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.