Photographer Armando FERRARI c/o COMMON ERA photographed his way across Europe with sporty flair – all for the UNDER ARMOUR S/S 2018 campaign. The team started in Berlin with Yusra Mardini, a Syrian swimmer living in Germany who participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics for the team Refugee Olympic Athletes. Yusra Mardini grew up in Darayya, a suburb of Damascus. Her father is a swimming coach and started training her at the age of three.
In 2012, she took part in the Short Track World Championships in Istanbul at the age of 14 and set a Syrian record in 400m freestyle. A few months before, the family home had been destroyed by artillery fire from the civil war in Syria. After two of her swimming friends had died and the swimming pool had been hit by a bombshell, Yusra Mardini decided to leave Syria in 2015. Since October 2017, she has been sponsored by Under Armour.
After that, the German soccer player and Hamburg's own Jonathan Tah, who played for Leverkusen in Germany's Erste Bundesliga, stood in front of Armando Ferrari's camera. His father comes from the Ivory Coast and his mother from beautiful Hamburg in northern Germany. The shoot took place in Hamburg.
For the third shoot, it was off to Paris where French Judoka Teddy Riner, born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, photographed was by Armando Ferrari for the campaign. Teddy is 2.05 meters tall and competes with his 131 kg in the heavyweight class. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, he was the Olympic champion in the heavyweight class. After David Douillet, he is the second French Olympic champion to win the title in two consecutive Olympic Games. In 2012, 2016 and 2017, Riner was chosen as France's Sportsman of the Year by the daily sports newspaper L'Equipe.
About - Under Armour. Founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel - gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. The technology behind Under Armour's diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it's hot, ColdGear® when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes. Under Armour’s mission is to make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation. underarmour.com
Together with his team, Liam ARTHUR realized a personal lifestyle spread with Polaroids, Walkmans, loads of pizza – and of course beer. He photographed models Manon Eleri Steele, Amber Jean Rowan, Jacob Greenway, Emily Fiander and Luke at the shoot location Deerhurst Road which is owned by Gillian Milner. Styling: Alice Timms, hair & make-up: Meg Koriat.
About - Deerhurst Road shoot location is a large family home in Streatham, SW London. The house has conditional planning permission for small-scale shoots. deerhurstroad.co.uk
