One type of project I have been wanting to create was a project where I am photographing one specific athlete doing what they do. Most of my sports related photography centers around photographing an entire event. So that is basically the opposite of what I want to accomplish in a project like this. I have worked with a couple of athletes on a smaller scale to work on something similar to this. I also worked with an athlete in 2019 on a project that came close to this. An event where I wasn’t responsible for photographing the entire field so I could hone in on specific athletes. Until now nothing has quite fallen into place.

Ellie Pell

This year I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Ellie Pell, a great runner based out of Ithaca, New York. Ellie runs for Red Newt Racing. Here is just a taste of her running resume. 1^st overall at the Green Lakes Endurance Runs 50k. 1st overall at Watergap 50k. 3^rd female at JFK 50 miler. Third female at the Hartford Marathon where she qualified for the Olympic Trials. She then went on to run in the Olympic Trials in 2020. Read more about her on her website Ellie Pell: https://www.elliepell.com/

As good a runner as she is she is also a great person. You can follow her for tails of her training and inspiration and much much more on Instagram and Twitter at @Gazzellie. She is also the co host of the podcast Hamstrings and Heartstrings. She can also be found on the Trails Collective.

Athlete Photography

What Ellie and I have been working on together is to create a series of photography that she can use for her social media and for her sponsors. So far we have been able to conduct three photos shoots. Each session has been very different. Different types of sessions create very distinct types of photography.

On our first session and first time meeting each other we met at Buttermilk Falls State Park in Ithaca. I had a few vague ideas of what I wanted to do, but we mostly hiked around and looked for inspiration at a great state park.

For our second session I wanted to photograph Ellie while she was running one of her regular workouts. I really like the feel of hard work in progress being captured on film. The location at Cas Park in Ithaca was just about as good as one as there could be for what we wanted to accomplish. The weather did not cooperate quite as well, but we were able to create some great images during the workout.

I had what I thought would be some great ideas for our third session. We met up at one of my favorite places, Tanglewood Nature Center to create some photos. The visualization I had in my head for the way I would create the photographs at Tanglewood did not quite play out the way I had hoped simply because of geography and foliage, but we were able to adjust and create some really good work together.

If you are anyone who loves being active and being outdoors, including athletes, and have always wanted great photography of you doing what you love contact me at KRNaturalPhoto@Gmail.com and we can talk about it. 

If you like the idea of people being photographed doing what they love to do join the KRNaturalPhoto community to stay up to date on the projects I am working on.