Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Halloween Shoot

Last week we did a Halloween shot with some modes (DJ, Alcyon & Dani) We played with makeup, the fog machine and some cool poses.

- Mark Ruddick Photography - My images are an exploration of the human body under muscle stress — understanding the body’s strength, flexibility, and power. Creating these images has given me a better understanding of the human form which has transitioned into my commercial fitness work. 

I am a London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography.

I love to tell stories as anyone who's worked with me can attest. That includes visual stories through photographs. Let me tell your story and provide high impact images of you to sponsors, agencies, family or just for yourself.

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Back in Studio with Dancer Maddie

The studio is finally back open and I was happy to get back to it with long time collaborator Maddie. Maddie is in her last year at the O’Neil Academy of Dance. We played around with some different lighting and poses and got some great pictures. After a couple of months of not shooting my timing wasn’t razor sharp, but we managed nicely. I uses a lot more one and two light setups than I normally would for dance.

Penche in a flowing skirt

Great lines and muscle tone

Single overhead light

Shadow work

- Mark Ruddick Photography - My images are an exploration of the human body under muscle stress — understanding the body’s strength, flexibility, and power. Creating these images has given me a better understanding of the human form which has transitioned into my commercial fitness work. 

I am a London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography.

I love to tell stories as anyone who's worked with me can attest. That includes visual stories through photographs. Let me tell your story and provide high impact images of you to sponsors, agencies, family or just for yourself.

- London Dance Photo - I am Mark Ruddick, an experienced photographer working in London, ON. I enjoy photographing dancers and really appreciate the athleticism and artistry involved. Coming from a fight photography background, I have developed my technique to capture rapidly moving subjects at high speed in front of the lens. The resulting instinct for timing fight photography has led to an ability to capture my subjects at the peak of their motion in an artistic way.

Let me capture the photos that move you.

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Edge Lighting with Brooklynn

I did an edge lighting session with Brooklynn a while back. The results turned out really well, she’s a great model. Here are a couple of samples of what we got that day.

Edge lighting the body.

Soft transition from glutes to hips

Great hamstring line

- The Athletic Implied Nudes series is an exploration of the human body under muscle stress— understanding the body’s strength, flexibility, and power. Clean backgrounds, hard lighting, and black & white photography work together to eliminate distractions and highlight the muscle groups and figure of my subjects.

Beginning with Mixed Martial Artists and Boxers, I have developed my technique to capture rapidly firing muscle groups at high speed in front of the lens. The resulting instinct for timing fight photography has lead to an ability to freeze my subjects at the peak of their motion. Discovering a better understanding of the human form with this project has transitioned into my commercial fitness work, maximizing composition and positioning to best showcase the human form.

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Edge Lighting with Sara (NSFW)

Sara a trainer at Topp Performance, in Port Elgin came down to shoot with me last week. I’ve shot fitness and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu before with Sara. Sara is a great place with her physique right now, powerful, muscular and nice and full. We decided to do some edge light photos during our session and they turned out really good.

Beautiful light across her back

Bodyscape of the core.

A little more abstract

Sweep of the upper leg

A sliver of light in the darkness

- The Athletic Implied Nudes series is an exploration of the human body under muscle stress— understanding the body’s strength, flexibility, and power. Clean backgrounds, hard lighting, and black & white photography work together to eliminate distractions and highlight the muscle groups and figure of my subjects.

Beginning with Mixed Martial Artists and Boxers, I have developed my technique to capture rapidly firing muscle groups at high speed in front of the lens. The resulting instinct for timing fight photography has lead to an ability to freeze my subjects at the peak of their motion. Discovering a better understanding of the human form with this project has transitioned into my commercial fitness work, maximizing composition and positioning to best showcase the human form.

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Welcoming Wendy Joy Photograpy

This month Wendy Lang of Wendy Joy Photography joined my studio. I’ll let Wendy introduce herself.

My name is Wendy. I am a photographer based out of London Ontario. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a passion for creating. Specifically, I like to capture the personality of my clients.

I am a graduate of the Fanshawe College Photography program. Originally I am from Winnipeg Manitoba and I moved to London to pursue my dream of becoming a photographer.

Let me photograph you in my fresh, playful style!

Wendy Lang

Wendy and I have worked on a bunch of shoots together assisting each other since 2017. She will be a great addition to my studio and I’m looking forward to her moving in. Wendy specializes in fashion, portraits and fitness. Contact her to book your shoot.

Check out her website: https://wendyjoyphoto.com and her Instagram

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Edge Lighting with Tiffany

Tiffany volunteered to help me with some single light bodyscapes using a single bare speedlight. She hit some very nice poses and helped as I was experimenting with the lighting. It is a finicky lighting setup where a couple of inches or degrees can really change how the light hits the body. I’m very pleased with the results and I have a few more experiment shoots planned to really refine the technique. I specifically stayed away from tutorials and how-to-videos so I could play with this on my own without having preset ideas and rules in my head.

Laying on her side, I did use 2 bare speedlights for this images aimed at the shoulder and glute

Single light, full length image. Just a single strip of lit skin.

Simple seated image with the light coming across her back

Lines of her raised back

Using two lights to side light the model

- The Athletic Implied Nudes series is an exploration of the human body under muscle stress— understanding the body’s strength, flexibility, and power. Clean backgrounds, hard lighting, and black & white photography work together to eliminate distractions and highlight the muscle groups and figure of my subjects.

Beginning with Mixed Martial Artists and Boxers, I have developed my technique to capture rapidly firing muscle groups at high speed in front of the lens. The resulting instinct for timing fight photography has lead to an ability to freeze my subjects at the peak of their motion. Discovering a better understanding of the human form with this project has transitioned into my commercial fitness work, maximizing composition and positioning to best showcase the human form.

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography.

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Lighting Experiment with Caitlin (NSFW)

I wanted to practice some edge light bodyscapes and portraits. I brought a model to the studio to practice with, Caitlin. Caitlin is a life drawing model so she’s used to holding dynamic poses while I moved and modified the lights. She was fantastic to work with and came armed with a series of her own poses. The goal was to create some dramatic, black and white, nude images. I mostly use 1 or 2 unmodified speedlights for the shoot. I want to get a couple of modifiers and retry again with more practical knowledge.

Lit with a single speed light.

Female bodyscape

2 side light dramatic picture

Lighting the back and the leg.

In profile

Seated

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography

- The Athletic Implied Nudes series is an exploration of the human body under muscle stress— understanding the body’s strength, flexibility, and power. Clean backgrounds, hard lighting, and black & white photography work together to eliminate distractions and highlight the muscle groups and figure of my subjects.

Beginning with Mixed Martial Artists and Boxers, I have developed my technique to capture rapidly firing muscle groups at high speed in front of the lens. The resulting instinct for timing fight photography has lead to an ability to freeze my subjects at the peak of their motion. Discovering a better understanding of the human form with this project has transitioned into my commercial fitness work, maximizing composition and positioning to best showcase the human form.

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

New Photography Studio - 3 Month Retrospective

I've been in my new photography studio in London, Ontario for about 3 months now. A good amount of time to reflect on it. Initially it was not a move I was planning on making, but circumstances forced the move at the beginning of May. I've previously thanked the people who really helped me out building the walls, etc. of the studio. Special thanks again to Hollis Huggins and Stephen Yule for building the framework of the studio.

I've done a wide variety of photo shoots over the last 3 months. Fitness photo shoots, fight promotions, personal projects, product photography, business head shots, families, and even a cute puppy. As of August 1st I've photographed 35 times in the studio.

The studio is located at 30 Adelaide North St., London, ON N6B 3N5. The studio is physically inside Warriors Boxing and Fitness, an 8000 sq. ft. boxing gym. My studio is in a private 20' x 40' room at the front of the gym. In addition to the boxing, there is also a gym space, my guys at London Muay Thai and Bad Boys Wrestling.

The clear focus on the studio is fitness photography. I have olympic bars, plates, dumbbells, bench and other fitness equipment. For fitness and bodybuilding photography I also have use of the boxing gym and their equipment. However I can accommodate most any other type of photo shoot.

In addition to the studio and gym space my studio is located in an industrial building with lots of interesting backdrops to shoot on. The building itself is located on the Thames River providing, field, river and forest settings a couple minutes walk away.

There are still some items I would like to acquire for the studio and I'll do so over time, but I did pick up a fog machine on Amazon Prime Day. The fog machine works great and I've used it to good effect.

I am starting to get a good feel for the studio. How far back I should stand if the model is in a specific location or how the light plays off the walls is now becoming intuitive. The lounge and makeup area are coming along nicely with the fridge providing cold water. The nice thing about the new studio is it is mine. I have 24/7 access and I can leave my set ready to go.

I have some really cool shoots planned over the next couple of months. Stay tuned to my blog for more details.

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography

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Lighting fun with Karate Black Belt Alysha

Alysha came back into the studio after our chance meeting a couple of weeks ago to play with some great kicks. We decided to try some long exposure, multiple exposure and fog lighting. Alysha is incredibly skilled and has perfect control of her motion so she was an ideal candidate for this lighting.

A shout out to my lighting mentor Sean Allot who showed me so much about lighting that I'm able to experiment like this properly.

Thanks to Stephen Yule for being a most excellent assistant last night.

Here are a few images and a behind the scenes video from last night.

The final image from the video

More long exposure

Jumping side kick in the fog

Karate Stance

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Testing New Equipment

I bought a fog machine the other day. I lost the use of one when I moved studios. Matt from London Muay Thai came over to test the setup. We got some great pictures, Matt has good technique.

Matt delivers the standing knee.

Spinning kick

Teep

Matt gives a flying knee

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

NEW STUDIO!

I had gotten away from blogging my shoots recently as I have been busy building a new studio and moving the business. I've moved the studio inside of Warriors Boxing and Fitness where I'll have 24/7 access. The studio is a private area within the gym itself and I'll have run of the 8000 sq. ft. boxing facility as well.

The studio address is 30 Adelaide St. North, London, Ontario.

There's always room to improve, but my studio is up and operational. I had 6 clients in the first week. Here's a little behind the scenes video of the new studio and gym.

Some samples from the first week of shooting.

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Dance Photoshoot with Montanah and Celeste

Montanah and Celeste came to the studio to show off their dance moves. I wasn't sure what to expect vis-a-vis their skill and power. I was really impressed with both. Their jumps were high, poses graceful, holds powerful and aerials amazing.

I cranked the lights to a really short flash duraction of 1/4400th of a second to freeze the motion.

Celeste doing a back flip

Montanah stops in mid flip for a rest

They had some really strong duo poses

Perfect form on being upside down.

They were competitive as to who got the best air

Some behind the scenes look at the shoot. (Thanks to my assistant for the evening Melissa.)

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, bodybuilding and fight photography

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Top Down Shoot with Jaclyn (NSFW)

I wanted to try a different lighting scheme and camera perspective than I normally use. Jaclyn was kind enough to help me out with it even though the space and setup were restrictive to her movements. She worked really hard at posing with the constraints of the frame. She did a great job coming up with compelling poses.

I mounted the camera on a boom and shot straight down. For lighting I used two very large softboxes, gelled with red, horizontally oriented, cross lighting the model at camera left head and camera foot. Many thanks to Sean for helping me with the setup, including the heavy lifting.

Jaclyn and I went through the images and picked out some great images to edit

One of my favourites from the shoot.

We were testing the setup, notice the socks to keep the model warm.

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, boxing and mma photography

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Work Selected for Slideluck London Ontario

My work in Athletic Nudes was selected to be displayed at the Slideluck London ON dinner and presentation on August 17th.

For more details: www.facebook.com/SlideluckLondonOntario

It would be great to see some friendly faces at the event.

Slideluck, London ON announces its' participating artists.

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, boxing and mma photography

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