Josh Greet is reenergising sports photography by injecting it with sci-fi and folk horror visuals

In one of Josh Greet’s recent photos, a runner is shown ploughing through the rain. Nearly entirely in shadow, the athlete’s face and features aren’t visible – it’s only possible to make out the outline of his body and running gear. A bright white light emanates from the ground up, illuminating the foliage, the runner’s legs and the spots of rain that litter the sky.

Not only a striking standalone image, the shot perfectly encapsulates the photographer’s unique practice. Rather than being shot in a studio – as the crispness of the image could easily suggest – it was shot on the Dartmoor national park in the actual pouring rain, the camera’s flash head wrapped in a bin bag to keep it dry. And the otherworldly feeling of the image? That’s thanks to Josh’s love of folk horror and sci-fi films.

The shot is from Josh’s series Phenomena, an ongoing collaboration with Arrival at One, an outdoors community project bringing people together through climbing and running across London and South West England. As seems fitting, Josh is himself into his sports, and can often be found on Dartmoor hiking, running and cycling. When planning the project alongside Arrival at One founder Jack, they both agreed that the series should be as truthful as possible, casting actual runners and members of the community as opposed to models. But there was another, perhaps more unexpected interest that united the pair: their interest in Dartmoor’s rich pagan history.

It’s over the past few years that Josh has become more interested in the history of the national park, something helped along by the Blindboy podcast, which “really spiked my interest in local folklore and how we can tell stories that are rooted in the landscape”, says Josh. “Dartmoor is full of ancient sites and strange-looking rocks which all have a mythology around them. The stories often vary drastically in their tellings, which I find really interesting.” These sites and rockforms make their way into the series; one image sees a runner staring at a totem, its top lit by a beacon of light; another sees a runner resting on infeasibly stacked column of rocks, while one particularly trippy shot sees a pair of runners on a warped path next to a warped river, enhancing the mystical equality of the water and landscape. “I guess the realisation that anyone can add to and retell folk stories led to the birth of our Phenomena project,” Josh adds.

Folk stories aren’t the only visual influence however; to inject the visuals with something a little more “modern”, Josh also looked to sci-fi films, like Steven Spielberg’s 1977 blockbuster Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This influence is most evident in Josh’s application of colour and saturation. Bright purples, deep reds and neon greens paired with backdrops of deep midnight blue and stark blacks, all give the feeling of a late 20th century sci-fi horror film poster. Add in the bright white lights that cover some of the athletes’ faces, and you can’t help thinking of the lead image of John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror The Thing. In what might be a bit of a shock, much of this highly-stylised effect is made using physical lighting and in-camera techniques. “I’ve been working to make imagery that feels mystical and otherworldly without feeling overly edited or fake,” Josh says.

It makes sense that Dartmoor would provide the locale for Josh’s work. Not only is he now based nearby in Plymouth, he grew up there too, living on the border of the national park and right next to the sea. In fact, growing up he thought he was going to be a boat builder, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, but it soon became clear that that wasn’t the case. At secondary school Josh describes himself as “shy and unconfident” and not so academically inclined, and he experienced severe bullying. “The only thing I actually enjoyed at that time was going to metal or hardcore shows with my friends,” Josh says. “I wasn’t musical at all, but I wanted to be involved somehow.” He started putting on his own gigs at the “iconic” Plymouth venue The White Rabbit, and in 2007 at age 16 enrolled on a national diploma in photography – “for the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed learning,” Josh says.

Staying on at the college for a degree, Josh started picking up jobs from the likes of Vice and Adidas during his last two years. A “massive confidence boost” he moved to London and worked various creative jobs taking photos where he could, before carving a niche as a photographer in the sport and fashion space. Now, Josh has spent a lot of time shooting sport in the commercial space and “working with the boundaries of the industry”. The Phenomena series, on the other hand, has given him the space to create a more complex narrative than one usually posed in sports imagery, and to push things further “both conceptually and visually”, he says. It’s a series that looks beyond the limits of athleticism, grit and mental strength, and one that makes brilliant use of historical locations, unpredictable weather, and unexpected visual references.