Do you live for your morning run at home, but find it difficult to seek out great routes when traveling? The Saucony Running Shoe and Apparel company is looking to fix that by exploring bucket list locations through the eyes – or feet – of a runner. Denver-based photographer Matt Trappe was eager when timing finally aligned and he was able to work with Saucony on the Boulder addition of their new and innovative campaign: Runaways.
Matt has been a long-time friend of the social media manager for Saucony, and they have been waiting for a while to be able to work together on this unique project. The first thing they did once coming together, was sort out what exactly the goal of the series was, aside from selling their product. In Saucony’s words, their goal was twofold: “create an ongoing bucket list of places you need to see as a runner, and provide a useful set of runs and things you should see while you’re there.” This meant that Matt would be showing off the products, the athletes, and the environments Saucony wanted to share.
The idea for the Runaways campaign came when Saucony realized that runners are often adventurous, outdoors-seeking people, many of whom are frequent travelers. The problem is when staying in a hotel, or anywhere someone isn’t familiar, they tend to stay close by, exploring only the parking lot and adjacent streets for their daily run.
To help expand these runners’ horizons, Saucony started a program in which they have Seekers for different locations around the world. The Seekers investigate the best trails, restaurants to eat at along the way, sites to see, and of course, decide which of the Saucony line of shoes and apparel pair best with any given scene. Matt himself acted not only as the photographer, but as one of the Seekers for the project.
After some adventures of his own, Matt spent a few days with Saucony scouting the best locations for the shoot that would provide good lighting, composition and would meet the project’s goals. Matt said they already had outstanding athletes lined up to work with, so once the locations were set, everything about the shoot rolled smoothly from there. His biggest challenge was to include all the focus points of the project.
We knew the product had to shine despite the focus on the environment, experience, and athlete – that was always on our mind.
Matt says that the shoot wound up being a lot of fun, thanks to the crew and everyone involved.
Working with great people is always my favorite part of any project. The images on any shoot always reflect the vibe of the shoot and the crew. Plenty of laughs were shared on this one!
Saucony also had a great time and gave rave reviews about the project, saying, “Nothing but positive feedback about Matt Trappe’s photography for Runaways: Boulder. It’s been great to see the local running communities sharing our story, as well as the athletes involved in the shoot sharing their favorite photos on their social media.”
To see more photography from Matt, visit trappephoto.com!