Schott Boxing

The most interesting person in the gym wasn't the best boxer.

She was an middle-aged woman in a teal sweatshirt who looked like she'd just come from a PTA meeting. When I saw her climbing through the ropes at Schott's Boxing, I had one thought: I need to make her picture.

That instinct — toward the unexpected, the authentic, the real — is what drives my work.

Schott's is the opposite of every polished fitness ad you've ever seen. Cinderblock walls. Worn equipment. An American flag that's seen better days. When I walked in with my camera, I wasn't trying to make it look better than it is. I was trying to make it look exactly like what it is.

My approach was simple. I introduced myself, asked permission, showed people their frames on the back of the camera. Then the circuit started, and they forgot about me entirely. They were too busy chasing their next breath.

That's when the real pictures happen.

I chose a desaturated, gritty processing recipe — partly to manage the mixed lighting, partly because it matched the soul of the place. Old school. Honest. No apology for what it is.

The frame that said it all: two men working in front of the Schott's banner and the American flag, shot through the ropes. The gym as subject. The people as proof.

Real people. Real places. Real work.

That's what I'm chasing.