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Lifestyle & Fitness with Victoria Garrick

#PhotoGrind 2019 West Coast Sessions

By Matt Pendleton Photography

July 9^th, 2019

#PhotoGrind 2019

#PhotoGrind is my yearly photo event working with very special clients. It's a ton of diverse shoots in a very short amount of time. This year I traveled to two locations: Miami and Los Angeles.

For travel, I have to use a smaller set of gear. Here's what I used:

Camera Gear: Canon 1D-X Mark II, Canon 85mm f1.4L IS, Lexar 32GB Memory Cards, Hoodman HoodEYE Eye Cup, and Tiffen UV filters
Lighting Gear: Natural/Available light
Locations: Tongva Park and Downtown Santa Monica in Santa Monica, California

Lifestyle & Fitness with Victoria Garrick

Introducing Victoria

I met Victoria Garrick when she was playing for the USC Trojans Women's Volleyball team. I was freelancing for the Trojans in Gainesville, Florida: the 2017 NCAA Tournament Regionals and the 2018 Bubly Invitational.

During the tournament, she took a moment from warming up to say hello and thank you for covering the Trojans. That kind of positive energy really made my day!

Victoria is a huge mental health and body image advocate and her #RealPost pledge (posting only honest content) perfectly aligns with how I create images for clients. You'll quickly see why this was one of my favorite sessions.

After graduating from USC, she moved to Santa Monica. I met up with her in Santa Monica and I was really excited to shoot this new location with her.

Outfit #1

I kicked off the session at Tongva Park with Victoria in a fun athletic outfit. The overcast day proved to be just the right amount of light.

Outfit #2

Victoria made a quick outfit change and we moved to a different part of Tongva Park. This place is sneaky large and that allows for a ton of privacy.

Outfit #3

Victoria switched into a Lululemon camo outfit and I was fortunate to have the sun peak out for a few moments. It was overcast for most of the shoot.

This was just a really cool image. I was able to show strength and power all in one image!

City Hall

Santa Monica City Hall is conveniently across the street from Tongva Park. They have an awesome water fountain/hydroponic installation right in front. It provided some really great lines.

Outfit #4

Victoria changed into her lifestyle outfit, a beautiful red polka-dot dress. This provided really great contrast with all the silvers and greens in the background. We found an iconic spot at Tongva Park to shoot.

Outfit #5

We left Tongva Park to explore the downtown Santa Monica area. There was a really well-lit alleyway that we found with brick and industrial backgrounds. Another outfit change and we were in business!

I wish I had more of these alleyways in Gainesville!

Santa Monica Beach

Leaving downtown, we headed towards Santa Monica Beach near the entrance to the famous Santa Monica Pier. The sun peeked through the clouds and allowed us to experience a wonderful sunset.

There were tons of tourists but that didn't phase Victoria!

Third Street Promenade

The final stop was the Third Street Promenade, a largely populated street of shops and restaurants. We stopped in a few stores to try on different outfits and Victoria even bought a new top. We were also able to create some really fun unique content for her social.

Thank you Victoria!

Victoria rocked this shoot and this easily was one of my favorites. I had a ton of fun and created authentic content that Victoria will use to rep her brand on her website and social media.