Derek Hollis, 47, owner of Iron Summit Jiu-Jitsu in Denver, spent $3,000 last week to hire professional photographer Megan Cho for a complete Instagram rebrand. The stated goal: showcase the gym’s tight-knit community and attract new members. Megan arrived at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3rd, and shot for twelve hours straight. She left with 340 photographs. Iron Summit published the best 47 to the gym’s Instagram grid. All 47 feature the exact same people. Derek Hollis appears in 45 of them. His twelve-year-old son, Thomas, appears in 43 photos. He joined three weeks ago and still wears a white belt with two stripes. Michael Chen, a blue belt, appears in 38 photos. Jessica Ramirez, another blue belt, clips into 31 photos. A rotating cast of purple belts—never more than two distinct faces per photo—fill the background of 22 shots. The captions read: “Community is everything.” “Where we’re family.” “Iron Summit: Built on trust.” “This is what jiu-jitsu is really about.” Iron Summit has 340 members. 333 of them don’t appear in any photograph.
“Megan is an incredible photographer,” Hollis said when asked why every single published image featured the same five people across a gym with thirteen morning classes, nine evening classes, and four open mats per week. “She understood the vision. When I told her I wanted to capture the essence of our community, she knew exactly what that meant.” What Megan knew it meant, apparently, was photographing Derek, his son, and three reliable regulars at every conceivable angle: rolling, tying belts, drinking water, standing near the water, looking thoughtfully at the water, adjusting the water cooler, and one extremely haunting series of photos where Derek and Michael practice the same basic armbar drill against each other for six consecutive frames while Jessica watches from the bench with the expression of someone waiting for a dentist appointment. The math doesn’t favor inclusion.
Thomas Hollis, twelve, attended his third class when the shoot began. He’s made the cut in 43 photos, a rate of 91.5%—higher than Derek’s 95.7% inclusion rate and vastly higher than, say, 42-year-old purple belt David Kumar, who has attended four classes per week for two years and appears in zero photographs. Kumar attended class that Tuesday. The photographer didn’t photograph him.
“I was there,” Kumar said. “I did my thing. I rolled with Thomas. Then I rolled with Derek. Then I made a comment about the lighting and Megan turned around like I’d insulted her family.”
The hiring of Megan Cho followed a contentious staff meeting where Hollis announced the gym needed “a new visual identity for the Instagram age.” The previous account had accumulated 247 followers over four years, a growth rate that Hollis described as “stagnant.” The rebranded account, with its 47 high-resolution images of Derek, Thomas, Michael, Jessica, and whoever happened to position themselves behind them, has gained 83 new followers in four days. Seventy-one of those followers are the people photographed. Four are Michael’s and Jessica’s parents. The remaining eight accounts are inactive bots. When asked about the statistical absence of 333 gym members from his rebrand initiative, Hollis explained that “professional photography is about quality over quantity.” He then mentioned that Megan had suggested a follow-up shoot, which he accepted. In August, she will return for another twelve hours at a rate of $300 per hour, specifically to photograph the noon classes, which Hollis said have “more consistent energy.” The noon classes have four members.
“Derek’s a visionary,” Michael Chen said, unprompted, while reviewing the published photos with his phone screen held at arm’s length. “I’m in 38 of these and I still feel weird about it. Like, am I really in here 38 times or is it 38 angles of the same moment? I don’t know. I stopped trying to count. My mom saw me in the one where I’m adjusting the mat tape and thought I was a gym employee.”
Megan Cho’s professional portfolio on her website previously read: “Specializing in authentic community portraits that capture the true essence of group dynamics.” She’s updated the bio to: “Available for all photography projects. No project is too specific.” She’s also added a small disclaimer below her Iron Summit gallery: “Community may be interpreted differently by different clients.” The gym’s website promises “state-of-the-art facilities serving 340 athletes,” a promise that now conflicts directly with the Instagram feed, which suggests Iron Summit consists of Derek, his son, two reliable blue belts, and the physical embodiment of commitment that shows up in the background sometimes. New member inquiry emails are already arriving, with questions like “Is this gym really that small?” and “Do I have to be friends with Derek?” and, one memorable email, “Is Derek’s son the co-owner because he’s in every picture?” Hollis hasn’t responded to these inquiries yet. He’s currently in talks with Megan about drone footage to be added to the feed, which, he believes, will show “the true scope of Iron Summit from above.” The drone, he clarifies, will shoot at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays, the time when Derek, Thomas, Michael, and Jessica all train together.
The marketing consultant Hollis hired to vet the rebrand strategy didn’t attend the photography shoot. She also didn’t attend any Iron Summit classes before providing feedback. When asked for comment, she sent a single message: “The vision is clear.” Asked whether he regrets the $3,000 investment, Hollis smiled. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “Instagram is the future of jiu-jitsu marketing. You have to be willing to invest.” He then mentioned that he’s considering a TikTok rebrand next. The plan: short-form video of white belt progression. Derek is currently compiling footage of his son from three weeks ago.