Urban Outdoor:
A Lifestyle Shoot Under the Dunn Memorial Bridge
The Brief
I set this shoot up to explore what health and fitness photography looks like in a gritty urban style. Polished aspirational isn't what I do. I wanted to show what active lifestyle looks like in a real place, with real texture, shot lean.
Casting and Pre-Production
I hired Jessica Monroe through Couture Models in New York. I picked her from the models the agency presented because her portfolio showed she was athletic. I knew she would be able to authentically express the physicality I envisioned. For the shot list, I pulled athletic poses from the web. I went in with three criteria: interesting points of view, real action, and an urban feel I could read in every frame. I sent Jessica a wardrobe brief ahead of time specifying muted solids. She pulled the looks herself.
Location and Conditions
We shot at Riverfront Park in Rensselaer, just across the Hudson from Albany, under the Dunn Memorial Bridge. The bridge is a backdrop I keep coming back to — the concrete columns, the steel underbelly, the way the structure frames negative space. It also gave me weather insurance. Rain was threatening that morning, and the covered areas under the bridge meant we could shoot regardless. I scouted the specific setups before Jessica and her manager Lendell Simmons arrived for the 9 AM call.
Direction and a Broken Rule
We shot from 9:20 to noon — six setups, roughly twenty-five minutes per setup including moves. I worked from an illustrated shot list, talked Jessica through each pose, demonstrated when it helped, and left room for her ideas. One of my standing directions on shoots is "let's break a rule." That's how we got to the jump. Picnic tables are for sitting. We used it as a launch pad. Jessica committed completely, and we got the frame in a few attempts.
Gear and Post
The whole shoot was solo — no assistant, one light. I used a Godox AD400 Pro with a five-inch reflector and shot on a Fujifilm GFX100S II. The bare reflector keeps the light honest; it matches the environment rather than smoothing it out. In post, I culled for action and expression, then graded everything with Mastin Labs Founders Plus Ektar 100 Muted, which is my go-to for outdoor work. Total post time was around four hours.
