The world is their playground — as these humorous shots of athletes in everyday life show.
Photographer Jordan Matter, whose portraits of dancers twirling on subway cars and city streets were collected into the best-selling book “Dancers Among Us,” has turned his focus to sports stars for “Athletes Among Us.”
“Even when they’re doing everyday activities, they’re still obsessing over their sport, and that level of obsession is what drives them to succeed,” said Matter, who works out of a Washington Heights studio.
Matter photographs using only natural light, and tries to stay one step ahead of authorities who may shut down his shoots.
That a was a little difficult for gymnast Jackie Carlson, who was chased away by a cop at a corner before successfully climbing a lamppost at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street.
“There’s no Photoshopping,” Matter said. “That’s what really happened.”
“To get that shot, she had to climb up the thing, first of all, get out there and get her legs spread. She held that for maybe about 10 seconds.”
Carlson, a member of the Brooklyn-based Streb Extreme Action dance company, did two poses and had to stop.
“She was unable to do it anymore, it was so difficult,” Matter said.
For a photo titled “Valentine’s Day,” the issues were less the player’s endurance than the furniture’s. A real-estate broker lent Matter a bedroom so that former Jets safety Erik Coleman could tackle his wife, but they had only a few chances.
“We had to stop after that shot because he almost broke the bed. Every time, it got a little bit closer to breaking it, and then that final one you heard the real springs crunch, and then we had to stop,” Matter said.
Competitive kickboxer Vincent Iuzzolino got buffed up for his photo shoot by doing push-ups in front of Penn Station. Rubbed down with oil and wearing only shorts, he hauled two suitcases up and down the staircase as commuters tried to get past. The photo was taken between 4 and 5 p.m.
“We got a lot of flak for that one not by security, surprisingly, but by commuters who were trying to get by him because it was rush hour,” Matter said.
Matter is still shooting the project. Athletes interested in participating can contact him at the Web site athletesamongus.com.