On Assignment : Athletic Photo Shoot Part 1

I'm really excited about sharing images from this shoot for several reasons. This is the first time I was contacted by a celebrity for a photo shoot. Not a big time celebrity, but a celebrity none the less. She was on Survivor for several weeks last season. Krista Klumpp was the head cheerleader for Auburn University before appearing on Survivor. I had watched the show that season, but missed several shows early on. I did a Google search and found plenty of sites with her photo, most of them had the same photo used on the Survivor website and a couple from her cheerleading days.

I was excited because she searched for an Atlanta fitness photographer on Google and came across my portfolio. Based on my work she contacted me. She liked my style of photography and wanted some fitness photos of herself that she could use to pursue a modeling career. I'm flattered and honored to have been selected out of many other photographers.


We met and discussed ideas for the photo shoot and decided to do a studio shoot and location shoot. I scouted a location that had a studio and easy access to an outdoor location. I decided to shoot on a white backdrop and went with small flashes for studio lighting.

I used 2 430EXII for the background. I believe I had them at 1/4 power. I was surprised I didn't need more power to blow out the background. My main light was a 580EXII in a 60" reflective umbrella. I did switch to my 28" Apollo soft box for a couple of the shots, specifically the tight head shots.

I also used my DIY ring flash for a couple shots. Because of this, I only used 1 430EXII for the background. I had a total of 3 small flashes that I used the entire time. I even brought a small fan for the wind in the hair effect.

Krista hasn't done any modeling before, but was very comfortable in front of the camera and needed very little direction. She was so easy to work with. Throughout the shoot I varied the lenses I was using. I switched between a 50 mm ƒ/1.8, 70-200 mm ƒ/2.8, & 17-40 mm ƒ/4.

Most of the first shots we did felt very fashion and glamour in pose and look. We wanted to switch it up and go with a different look that was more powerful and strong.

These last few were some of my favorite. I think any of them could be the cover of a sports magazine or ad for some athletic clothing line.

Krista was such a pleasure to work with and she was able to provide so many different expressions in the photos that it's hard to pic a few as my favorites. It's going to be really difficult for me to narrow down for my portfolio.

As the title states, this is part 1. My next post will wrap up our shoot outdoors. Stay tuned.

If you're looking for a portrait photographer in the Atlanta area, visit my portfolio.