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……

Click here to see more of my fitness images.

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


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.

Troy, New York Photography

Basketball - Troy, New York

At some point I have to wonder if I’m at all capable of working on short term projects? That’s not a complaint. I really love long term projects. Everything about them really, but with the recent amount of time that’s fallen in my lap (the whole COVID-19 thing), it’s given way for a lot of thought. Also something I spend quite a bit of time doing, which has me thinking that maybe I draw things out a bit too long. Started reading Rick Rubin’s book a few days ago, and one thing he talks about is that his work gets done when it gets done. He’s not concerned about deadlines or any other outside influences because he doesn’t want them to affect the final product. If he were to rush a record, it wouldn’t allow the project enough time to breath. He feels like the space and time are necessary to properly pull things together in the way they are naturally supposed to. Reading all that I felt myself understanding and agreeing with everything he was saying. Still though, my natural tendency is to string things along a bit too far. Or maybe it’s just because I don’t devote enough time to certain aspects of each project. There are hard drives of images from 5 years ago that still haven’t been touched much because I’m not sure how they fit in. The process of understanding a group of images is very complex if you really want it to work. And sometimes that means letting go of your favorites because they just don’t work well with the series. Creating a cohesive body of work is quite hard to do when you’re so attached to the images. And it’s not been till recently that I’m starting to get even the slightest bit of handle on it. There are so many factors that dictate why an image works on it’s own, let alone with a group of 30-100 other images for say a gallery show or a book. Anyway, the down time that’s been created by the “Stay home” order has allowed me to focus more on certain projects and helped me to feel like I’m pulling them together in a way that finally make sense. And trimming the fat is starting to become easier too. The Hoops Project was started 8+ years ago, which in itself blows my mind. Hoops have been a major focus on every road trip since 2012. Some of those trips have been shockingly productive. And others don’t yield the most satisfying results. As time goes on I continue to raise the bar, which makes it harder and harder to find a hoop that works. One that fits. One that’s unique. The web gallery for this series hasn’t been updates in quite some time. That’s not out of negligence, but rather from purpose. My efforts over the past couple months have been focused specifically on a few “products” (for the lack of a better word) pertaining to this series, and I want to keep some fresh content for the time when that is finally released. The ones you see below are from an 8,000+/- mile road trip in December/January. Most of that trip did not present me with hoops that turned me on, and it wasn’t until a day of shooting around home that much happened. All 3 of these were made in Troy, NY, which is a few miles from my mothers house. Funny to think that sometimes you drive all the way to the other side of the country before finding something that works.


Click here to purchase a fine art print from this series.



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.

Click HERE for more of my fitness photography.

New Balance - Fuel Cell

My last post had a bunch of outtakes from the first New Balance shoot with Sydney McLaughlin, but didn’t contain any tear sheets. So I thought I’d do another to share the outcome of that day. Again, great shoot with engaging athletes and an awesome client. Lots of fun had by all.

Click here to see more of my athlete imagery.

Sydney Mclaughlin

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.


San Diego Crossfit Photography

Bear Republic Crossfit

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

To see more of my CrossFit/Fitness images click here.

Running in downtown San Diego

San Diego Health and Fitness Photography

Happy with what we got here, but things didn't start so hot. Our first location was the rear stairs of the San Diego Convention Center. So I got there early to set up, and got kicked out before we even got started. That always sucks, but I've learned when things like that happen, it pushes me harder, and I usually come out of the day with cool stuff. You just have to improvise, and Tara was great. The portraits were actually shot in a parking garage. Who needs a studio? 

Random fact: Tara and I share the same birthday. 

Shot on a Nikon D800e and lit with Broncolor strobes. 

Glacier Point-Yosemite National Park

The more time you spend in Yosemite, the more you think it's an artificial world. An enormous movies set with perfect views around every corner. Send a chimp into Yosemite with a camera, and he'll come out with cool pictures. On this last visit, we spent the better part of a day hiking up to Glacier Point. And my only regret is that we didn't camp up there. It would have been all ours. This time of year the road is closed, so the only way up is to hike. Which cuts out the majority of tourists. Next time I guess? Either way, it was an awesome hike. All of the images below were made on the fly. Just snapping while Emily was hiking. Nothing staged. I got some cool stuff, but looking through them makes me want to go back and actually set up a few shots. Maybe even with some strobes. Although the light in Yosemite is pretty hard to beat. See for yourself....

TRAVEL.MORE.

Rob Hammer