Fantastic studies of athletic perfection by Paul Calver and Gem Fletcher

The term athlete is actually a vague catch-all word that encompasses a great variety of body types, depending on the specialist’s chosen discipline. This new project from photographer Paul Calver and art director Gem Fletcher celebrates what the pair call “the perfectly imperfect form of an athlete’s body” by focusing on a boxer, a martial artist, a runner, a bodybuilder and a sumo wrestler.

There’s a raw, visceral power to the images with each body pushed to its physical limits, whether that means the heft of the sumo wrestler or the taut, lean torso of the runner. Some are lit with just a single shaft of light which paradoxically serves to accentuate the coiled strength of the subjects and when movement is occasionally introduced you get a real sense of the speed you’re witnessing despite it being a still image.