Instagram effect”, meaning that everyone wants to paint a perfect picture of their life. It’s terrible and it’s fake. So to witness these veterans lay it all out there was great. I think everybody on set left after those two days feeling a lot better about life. Would love to be involved in more campaigns like this one. The BTS image you see below is one of Kirstie Ennis - a Marine who lost her leg while serving in Afghanistan. The image won’t be used for anything but I think it tells a great story.

Denver Fitness Photography

Fitness Photo Shoot

Last night we were 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.

Click HERE for more of my fitness photography.

Sydney Mclaughlin

Sydney McLaughlin Photographs

Portrait - Wall Art - Olympic Champion

One major focus I’ve had over the past year+ has been to only collaborate with commercial clients that I have a real connection with. Whether that be because they make a product I use or their product/beliefs/brand are directly related to my own lifestyle. I personally think this is the way to have successful collaborations. If you’re not interested and you’re just there for the money, then it shows in the final images, and leads to sour relationships with the clients. Recently I was lucky to collaborate with New Balance on 3 different shoots in LA and Cleveland. I’m a late comer to the New Balance scene, only purchasing my first pair of their sneakers about 5 years ago. Ever since then though, I tell everybody that they are “a gift to your feet”. I’m lucky to do a good amount of traveling, and that travel always involves a LOT of walking. Usually 9-12 miles a day for a week or two straight. It’s fun and really the only way to truly explore/photograph whatever place you’re in. After my first trip in a pair of NB’s, I was totally hooked. They always left my feet feeling great at the end of the day, no matter how much we walked. On top of having a great product, I also like their style of branding, photography, and the athletes they choose to associate with. So it was an honor to collaborate with New Balance on these recent shoots. They were some solid days where the athletes, client, agency, and production company were all great to work with. Everybody had a lot of fun and we all came away with solid content. Win Win for everybody. Looking forward to more of this.

If you haven’t seen the video The Rec League put together, check it out below. Awesome stuff. You can also check out more work from them HERE.

Click here for more of my athlete imagery.


Here are a couple images from the day that I like. Not sure if these are even the shots used for the campaign, but I like them.


Gudang Garam

A while ago I had the pleasure of traveling to Indonesian to shoot an ad campaign for a client. Traveling and photography are my two favorite things, so this was a great experience on a lot of levels. One of the biggest being that the cultural differences were so far from what we have here. The client I went over for is the #1 cigarette company in Indonesia (Gudang Garam), and the shoot was entirely fitness based with a slogan of “NEVER QUIT”. That would never happen in America. A cigarette company in the states would never do a fitness shoot, certainly not with that type of slogan. Smoking over there is just a way of life though, so nobody real thinks twice about it. Personally I’m not a smoker, but I tried one of the cigarettes and it was kind of enjoyable. Not like the harsh cigarettes we have here. They are more flavored and easy to smoke. Probably like a clove if I were to compare it to anything. I’ll be posting some of the actual images from the shoot later on, but below are a couple things I pulled off the internet of my images in the wild around Indonesia.

Click here to see more of my fitness work.

GudangGaram.jpg

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?

Click HERE to see more of my fitness photography

Trail Running - San Diego

Trail Running - San Diego - Photography

Had a great time last month shooting some trail running for San Diego Magazine. Besides being in beautiful locations, it was interesting talking to the guys who are both ultra-runners. Hearing about their experiences, techniques, and eating habits was very eye opening. Looking at these images again really makes me appreciate living in San Diego.

Bonus on this shoot was needing a last minute stand in runner for the 3rd location because of a cancelation, I was able to use Emily (wife). Eagle Rock is a very cool place that we were pumped to check out.

To see more athletic imagery click here.

Boulder, CO Fitness Photography

Boulder Fitness Photo Shoot

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.

To see more of my fitness images click here.

CrossFit Counterculture

CrossFit Photography - San Diego - Encinitas

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

Click HERE for more fitness photography

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

STAIR RUNNING-SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTER

Stair Running Workout - San Diego

Exercise Photography

Been shooting a lot of multiple exposures lately, and enjoying it a lot. The method of shooting is completely different and creates a whole new batch of challenges. This idea was in my head for a while now. Saturday mornings are usually a great time to hit the stairs at the San Diego Convention Center. There are always a lot of people running, and they all are doing something fairly unique, as you can see.