Nov’ 2022
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Montjuic, the water polo paradise - Athleta Magazine
If you’re a follower of me on Instagram or LinkedIn you’ll know that I’ve spent the majority of 2022 living / travelling, firstly in Barcelona and more recently Cape Town. No trip to Barcelona is complete without visiting the spectacular Montjuic Municipal - the iconic swimming pool first built for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. With views overlooking this beautiful city, the swimming pool has become one of the most recognisable and most celebrate sporting venues in the world! To my delight I found myself photographing the annual BIWPA Barcelona Cup whilst I visited Barcelona earlier in the year. Bringing sporting talent from all over Europe the Barcelona Cup is contested between over 320 athletes, in 19 teams from 6 different countries from around Europe.
You can read and view the full feature exclusively at Athleta Magazine, as well as checking out some of my favourite images from the day below.
Sept’ 2022
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IPA - International Photography Awards 2022 WINNER
I am so pleased to write that I have just been awarded first place - “Sports - editorial” category - in the IPA awards 2022!! The same image also received an honourable mention in another category. This goes one step beyond the 2nd place that I received in the 2018 awards.
The image of swimmer Jeffery Lo was shot in Islington London at the beautiful Third Space Gym. Third Space are a regular client and kindly let me use their pool and we coaxed in one of their trainers, Jeffery, to be our subject. Jeffery was an absolute gentleman, swimming up and down the lane until we got the shot. Photographing under water is no joke. The equipment feels ever so slightly foreign and you have to have a calm mind to not only concentrate on holding your breath, but also on all the simple things - like through the viewfinder - which become so much harder underwater.
June 2022
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Speedo
Working with Speedo we shot a package of assets to be used across their UK and global channels. Days shooting photographs under water is a HUGE amount of fun as well as physically pretty taxing. I am delighted to now see these swimming and lifestyle photo’s begin to populate Speedo’s website and social channels. I hope you enjoy
May 2022
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MMA Photography with Dominic Wooding
In May I had the pleasure of shooting one of Dominic Wooding’s training sessions. Dominic Wooding is a top top level mixed martial artist, he is Cage Warriors World Champion in the Bantamweight Division - Cage Warriors being the largest MMA organisation in Europe.
In this video, I give you a little breakdown of the session and some of my settings. I really enjoy making these video’s; it’s a great way to pass on some of the knowledge I’ve acquired over the decades and it’s also a brilliant way for me to decompress and reflect on my own process. It has become a safe space for me to grow as a photographer as well as help educate others. There’s a full gallery of images below as well - Hope you enjoy.
February 2022
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Womens Health Germany - Body Love Cover
Early in 2019 I had the pleasure of shooting Gymshark’s International Women’s day Campaign. We shot a yoga inspired health and fitness story around our model Ella - A yoga teacher from Birmingham who uses the strength, encouragement and support of her two closest friends to help inspire her work and life. Shot in the fantastic location of Muralla Roja in Calpe, Spain.
Fast forward to 2022 and I am delighted that one of the image of Ella is gracing the front cover of Germany’s Women’s Health Body Love. This shoot was an absolute dream trip with a brilliant crew so it’s great to see it given new life on the pages of Women’s Health.
A massive thank you to Gymshark, Women’s Health and Gallery Stock for helping with licensing.
January 2022
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Cycling Imagery
Cycling introduced me to photography. And over the year it's taken me to breath taking and sketchy places in equal measure. This morning I put together some of my favourite cycling images for LinkedIn to enjoy. I have a constant yearning to, kind of, “return” to photographing cycling and BMX in particular. With my commercial photography nouse, yet knowing what makes for great BMX photography, I’m so intrigued to see the outcome. More soon(?)
*On a side note, my BMX got nicked earlier this week (first time in 20 years of riding bikes)! So if any brands want to do a photos/for parts trade I am more than game :D
Click to view more
click to view more
January 2022
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Gymshark - United We Sweat - Attitude Magazine
Working with Gymshark we recently produced this advertorial for February’s issue of Attitude Magazine. Originally shot for Gymshark train featuring Gymshark athlete’s Ryan Terry, Lubomba and Obi Vincet (not in shot). The United We Sweat campaign aims to promote the mental as well as physical benefits of working out and training together.
August 2021
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Vaha - Smart Mirror
Following on from my previous post, I recently found myself shooting more imagery based around working out at home. This time, using some pretty neat technology for Smart Mirror company Vaha. Based in Germany Vaha’s platform offers all the usual workouts and stats you’d expect from a fitness platform a but this time based around workouts including HIIT and Boxing - as well as Yoga and a few other activities. What I found special about Vaha is that they can offer real time feedback on things like posture and form as well as 1 to 1 PT sessions from their own studios, straight into your home. A nice touch.
We shot this a little different from the previous Grndhouse shoot. Using constant light - Some smaller HMI’s and Dedo lights - I shot still alongside the film team to maximise our output from the day. Shooting varying stories based around HIIT, Yoga and Boxing. Here are some of the initial retouched images, more stories from the day to follow.
August 2021
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Grndhouse - At Home
Working with the online fitness platform “Grndhouse” (Grindhouse) we shot these clean fitness lifestyle images of clients and trainers working out at home using the platform.
Shot in a location house in Hoxton East London we utilised each of the rooms to help tell a different story for each of our subjects.
Grndhouse was founded by five expert Personal Trainers and fitness experts who over the years have built their reputations as Elite trainers here in London. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a couple of the founders on separate projects and this shoot inparticular was my third shoot with the Grndhouse company.
To light the shoot we used a mixture of two to three Profoto Pro11 & B10+ flash heads. The aim was to create a clean daylight looking scenario but still keep the dramatic feel fitting to the Grndhouse brand.
Some lighting situations were a little complicated than others; Firstly, the first image in there gallery here, with the subject in the cream t-shirt sitting on the floor, we lit from above and slightly behind with a gridded soft box - this allowed us to separate our subject, Chris, from the background. A second light was just camera left, filling in the shadow/side of Chris closest to us. And a third light, on a dish, was firing through the doorway on the left. This also offered a little highlight edge camera left of our talent that again, helped separate him from the background. The laptop was shot with a blank screen to allow us to later comp in the appropriate image from the Grndhouse Platform.
Whereas, the image on the right with the our talent using the dumbells, was simply shot with one light outside using a large Zoom Reflector on a Profoto Pro 11 head with a with reflector camera right filling in a little bit of the shadows on our subject.
July 2021
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Gymshark - Together
We’re now into September and starting to see the emergence of the “Gymshark - Together” campaign we shot around East London. A two day production saw the crew shooting both video and stills photography and I’m excited to see this new work appearing.
March 2021
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Olive Harvey - Solstice Magazine
I recently shot the incredibly talented Olive Harvey. Pushing my active lifestyles work with a fashion nod, we shot using CRLS - a technique that’s intrigued me for stills for quite some time. Using reflective technology has so many advantages and whilst shooting in a location house on this particular shoot, space saving was a big one. There’s no way I would have been able to get the usual umbrella’s and softboxes into the bathroom for this first shot, or if I had done, it would have been difficult to light it as beautifully as myself and the team managed. On top of that, you have the brilliant advantage of not having to rig a whole new lighting set-up when you want to shoot moving image.
Of late I’ve found myself filming for lots of different at home fitness platforms, re-learning and developing the video and audio skills I sharpened earlier in my career. Video is definitely something I’m introducing and looking to push more into my commercial work and I think CRLS are going to be a massive benefit to me there - as this shoot proves.
I’ll be taking a more in depth look at CRLS in an upcoming ‘Behind The Scenes” video, for now here are some pics that give a rough idea of the lighting at work and the resulting image on the right …
February 2021
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Gymshark - Teammate
Shot on the day before the UK lockdown came into effect, we shot part of the then upcoming #Gymshark66 campaign for 2020.
January 2021
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Pain Caves - Work In Progess
A further glimpse into an ongoing personal project; Pain Caves.
December 2020
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Pain Caves
When Lockdown 1 came into affect I, like many others, was filled with a sense of novel excitement. Ideas for personal projects flowed around my head like a tornado. But the idea storm slowly faded into a desert breeze and the mundanity of it all swept tumbleweed across my creativity. Eventually a project leapt to the front of my brain queue: Pain Caves.
As a big cycling fan myself, the explosion of online, indoor, cycling training is something I've really enjoyed during 2020. It's also something that has become incredibly relevant due to Covid-19, nation wide lockdowns and a lot more people wanting to train at home instead of going to the gym. Companies like Peloton, dubbed the Netflix of fitness and Zwift have exploded in popularity around the world.
What better way to combine all these factors than to document these training sessions. Visiting riders I’ve tracked down via social media and word of mouth, I embarked on - to date - 3 month long personal project.
The end goal for this project is to create a coffee table book.
August 2020
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Kai Havertz - Nike
A year or so ago I had the pleasure of shooting Kai Havertz, of Bayer Leverkusen at the time, for Nike. Working with Breaks Agency shooting stills distributed across Nike stockists throughout Europe.
At the time he was making waves in Bundesliga, but who knew he’d shortly move to Chelsea for somewhere in the region of £80m! A great guy to work with.
August 2020
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Holistic for Gymshark
Some of my latest photography work and retouch for Gymshark. This was shot the day before the UK wide lockdown in the UK and I’m so glad we managed to get this one in, delighted with how these turned out. Unfortuntately we had all our models for this 3 day shoot (that was inevitably cut short) cancel. Thankfully we had Gymshark’s very own yoga teacher stand in and I think it turned out perfectly.
The retouch consisted of some very light evening out of the light and skin tones. It wasn't until I put this together that I could really see how little the RAW images needed - which is always a good thing.
August 2020
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Celebrating Women for Chantelle Paris
I recently shot with the wonderful team at Chantelle Paris to celebrate strong women whilst acknowledging the strength everyone has within themselves to overcome life’s hurdles. Shot at Studio 63 in Hoxton we featured a range of ladies photographing them in groups and individually giving Chantelle all the assets they needed to tell each ladies stories across web and all their social channels. From my perspective such an inspiring day being in the presence of these amazing strong people.
May 2020
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Gymshark - Bra Support
I had the pleasure of shooting Gymshark’s latest Bra Support/Sports Bra campaign. Shot at Gymshark’s in studios, the team built an in-house changing room and shot 3 models to help show Gymshark’s latest range and sizing options - Covering options for Yoga, Pilates, Strength training, running, dancing, cycling and beyond.
As always, an absolute pleasure to work with the Gymshark team on this.
April 2020
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Cyclist Images - Revisited
In my mid teens, under extreme peer pressure from my elder brother, I picked up a BMX, started digging dirt jumps and became “a biker”. The rest is history. Cycling changed the course of my life without doubt. It led me to new creative paths, informed many life decisions and inspired me to pick up a camera.
Years pass and life moves on at a rapid pace but that identity of “biker” never really leaves you. At the turn of the year my attention really turned to a genre new to me, road cycling. And I’m not the only one!
With lockdown people are thinking more of their commuting habits as well as their physical and mental health and what better tool to help address that than the bicycle. With demand soaring there is a national, if not global, shortage of bicycles and manufacturers and distributors can’t get them out the door quick enough! Much to my now bicycle shop owning brother’s delight. The carrot cake’s are on him!
Earlier in the year I was racking up the turbo training miles on my newly acquired road bike and as the warm weather hit I’ve ventured out onto the quiet roads of the capital more and more.
My latest cycling addiction has sparked a new love for incredible road cycling photography - Instagram is rife with the stuff and, rightly or wrongly, it’s seen a 20% increase in my screen time this week! Three to five years ago I was fortunate enough to work for the prestigious publication of Cyclist Magazine on a bunch of projects. Although I've always appreciated road cycling, my addiction hadn’t quite kicked in by that point. However, I’ve always enjoyed shooting landscapes and with my love of two wheels and appreciation for all sport we captured some fantastic images together. But, without being a roadie enthusiast … just what was I missing out on on these trips? I decided to rummage the archives, re-edit some selects originally passed on and indulge myself in a weird kind of nostalgic jealousy and appreciate the roads and landscapes from a whole new perspective.
So please, enjoy some snaps from a trip in 2015 to the west coast of Scotland venturing around Dunoon and Aberfoyle. Some magnificent roads I’ll have to revisit on my own two wheels in the near future!
March 2020
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Calpe, Spain for Gymshark’s International Women’s Day.
In January I travelled over to the incredible setting of Calpe on Spain’s south-east coast to shoot with Gymshark.
Shot for Gymshark’s International Women’s Day campaign, the three day trip was part of a bigger five part shoot highlighting our personal support networks that we all hold so dearly.
Curated and produced by Gymshark’s in house team, we captured photography still’s whilst working alongside the in-house video team at Gymshark.
A truly beautiful setting I cannot wait to return to some day, for business or pleasure.
Massive thanks to the Gymshark team for having me on another campaign and to photographic assistant Joe Whitmore for all the hard work on this also.
March 2019
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Behind the scenes Crossfit
Take a little closer look to at last years Crossfit themed personal work.
January 2019
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In the studio with Polly
Happy New Year one and all! All the best in 2019. I’m kicking things off here with a recap from a shoot that we squeezed in just at the ned of 2018. Shot at Jump Studios with Polly Beany from Milk Model Management and Sophie Moore on Hair/MUA.
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NOVEMBER 2018
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Larry “The Natural” Ekundayo
Quite simply, no one in the gym works harder than Larry. The dedication and appreciation he has for his journey is truly inspiring. He headlines York Hall on December the 14th and I’ve been sitting in with him on his latest training camp.
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New Beauty Work
It was an absolute pleasure to spend the day in the studio with make-up artists Sophie Moore and Milk model management’s Pia Cattapan & Ji Won.
SHELDON
A selection of portraiture work shot with athlete Sheldon Philbert
OCTOBER 2018
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RE-CENTRE
Working with Re-Centre shooting for their social, PR and everything else, we created a massive bank of imagery over the two day shoot. The hard working team situated in this new west London based space really made it easy to flow through the days shooting portraits and “action” shots of all their instructors as well as mock classes. Here’s one of the moodboards from day2 and I’m looking forward to sharing more from this shoot soon!
SEPTEMBER 2018
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NIKE TECH PACK GERMANY
Late August we flew out to Cologne to shoot Bayer Leverkusen, Germany International and Nike Athlete Kai Havertz.
On the day we shot Nike’s Sportswear, Academy and Tech Pack range with the Tech Pack forming part of Nike’s global push with different athletes worldwide.
IPA AWARD WINNER!
I was delighted to pick up second place, in my category, in the 2018 International Photography Awards.
“IPA is one of the World’s most prestigious Photography Awards since 2003”
The IPA is “one of the most ambitious and comprehensive competitions in the photography world today. The IPA recognizes photography’s leading talents who are creating, shaping and defining the world of photography today”.
THIRD SPACE LONDON
It's important to shoot what you love, right? That's why I'm delighted to have been shooting with some of London's biggest and best fitness centre's this last month. Having previously shot many projects with Third Space and their sister company Another_Space it was great to once again work with them on this fresh project. This time showcasing their brand new space at Tower Hill in the heart of the city, shot for all social and PR channels.
AUGUST 2018
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BTS / NIKE IN COLOGNE
This month I had the absolute pleasure of heading off to Germany to shoot Nike with Breaks Agency. We flew out a day or so early to get a recce and pre-light done. Looking forward to sharing these ... soon ...
Thanks to my assistant Joe for grabbing some behind the scenes.
SUNRISE with ANTHONY OGOGO
2012 OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALIST
One early morning in Victoria Park in east London I spotted a boxer shadow boxing in the skatepark. Struck by the glorious sunlight and graphic shadows I grabbed my Olympus OM10 which I just happened to have in my bag I asked him if I could shoot some snaps. Politely he declined. Undeterred later that day I reached out to W Model Management about shooting with the legend, Anthony Ogogo. We made it happen. With talented athletes and great daylight, you can't lose!
There's plenty more here - http://richmaciver.photo/
JULY 2018
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LARRY EKUNDAYO - IBF EUROPEAN WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION
it's been an absolute pleasure documenting Larry's career for the last 18 months. I've sat in on his training sessions in July - some shots here - and on the 13th I witnessed Larry win the European IBF Welterweight belt to push him up there amongst the worlds elite. Larry defeated Scotlands John Thain by unanimous decision. It was a pleasure to sit ringside and document it all. Commiserations to John, a true professional.
JUNE 2018
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TAG HEUER - DON'T DROP THE BALL
June was a sweaty one! And with Wimbledon coming into play at the end of the month I spent a brief few hours with Canadian Tennis Star Denis Shapovalov. Showcasing Tag Heuer's latest range of sports watched we shot Denis as he ran from Picadilly Circus to Tag's flagship store on Oxford Street.
HOT POD YOGA
Speaking of sweaty, in early June we shot a whole range of imagery for Hot Pod Yoga. Shot in their 37c Yoga pods - think massive hot inflatable tent - we kept things as authentic as possible using Hot Pods loyal customers and shooting whilst co-founder Nick taught a full class. Hot Pod Yoga is Europes largest yoga business with over 50 franchises. The resulting imagery is shared across all the franchises for use on Web, PR, social and everything else in-between.
MAY 2018
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ATHLETES
Shot at Shoreditch Studios in London. Some personal work shot with UK athletes Chad Miller & Parris Johnson.
Find more from this shoot in Studio_&_Movement
