Some shoots are built on golden hour drama. This one was built on a quiet grey morning.
"Between Rounds" started the way the best collaborations do — with a model who came prepared. Jakub reached out from Edinburgh after seeing my model call, and by the time we met he'd already scouted the Granton and Leith seaside area, pinned parking spots on Lower Granton Road, and packed a full kit bag: boxing bag, skipping rope, running gear, even a mouth guard.
The Concept
We wanted something deliberately muted — a dull-ish, urban athletic mood in greys and soft neutrals, the opposite of a loud fashion editorial. Granton Harbour gave us everything: industrial textures, graffiti walls, the sea wall, and that flat, soft morning light that makes grey tones sing. The title came later, but the idea was always there — the quiet moments of an athlete between rounds, not the fight itself.
How I Shot It
We met at seven in the morning, when the harbour belongs to dog walkers and photographers. Morning light on the east coast is soft and directionless in the best way — no harsh shadows to fight, just clean, even tones across skin and concrete alike.
We worked through the location like a story: hooded stillness against the sea wall, movement and running frames along the harbour, then across the road to the street steps for the boxing set — skipping rope mid-swing, gloves and wraps, the small rituals of training. The props did what props should do: they gave Jakub something real to do, and the honest moments in between became the photographs.
A Collaboration, Properly Done
What made this shoot special was the back-and-forth. Jakub brought location knowledge and outfit options; I brought the concept and the light plan. Afterwards he went through the full delivery and sent me his top nine — and a model's eye on their own set always catches something the photographer missed. Those nine picks shaped the final "Between Rounds" series.
