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.

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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

Colorado Fitness Photographer

Health and Fitness Photoshoot - Boulder, Colorado

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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Advertising Fitness Photographer

Commercial Fitness Photography - Advertising

Fitness Photo Shoot - Workout - Health

A number of years ago I received a new assignment email from a long time client wanting some fitness photography. That’s not out of the ordinary, but their specific request was. They wanted some “bright and happy” fitness shots. My immediate response that I actually said out loud while reading the email was “why are you contacting ME?” Normally with advertising photography, clients/brands/art directors etc. are painfully specific about who they choose for a shoot. There’s a running joke/story out there about a food photographer who was showing his “fruit” portfolio to a client that needed his services. His work was exquisite. More beautiful images of fruit you could not find. The client loved what he did with apples, oranges, bananas, mango, kiwi, pineapple, etc.. After going through the whole portfolio though, she asked him “but can you photograph a yellow apple? Are you fuckin kidding me??? That sums up a lot of the photography industry . Most people aren’t capable of making the mental bridge and want a photographer to be so specific that they specialize in shooting “yellow apples” or whatever the fuck the case might be. I probably botched the story itself, but you get the point. Until receiving that email about a “bright and happy” fitness shoot, it was something that I’d never done. My style was always dark and gritty and probably the thing I was most known for. I thought, what the hell, let’s give it a go. So I took the assignment and ended up really enjoying it. Since then there have been a number of clients who have hired me to make images in a similar style for them. It’s been fun and I look forward to that change in pace/style from the dark and gritty. Currently working on a new gallery for the website of bright fitness images. Until then though, enjoy these shots which were made for a few different clients over the past year or so. They are a mix of indoor/outdoor and shot with natural light, strobed, bounced, diffused, etc, etc, etc


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.

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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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Aaron Straker - Nutrition Coach

Aaron Straker - Fitness Photography

My travels have taught me a lot of things about how to live and not to live. It’s all personal opinion of course, but one thing I’ve become very passionate about is living your own life. One that makes you happy. And it always makes me upset seeing people spend their whole lives working a job that they hate. I don’t understand it at all. My buddy Aaron Straker (below images) is doing the opposite of that. For the past 8-ish years he’s been working for a company in San Diego as a senior software engineer. A job that he probably liked ok, but it’s certainly not what he loves to do. Well, last month he quit that job to focus full time on nutrition, and very soon he and his girlfriend (also a nutritionist) are moving to Vietnam to start their own business over there. At some point they will move back to the states, at which point they plan on pimping out a sprinter van and literally taking their show on the road. These type of decisions are ones that 99% of people can make but never do. I applaud him for it and hope that his decisions inspire other people to do something with their own lives.

Follow him on Instagram @aaron_straker and his girlfriend @jennythenutritionist

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Colorado 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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Denver Crossfit Photography

Denver, Colorado Crossfit Photographs

Black and White

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

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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.

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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