This series with Ollie Grover was shot on location in Canary Wharf, and the setting turned out to be the perfect counterpoint to the athletic styling. The raw concrete walls, cracked render, and wet asphalt gave every frame a muted, architectural backdrop that lets the clothing and Ollie's physique do the talking. We moved through a range of looks across the session; a navy tee with khaki shorts and layered white compression wear in deep side-lunge stretches, an olive set with a tank and matching shorts for the dumbbell work, monochrome black with a kettlebell held overhead in a lunge, and a clean white-tee-and-navy-shorts combination captured mid-stride against the warm stone panels with the city's glass towers just visible above the wall. Ollie styled himself for the shoot, and his instinct for tonal, pared-back athletic wear meant every outfit sat naturally against the concrete palette without ever fighting it.
On my side, I handled the creative direction and the edit, and the aim throughout was to keep things honest to the environment; natural light, hard shadows where the sun gave them to us, and a grade that leans into the greys and warm neutrals of the location rather than over-polishing them. Ollie was a dream to direct: he holds dynamic positions like the kettlebell lunge and the deep stretches with real control, which meant we could work through both static, editorial-style walking frames and genuinely athletic movement shots without losing sharpness or form. The mix of stillness and motion across the set; walking with a weight plate in hand, running past the curved wall with his shadow thrown behind him, quiet moments checking form mid-curl; gives the series a narrative feel, like a single training session unfolding across Canary Wharf's brutalist corners. It's the kind of collaboration where styling, direction, and location all pull in the same direction, and the results speak for themselves.
Strength, movement and discipline captured in studio light.
This fitness series follows athlete and model Jesper Cedergren through a sequence of loaded carries, deep mobility work and grounded recovery shot, directed and edited in a campaign style that balances raw physicality with quiet control.
Every frame is built to show the body in motion and at rest, blending performance photography with editorial polish. Shot on location in Canary Wharf, London.
About the model
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Jesper Cedergren is a fitness model and athlete whose presence blends Scandinavian calm with real strength.
Equally at home mid-movement or held in stillness, he brings a natural, unforced physicality to the camera that suits both performance and editorial work.
This series was photographed in Canary Wharf, London.
This fitness photography session with Jesper was all about restraint; one athlete, one grey seamless, and nothing to hide behind. Rather than reaching for a classic flexed pose, I directed him into a low crouch with his forearm resting across his knee, gaze pulled off-camera. It's a quieter kind of strength: the position naturally engages the shoulders, arms, and quads, so the definition does the talking without ever looking forced. Small adjustments made the frame; dropping the leading wrist to relax the hand, tilting the chin to catch the jawline, and turning him slightly off-axis so the light could wrap around the torso instead of flattening it.
Lighting-wise, the aim was sculptural rather than dramatic. A directional key from camera left carves out the muscle tone while the grey backdrop keeps the palette almost monochrome, letting the skin tones carry the warmth in the image. The black shorts and white trainers bookend the frame tonally, and the negative space on the right gives his eyeline somewhere to travel. Fitness photography often shouts; this one was built to hold a pose and hold your attention at the same time.
Lydia Sailer; Activewear, Training
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Fitness imagery falls apart the moment it looks mimed, so the brief for these was simple: give her something real to do and shoot the moment it costs her something. The kettlebell frame is the clearest version; actual weight racked on the shoulder, obliques loaded, eyes off camera because nobody holding a bell looks pleasantly at a lens. The olive frame catches her head down with the band under tension, which is the least flattering angle in a conventional sense and the most convincing one. Outdoors it's a low camera against clean sky, sweat left in rather than retouched out, the rope still balled in her fist. Styling activewear is mostly subtractive: there's no drape to arrange, so the work goes into colour and fit; tonal head-to-toe in the studio light sets so seam lines and waistbands read without competing, and the one deliberate clash outside, yellow against blue, because a frame that far from the studio needed something to carry it. Lydia trains, which shows in the shoulders and in the fact that none of the positions had to be faked. Styling, direction, photography and retouch mine.
