Portrait photoshoot with bodybuilder Jade

December 2022 update: The above image won a Highly Commended Award of Excellence in the November Inspirers competition run by the Master Photographers Association (MPA).

MPA Chairman and Judge Ray Lowe FMPA commented, “This for me is the strongest of your three [entries] …it’s got the strength in her upper arms; the way you’ve posed her; the way you’ve got the main light coming across the front of her face. I’m sure she absolutely adored these pictures and for me this is the strongest because of that lighting that’s coming across. A very good quality image.”

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Jade is having an exciting year.

Just a few days after her photoshoot with me, Jade headed off to Hull to compete in the PCA First Timers bodybuilding competition, followed by the World Championships the following weekend.

To celebrate all the work and effort that Jade put in to preparing, her partner Max booked her in with me to capture her at her physical peak.

It’s been a long, winding road that led Jade here.

After a low point last year, Jade joined a gym and wanted a goal to work towards when a trainer suggested the PCA competition and offered to help coach her.

Since then, Jade has trained for two hours a day, five times a week, ensured she does at least 12,000 steps and monitors her calories carefully to carve her body into pure muscle.

She’s loved pushing herself to her limits, shedding fat to get super lean so that her muscles are as prominent as possible and watching those muscle lines develop over time.

However, it’s also been a gruelling process, both mentally and physically.

After working so hard in the lead-up to the competition, she’s got a big feast planned for the day after, which will feature a lot of tapas and cocktails!

Jade told me that the competition has been just one more crazy thing in a year that’s been a whirlpool of craziness.

She met Max while out dog walking. Although they lived just around the corner from each other, they had never met until suddenly they bumped into each other three times in a row.

They started chatting, made plans to walk their dogs together and then graduated to meeting up on the weekends, too.

Nevertheless, their bond is so strong and happy that they’ve recently moved in together. Happily, their dogs are the best of buddies too!

However, Jade tells me that they haven’t yet been on a paper date because her competition diet means they can’t eat out anywhere.

That’s another thing Jade is looking forward to: once the competition weekend is completed, she’s planned a whole series of dates between now and Christmas to make up for lost time!

As well as celebrating her own achievements, she’ll also be thanking Max for his support.

He’s been going to the gym with her, doing cardio work while she lifts weights and eating the same foods as Jade.

And – most importantly – he’s right there in the audience whenever Jade gets up on stage, beaming with pride at how hard Jade has worked to get to this point. 🙂

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Sarah Plater AMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional newborn and family portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

She is the Master Photographers Association Young Families Portrait Photographer of the Year 2022 and Newborn Photographer of the Year 2019 for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).