My future in fitness photography

I owe much to being involved with photographing fitness for so many years.  Through fitness I learned how to take a decent photo, got my first photo published, and met some great people.

However back in the summer shortly after I wrote my honest review about the FAME UK competition I started to question whether I’d done the right thing or not.  Although though there were lots of positives about FAME, almost immediately I was banned from future Miami Pro events.

This might not seem like a big deal, but I made close to £1000 on the day through selling event photos, which is actually quite a large percentage of my annual turnover.  If I’d have kept my mouth shut then the Miami Pro door would still have been open to me in 2012, and the potential for networking and earning still available.

A few months later came the Fitness Britain finals, and me being told despite agreements being in place for several months that I was the only person attending that wasn’t allowed to take photos (due to Discovery Channel being there filming whats-her-face)...

Tired of all the bullshit in the fitness industry I even thought for a while about walking away from it and concentrating my business elsewhere.

Meanwhile in the background I was chatting with Sarah Donohue about being the primary photographer and involved with an event she was doing in 2012.  Her ideas changed a bit, but ultimately Galaxy Universe was born.

After spending Sunday at the Galaxy Camp in Hooks Gym in London I can see how the “fun” is coming back into fitness.  Lets face it, unless you’re up there on stage, a normal fitness / bodybuilding show that goes on for about 20 hours isn’t exactly “entertaining” to the average punter.

I really enjoyed the challenge of photographing the camp, so much more interesting than stage photos at a fitness show, which basically amounts to taking the same set of photos X number of times where X equals the number of competitors.  The one time I tried to be a bit creative with my event photos this year I ended up getting “told off”.

Meh.

But Galaxy, and all the emotions that come with it, the pain and the laughter, I like.  It gives me something real to photograph.  I’m looking forward to being involved with the build up and the competition in May.
Sarah, thank you for letting me be a part of your dream.

Along with Galaxy, shooting the Gaspari 2012 calendar, and getting my first few photos published in Muscle & Fitness UK, it's given me a renewed interest in the fitness industry.  Here's to making 2012 even better.

Now for a few of my favourite “pain faces” from Sunday.