Shooting Katarina Johnson-Thompson Back at Her Old Club
This was a good one to shoot. Photographing Katarina Johnson-Thompson around her old athletic club in Liverpool—but keeping the actual shoot studio-based and controlled.
The lighting probably looks quite simple in the final images, but it definitely wasn’t. Shooting low-key like that takes a bit of work—everything is deliberate. Where the light hits, how quickly it falls off, what you leave in shadow. It’s a lot of small tweaks to get it sitting right.
Gridded lights and the placement is paramount as direction of the fall off is vital to create the drama and mood. So the beauty dishes and zoom reflectors all had 20 degree grids to control the spill and keep the light tight.
We spent a bit of time working through different athletic poses as well—nothing over-styled, just movements and positions that felt natural to her. Sprint starts, set positions, standing strong, stripped back but still showing that power and control. The aim was to keep it believable but still sharp enough to work from a branding point of view. You want those lines to read properly, posture to be right, and everything to feel like it’s coming from a real place, not something forced.
At the same time, there’s the branding side of it. As a Nike athlete, those details matter—the kit, the way it sits, how the light picks it up without it taking over the image. It’s a balance between showing the product and keeping the focus on her. The low-key setup helped with that, keeping things clean and letting the logos and details come through naturally rather than shouting for attention.
It was a successful shoot and to witness her complete a training session was fascinating , I was training for a half marathon at the time and she even let me join her on the hill reps section, which was unexpected but great fun!
Sports Photographer Liverpool | Athlete & Brand Photography