ABOUT

Concept: Rugby is my favourite sport to photograph: fast, fierce, and full of moments where raw emotion meets physical power. Rugby Journal commissioned me to photograph Jaz Joyce at a Wales women's training camp, and the portrait we made there ran on the cover of issue 17. Jaz is a force on the field, known for her speed and fearless energy: 53 Wales caps, and the first British woman rugby player selected for three Olympic Games. Off the pitch she is humble, warm and softly spoken, and that contrast is what the shoot was built around.

Execution: A cover is a different job from a feature. A feature can breathe across six pages, but a cover has to work at thumbnail size on a shelf, with a masthead across the top and a name underneath, so it needs one frame that reads instantly and survives being cropped. I lit Jaz against black in the red jersey, kept the crest visible, and shot for a straight look to camera rather than an action pose. Everything else from the day gives the feature its air: the squad huddle before the session, the bibs, the drills, and the panned frames where the background dissolves and only the runner stays sharp.

Results: The portrait ran on the cover of Rugby Journal issue 17, supported by a feature set from the Wales women's training camp.