When an Olympic gold medallist needs commercial photography in Split, the brief isn’t “take nice photos.” It’s: deliver images that serve a global sportswear brand’s visual identity while showcasing the athlete’s personality and the city’s unique backdrop — on a tight schedule, across multiple locations, with natural light that changes by the hour.

Our Content Studio was commissioned to produce a series of images featuring Matea Jelić — Croatia’s Olympic taekwondo champion — wearing the Adidas x Stella McCartney athletic collection. The shoot took place across iconic Split locations over a single day, and the resulting images represent some of the strongest commercial work in our portfolio.

Here’s how the shoot worked and what it takes to produce brand-level photography in a city that doubles as your studio.

The Brief

The client needed athletic lifestyle imagery: Matea in action-adjacent poses wearing the collection, set against Split’s architectural landmarks. Not studio shots — real locations, natural light, authentic Mediterranean atmosphere. The images would serve social media, press materials, and potentially retail display.

Key constraints:

Single shooting day (dawn to dusk)
5-6 distinct locations within Split
Natural light only (no studio lighting rigs on location)
Brand guidelines for colour palette, composition framing, and logo visibility
The athlete’s schedule dictated timing — windows of availability between training commitments

The Locations

Split’s advantage for commercial photography is location density. Within a 15-minute walk, you can shoot Mediterranean harbour, Roman ruins, contemporary architecture, narrow stone alleys, and open waterfront — each with completely different light, colour, and mood.

We scouted and pre-planned every location the day before, noting light direction by hour, crowd density patterns, and backup positions for each setup:

Riva Waterfront (dawn). First light on the harbour — soft, golden, almost empty of people. Clean backgrounds against the sea, warm tones on the Adidas collection. This was the hero location for the campaign’s primary images.

Diocletian’s Palace (mid-morning). The narrow alleys of the Palace create dramatic shadow patterns and textured stone backdrops. We shot movement sequences — Matea walking, stretching, in athletic stance — using the ancient walls as framing elements.

HNK Split / Croatian National Theatre (late morning). The neoclassical façade provided a more formal backdrop that contrasted with the athletic wear — an intentional visual tension that the brand wanted.

Split harbour / marina (midday). High sun, blue water, white boats — the Mediterranean lifestyle context. More challenging light (harsh overhead sun), managed with reflectors and positioning Matea in open shade near boat hulls and harbour walls.

Fire performance location (late afternoon). The most dramatic setup — Matea posed with a fire performer, combining athletic power with visual spectacle. This required coordination between the photographer, fire safety, the athlete, and the performer, all within a narrow window of optimal light.

Technical Approach

Commercial athletic photography demands speed and precision. The athlete has limited patience for repeated setups, the light is constantly changing, and the brand expects technically flawless output.

Gear: Dual-body Canon setup (one wide, one telephoto) with fast prime lenses for shallow depth-of-field that separates the subject from busy urban backgrounds. Reflectors for fill light in shadowed locations. No artificial lighting — the brief specified natural light authenticity.

Shooting style: Directed but not rigid. We gave Matea movement prompts rather than static poses — “walk toward me,” “turn and look back,” “stretch as if warming up.” Athletic subjects look best in motion, and the natural poses that emerge between directed moments often produce the strongest images.

Volume: Over 300 frames across the day, edited down to 32 hero images. Every one of those 32 meets commercial quality standards — technically sharp, properly exposed, brand-aligned, and emotionally compelling.

DJ Matthew Bee at Gourmet Festival Split stage — Cosmic Production event photography

What Makes This Level of Work Different

Any photographer with a good camera can take portraits in Split. Commercial brand photography requires additional layers:

Pre-production planning. Location scouting, light mapping, shot list creation, backup plans for weather and crowd interference. The shooting day itself should be execution, not improvisation.

Brand fluency. Understanding Adidas’s visual language — what colour temperatures they prefer, how much negative space their social media templates need, which compositions work for vertical vs horizontal formats.

Subject management. An Olympic athlete isn’t a professional model. They don’t know their angles, they’re not used to holding poses, and they have limited time. The photographer’s job is to make them comfortable, direct them clearly, and capture authentic moments within that guidance.

Post-production discipline. Colour grading that matches the brand’s existing visual identity. Retouching that enhances without altering. File delivery in multiple formats and resolutions for different use cases.

The Results

The 32 hero images from this shoot have become defining pieces in our portfolio. They demonstrate that our Content Studio can deliver at the level international brands require — not just technically, but in terms of planning, execution, and creative direction.

For Matea, the images served multiple campaigns and media placements. For us, they proved that Split’s natural environment can rival any purpose-built studio when the planning and execution match the ambition.

Commission Your Shoot

Our Content Studio handles commercial photography for brands, athletes, hospitality venues, and corporate clients across Croatia.

Related reading:

Cosmic Production’s Content Studio delivers commercial photography across Croatia — from athletic brand campaigns to hospitality venue documentation. View our portfolio.