Erich Saide: Reflex Supplements

BY Wonderful Machine 15 January 2018

Canadian supplement retail brand Reflex Supplements, working with the CREW marketing agency, recently set out to build a library of fitness and lifestyle images for future use in print, web, and social marketing efforts. Reflex Supplements CEO Curtis Christopherson reached out to Vancouver based photographer and personal friend, Erich Saide to create these images.

Photo of CREW marketing agency promoting Reflex Supplements shot by photographer Erich Saide.

With Erich on board, the CREW creative team created an extensive shotlist meant to resonate with Reflex Supplement’s target audience of athletes as well as the general public. The cast was sourced from this exact target audience – Reflex Supplements’ own clients.

With such a wide variety of images needed, reflex supplements called on their diverse client base to get athletes that reflected their brand identity.

Photo of CREW marketing agency fitness model promoting Reflex Supplements shot by photographer Erich Saide.

Curtis Christopherson is also affiliated with Innovative Fitness, which provided the gym location for the shoot. With the indoor locations nailed down, Erich and his assistant went about scouting locations for the outdoor shots, securing permission to photograph at nearby Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park.

Photo of CREW marketing agency male model promoting Reflex Supplements shot by photographer Erich Saide.

For the outdoor setting, my assistant and I scouted a few possible locations but when we found the sports complex, Town Centre Park in Coquitlam, BC, we knew straight away that this was the perfect location. We got in contact with the city and received permission to shoot there. Then all that was left was to show up on the day and produce some dynamic sports photography.

Photographing twenty models across two shoot days is no easy task. Erich kept the production upbeat and on-schedule, shooting nearly 7000 images. The extensive shot list covered a variety of sports, including soccer, basketball, running, and cross-fit. With such a large shot list, efficiency was key – Erich made creating the “must have” images his priority, but still left some room for spontaneity and improvisation.

The shot list was vast but we worked through it incrementally and we were as efficient as possible, concentrating first on the must-haves and making time for the dream shots if we had time.

Reflex Supplements has been impressed with the images and has already released several through their social media accounts, with the majority still earmarked for future marketing campaigns.

The best part of being involved in a project like this is having the freedom to create images outside of a structured look and feel. The concept was largely open to my creative eye and I was able to run with ideas that might not have been on the original mood board. Secondly was the ability to be on location in beautiful weather with people you haven’t worked with before. The social aspect of shoot likes these are often overlooked and I think it was a great day out for everyone.