Client: Dutch Gymnastics (KNGU)

One of my favourite types of assignments is shooting behind the scenes images of top athletes. I always aim to show their personality and capture typical moments that define them and their sport.

Dutch Gymnastics (KNGU) tasked me with shooting this exact thing for their Olympic qualifiers just before Tokyo 2021. The country’s top female athletes would be putting in their bid for one of only a few tickets to Japan.

My goal was to really focus on the athlete this day, even more so than capturing the action images sports photographers usually shoot at these events. I’m always drawn to shooting the athlete’s concentration and anticipation just before they perform.

My briefing stated to also shoot typical details of gymnastics, which really helped create a diverse series of images.