Crossfit Photography : Derive
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I have been an avid crossfitter for almost 3 years now (Atomic Crossfit) and have met so many great people in the sport. One of the things I like most about CF culture is the community and constructive competition that happens on a daily basis. That is why I also love to shoot cross fitters. I recently had the opportunity to take my camera to Midtown and do a session with Crossfit Derive.
Head Coach/Operator of CF Derive Frank Nguyen wanted photos of the coaches- both headshots and movements- along with shots of the box and group shots of the coaches for their website and marketing. So first thing I did was get some shots of their empty gym. I used my Nikon 14-24mm lens to get interesting wide angles and my Tamron 24-70mm for the more standard shots.
Once everyone arrived, I put them in front of the camera for coaches head shots. I wanted a very shallow depth of field with a colorful background so I used the Sigma 70-200mm set at 200mm/f5.0 to keep their entire face in focus. Lots of detail, beautiful bokeh, great contrast range and tack sharp. I love this lens!
Then came the group shots. Instead of doing standard shots inside the box, I wanted to find something unique about CF Derive. When I drove up to the place, I noticed that there is a turning lane right in the middle of the street with a nice view of down town. So guess where we shot? And only one cop stopped to talk to us. We started with standard shots ended up evolving to something a little more fun.
Finally came the movements. I love shooting crossfit movements because every shot is different and I never know what I'm going to get. I try to time my shots rather than bursting because my camera (Nikon D610) only shoots 6FPS but also allows me to get the shot right when I want it. Each coach chose a favorite movement and we went with that. Since they were already very good at these movements, this part of the shoot went very smoothly.
I'd like to offer a sincere thank you to Frank and the staff of CF Derive. All in all the shoot took less than two hours and we got some great shots for their website and marketing materials. Mission accomplished.
Gear mentioned in this entry:
Nikon 14-24mm/2.8
Tamron 24-70mm/2.8
Sigma 70-200mm/2.8
Nikon D610