Photographing One of Europe’s Strongest Men
Perry White, a Strongman from Ipswich Suffolk.
The Story Behind the Photographs
Perry White is an aspiring strongman athlete from Ipswich, Suffolk, preparing to compete on the European stage at the 2026 Europe’s Strongest Man U80 competition.
He’s also a father an online strength coach, a great friend and, right now, in the best shape of his life.
A few weeks out from the competition, Perry asked me to photograph him at this point in his journey. I jumped at the chance to document where he is now, but because I’ve known Perry for over 16 years, it felt impossible to tell that story without looking at how he got here in the first place.
For anyone who has never watched Strongman before, it’s a pretty ridiculous sport to photograph. The equipment is enormous, the movements are completely alien compared to most things you see in a gym, and watching someone throw a heavy bag several metres into the air makes for a pretty good photograph without needing much help from me.
But, as a friend, I can tell you it hasn’t always looked like this.
Perry White’s Journey to Strongman
I’ve known Perry since we were kids, and I remember how seriously he used to take the gym. He'd eat a can of tuna for lunch every day, walk to the gym at 5am to get his workout in and train hard enough to pull off the classic Zyzz pose, while me and our other friends would probably do one set before disappearing to the jacuzzi and sauna.
Life has a funny way of changing your priorities though. Perry became a dad, started working twelve-hour night shifts at the port and, over time, the gym became less important. Eventually he was weighing a very podgy 110kg and wasn't training with the same purpose anymore, or really training at all.
(In fairness, I should probably point out that I'm saying all of this despite never really being one for being in the best shape myself. If you say "gym" to me, I'll probably reply, "No thanks, I already have all 8 badges.")
Then the pandemic happened, and being stuck at home gave Perry a reason to start training again. He turned his garage into a gym, used whatever free time he had to get some work in and even started livestreaming some of his workouts on Twitch.
(I'm fairly sure I could still find those videos if anyone really wanted to see them.)
When lockdown eventually lifted, Perry was back training properly, and not long after that his brother Kyle bought Oaks Gym in Ipswich. Kyle renovated it and turned it into what is now Hunters Strength and Fitness.
Oaks had historically had a reputation as a bit of a rough-and-ready gym, but Kyle has completely transformed it. New equipment, a dedicated Strongman Shed and a community of genuinely strong and kind people. All of which gave Perry a completely different environment to train in, and it was there that he really found his passion for Strongman.
From there, things started moving pretty quickly. Perry competed locally, eventually made it onto the stage at England’s Strongest Man in the U90 category and started to realise that this could become something more serious.
(When I say local here, I mean a 4 hour trip up to Preston. Big up Preston.)
But even the best training arcs have a few filler episodes, and Perry’s journey was no different.
A torn bicep training with the atlas stones stopped any momentum Perry had built, but, silver linings - the long road back from injury meant that coaching became an increasingly important part of Perry's life too. Having spent years figuring out how to train himself coaching gave him a way to stay involved with the sport while helping other people as he started working his way back towards competition.
Finding His Way Back
There’s a phrase that flies around a lot in gyms, and some even have a mural of it on the wall in the hope of inspiring the next would-be gym-goer: “Iron sharpens iron.”
So whilst Perry was in need of a bit of sharpening himself, he was in some seriously good company at Hunters. The gym is home to people like World’s Strongest Woman Andrea Thompson and Jake Allen, who would go on to become Europe’s Strongest Man at U90, alongside plenty of other incredibly strong people.
and obviously there’s the competitive edge between Perry and his brother Kyle pushes him forward. Although that’s probably a touchy subject, considering Kyle has previously held the title of Ipswich’s Strongest Man, something Perry is yet to do…
(If you’re Europe’s strongest, you can be Ipswich strongest by default… right?)
But it meant there was plenty for Perry to learn, and eventually he was back competing himself.
Perry is a huge Dragon Ball fan, which makes a lot of sense when you get to this part of the story. The universe is full of getting stronger, pushing past your limits, recovering, evolving and then improving what you can do next. If only we had a time chamber, or a senzu bean!
After around a year away, he returned to competition at Englands Strongest Man, but this time there was a pretty significant difference. He was competing in the U80 category.
(That was actually my idea, so if Perry comes back from Europe with a medal or prize money, I’d like to state my claim now.)
Going from around 110kg and falling out of love with the gym to competing at national level at under 80kg is a pretty remarkable turnaround, and he's still pushing forward. That's the Perry I wanted to photograph. Not just the strongman athlete, but the person behind him and the years of work that got him to this point.
Documentary Strongman Photography
(This is probably where I should explain what I mean when I call this documentary photography.)
I've always wanted to build my photography around people and their stories. I like photographing people as they actually are, using the places they spend their time and letting the environment become part of the story rather than trying to manufacture everything around them.
With Perry, that meant spending time at the places he actually trains and photographing what was already there rather than trying to turn it into something it wasn't.
I’ll be using the Nikon Zf with the following:
Thypoch Simera 28mm f/1.4 manual focus lens, it has loads of character and for some of the more static movements it looks great.
NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2 My go to lens, I love it, everything it points at looks great.
Nikon F-mount 70-200mm F/4 - can’t go wrong covers everything and even at f/4 I think it creates great depth and seperation.
Small portable, blow up LED light (yes, it’s a blow up light)
All packed up, we headed to The Unit, one of Perry's three gyms is on the Suffolk/Essex border, surrounded by open countryside, which gave me plenty of space to work with.
(Who has 3 gyms by the way!?)
Because of the open countryside and large horizons, I could isolate Perry against the landscape, or let the environment become part of the photograph. It gave us a completely different look from the gym, and I liked the contrast between this huge, powerful athlete and the much quieter surroundings. We were also playing with the light, as the 6:00am morning sun would occasionally creep from behind the clouds.
As always, there was plenty of planning beforehand. Locations, ideas, moodboards, lighting and visual references all went into it, but once we were there I wanted to give myself enough freedom to react to what was actually happening.
The circus dumbbell was a good example.
It's a ridiculous piece of equipment, but that's part of what makes Strongman so interesting to photograph. You don't need to manufacture something visually interesting when the subject matter is already this strange. You just need to pay attention.
Then we went inside.
The inside of The Unit felt completely different. It's an old aircraft hangar, so the space is huge, industrial and full of character, with equipment filling almost every corner. I knew I wanted to make use of the scale of it rather than just shooting Perry close-up against gym equipment.
The deadlift was probably the best example of that.
Then, I had an idea to use the big hangar doors as this huge, almost cinematic backdrop to work with. There was something quite striking about putting Perry in the middle of all that empty space and letting the doors frame him.
For the below shots, I used a long, blow-up LED light to throw a bit of light onto Perry from the front, helping to sculpt him out of the darker surroundings and give him a bit more definition against the light coming through the hangar doors behind him.
I liked the contrast between the scale of the space and the subject. You've got this enormous aircraft hangar behind him, but all of that suddenly feels secondary when Perry is stood there pulling a ridiculous amount of weight off the floor.
(Well, it’s not a lot of weight really, but I made him hold it for a really long time.)
But, that's the kind of raw, gritty vibe I was looking for as part of the shoot. Not just a photograph of Perry doing a deadlift, but a photograph that says something about where he's doing it and what it feels like to actually be there.
Next…
…We headed to my office try out some portrait style shoots, these are probably the furthest thing from the traditional gym photos you might expect as there's no aggressive posing or trying to make him look like a bodybuilder. I wanted them to feel cleaner and more considered, but still like Perry. Getting comfortable in this environment is the challenge.
That was important because this shoot wasn't just about showing that he's strong. It's also about what he's built around that strength.
(As I share a picture of him looking pretty strong.)
What Comes Next for Perry White?
These images needed to work for both sides of Perry. They needed to show the competitor, but also the coach, and hopefully be useful across his website, social media, training guides and whatever comes next.
Perry is an online strength coach as well as a competitive strongman. He studied Level 3 Coaching and Development at college and now works with people with all sorts of goals, from those who simply want to get fitter and stronger to athletes working towards serious competitive targets.
Strongman is obviously where Perry's passion lies, but the experience he's gained through competing, training and recovering can be applied far beyond the competition floor. He's spent years figuring out how to get himself stronger, and now he gets to use that experience to help other people do the same.
For some people, that might mean getting fitter, building confidence or becoming stronger. For others, it might mean preparing for their first competition, and some of his clients have gone on to achieve some pretty serious things themselves, including qualifying for European competition.
(Which is why I didn't want this to just be a collection of photographs of a bloke lifting heavy things.)
A few weeks after we took these photographs, Perry will step onto the European stage at Europe’s Strongest Man U80. What happens after that is anyone's guess. Maybe it's Worlds, maybe it's something else entirely, but that's part of what I like about photographing people at this point in their story. You don't always know what comes next.
I was buzzing when Perry asked me to do this shoot. It showcases how far he's come, but hopefully it'll also be something he can look back on and remember how far he's come, and how far he can still go.
Perry, I'm proud of you.
Good luck in Europe and come back with the win.
(I'll type it into fruition.)
My name's Matty James.
I'm an aspiring documentary-style photographer, and this is the kind of work I want to do more of.
If you've got a story to tell and would like to work on something like this with me, get in touch.