What I shoot
Interiors and portraits
Gym and studio interiors, PT and coach portraits, and trainer headshots make up most of the bookings that start with “we need some photos for the website.” I shoot the space empty first, low and wide, then bring people in once the light is set. A trainer portrait session pairs well with a wider set, or stands alone as portrait sessions from £200 if headshots are all you need.
Movement and brand
Movement and technique work, class and group energy, and activewear or wellness brand shoots each need a different rhythm: a deadlift session is nothing like a Pilates class, and I plan the two differently before I arrive. Product-in-use shots (a resistance band, a smart mirror, a supplements range) get folded into the same session rather than booked separately, which saves a studio a second call-out fee.
Prices
| Service | From |
|---|---|
| Half day | £300 |
| Full day | £550–£750 |
| Gym interiors only | £250 |
| Trainer portrait session | £200 |
| Video add-on to a shoot | £250 |
| Monthly studio retainer | £400/month |
| Model or class participant, per day | £150 |
What actually moves the number, above the base price in the table:
- Facility size: a converted railway arch in Bethnal Green with one usable wall is a smaller job than a full club in Canary Wharf.
- Models: whether I arrange them for you or shoot your own trainers and members instead.
- Video: whether it’s added to the same booking or shot as a separate visit.
Full details sit in full pricing across every service, alongside every other shoot type I offer.
Shooting movement
1/500s is my floor for anyone moving under their own weight. Add a barbell (a clean, a snatch, a heavy deadlift) and I’m at 1/1000s or faster, because the bar travels quicker than the lifter and blurs first.
Most advice says burst mode and sort it later. I don’t rate it. Continuous shooting fills a card with near-misses; watching the rep and anticipating the moment gets the one frame that matters. On a set of five, the third rep is usually the one worth shooting: by then the lifter has found their rhythm but hasn’t started grinding. A genuinely heavy lift photographs differently to a staged one, and it shows in the contact sheet before I even mention it.
Lighting a gym
Most London gyms are lit for training, not for cameras: overhead strips that flatten faces and throw shadows under the eyes and the bar. I bring two flash heads and shape the fall so the room still reads like itself, not like a studio dropped on top of it. In a walk-up gym above a shop on the Hackney Road, that also means carrying stands up two flights before I switch anything on.
Mirrors are the real problem. A wall of them bounces every light straight back into the lens, so the first fifteen minutes of any gym booking go on working out where I can stand and where the flash can sit without a second photographer turning up in the reflection. Worth seeing the results first: fitness work from London gyms shows the same kind of rooms lit well instead of under strip lighting.
For PTs and small studios
£300 for a half day is the realistic entry point, and it buys a PT roughly a year of Instagram if the shoot is planned well:
- A handful of client-style portraits.
- Three or four movement sequences.
- One clean interior shot for the bio.
If the budget stops at £300, prioritise the portraits and one movement sequence over trying to cover every piece of kit in the room.
Some studios want more than a single shoot delivers: a full branding shoot from £600 covers the personal side of the business, headshots, workspace, the story behind the studio, and sits well alongside monthly content packages for anyone posting daily rather than quarterly. First time booking one? It is worth reading up on planning a personal branding shoot before you commit.
Models, members and releases
I photograph gym members, class participants and transformation clients regularly, and every one of them signs a release before the shutter goes. It is a short form, not a contract negotiation, and it protects both sides if an image ends up on a website or an advert rather than staying on Instagram.
Anyone booking a shoot with the public involved should read up on when you need a model release, which covers the cases that catch people out: under-18s, a background face in a class shot, a member happy on the day who changes their mind months later.
I can arrange models if you need a specific look: a range of ages or body types, or a couple demonstrating a partner exercise. Or I shoot your own trainers and members instead, which usually costs less and often looks more honest anyway.
When a phone will do
Daily story content, a clip of a class finishing, a “we’re open” post on a Tuesday morning, doesn’t need me. A phone against a window does that job better than a professional camera turned up for a single frame, and I will say so if you ask.
What a proper shoot buys is the material that has to last: the website, the pitch deck, the banner outside reception, the advert running for three months. That needs consistent light and someone who knows where to stand a lifter so the movement reads at six feet or six hundred pixels. Don’t spend £300 on content you will replace within a week.
Send a note and tell me the space and how many people you need photographed, plus your preferred date. I’ll reply within one working day with a price and the nearest available slot.