On weekday mornings when I’m not shooting, I can frequently be found on the Venice Beach boardwalk playing paddle tennis. From there you can see the Venice Beach sand pit, a fitness area situated behind the more famous Muscle Beach weight pen, where regulars and visitors work out on a variety of gymnastics equipment, including parallel bars, rings and rope climbs. I’m used to seeing various feats of strength being performed, but usually don’t give people a second look. A couple weeks ago however I looked over and saw a woman with a shock of pink hair doing a series of very difficult exercises seemingly on endless repeat. Pushups, pull-ups, upside-down shoulder shrugs, one-legged squats and other things I don’t know what to call. I had never seen her before and every time I looked over throughout the course of a couple of tennis sets she was still there working hard and still going strong. I’m always on the lookout for interesting subjects, so after a set concluded I decided to introduce myself and see if she’d be interested in shooting with me sometime. She told me her name was Krista Stryker, a fitness blogger and entrepreneur with an app called 12 Minute Athlete. No shock she was a pro. I followed up later with some samples of my work and she agreed to meet up. I had a great time working with her and shot a variety of portraits as well as images of her doing some difficult exercises. A recent Portland transplant, she told me she was a personal trainer at a few gyms, but has found a lot more satisfaction since starting her own business. I can identify with that. Shooting with her, however, made me realize that although I’m in fairly good shape there’s a lot of room for improvement. I’m starting with getting past 5 pull-ups, an exercise I’ve been neglecting for the past 20 years or so. If you’re interested in upping your fitness game and have 12 minutes to spare check out her website and follow her on instagram at @12minuteathlete. Also check out more images from the shoot below.
