I recently had the opportunity to do interior photography at Summit Health + Fitness in Bedford, Mass.
This privately owned, super-modern gym was opened by Jesse Keene and Philip Racicot in 2004. Summit focuses on the needs of ‘baby-boomers’ and clients in the 27-60 age range … although they also have many clients who don’t fit this profile!
Their outstanding group fitness program has won much praise, and has one of the highest participation rates amongst gyms in New England. Summit is also one of only a few gyms to have installed RIP:60 equipment – a new strength-training system where individuals to use gravity and their own body weight during training.
Innovative high-end equipment is available for members’ use, but for those looking for a little more targeted help, a skilled team of personal trainers specializing in rehabilitation after injury or surgery, weight-loss, personal fitness goals, etc, is also available.
Photographing in this environment is challenging lighting-wise, but also rewarding – I loved finding repetitive patterns in this modern landscape! My favorite was the ‘spin’ room, however … the lights gradually cycle through various colors, which led to some super cool images!
I used HDR photography for most of the shots, and no flash at all. This allowed me to minimize shadowing as much as possible while maintaining clear and crisp images, taking full advantage of the aluminum surfaces for a squeeky-clean finish. I am pleased with the way the images retained color as well as the grey metallic surfaces. It is difficult in such a large interior space with so much black and grey to have the photographs look like color images.
