Sports endure as one of photography’s most fertile subject matters - so many classic images of athletes remain timeless. At the same time, the greatest sports photographers manage to capture both the excitement of the event itself and the soul of athlete in competition. Asia Kepka is one of those photographers: we discovered her via a series she shot on Boston University’s top athletes, and had to know more about her. Kepka came to the United States from Poland almost two decades ago intending to be a set designer, but found her passion for taking pictures occurred almost immediately when a friend greeting her at the airport gave her a point-and-shoot to document her new home.

Since then, Kepka’s shot for everyone from Fortune to Time to Wired, but its her sports imagery that undoubtedly stands out. “I love a challenge and will take on any assignment that makes me try new things,” the Boston-based lenser explains. “Sport photography was never on my mind until i was hired by Runners World. My favorite subject there was Jay Pisano – an incredible athlete.” Since then, Kepka has gone from an almost documentary approach to a kind of heightened realism: for the Boston University shoot, she glazed her subjects with baby oil and bronzed them with makeup to make them appear even more sinewy and powerful. “My approach to shooting the BU athletes was to focus on their body/mind combo,” she explains. “They are in the prime shape of their lives, so I wanted to show their bodies in the style of Greek Olympians – very pure, ideal, strong, their minds determined and driven. I wanted to suspend them in the air, as if they are challenging the space around them.”

According to Kepka, each subject proves different, presenting individual challenges. “It’s interesting to work with a variety of athletes – some are patient, grateful, hard working, some are, let’s just say… a pain,” she notes candidly. “Ego is something hard to work around in any discipline, but improvisation had lots to do with making it work. I read a little about each athlete, and spent time chatting with them; then, during the shoot, I use my instinct to focus on various aspects of their personality. In the case of the hockey player, my first impression when he had his pads on was that he looked like a gladiator, so I went with that.” Not all the athletes were open to Kepka’s hands on methods, however. “I tried to assure them that I am trying to make them look natural, not fake,” Kepka says.  ”Makeup creates a deeper skin tone that enhances the look of their muscles, but applying it proved comical: I was on my knees in a public bathroom rubbing makeup on various body parts as people were walking in and giving us strange looks. But almost everyone had great sense of humor about it.” Indeed, it’s a small price to pay for the sublime imagery that results. “I look at the human body as if it were a landscape,” Kepka concludes. “Showing its strength, making it look like a body of Greek god – that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Asia Kepka BU Athletes Gallery