Photographer and creative Geoff Lowe returned to the World Athletics Championships with a question: what becomes of the passion that once burned like a starter’s pistol, when the season inside us changes? His days there are a map of memory and renewal—footsteps overlapping those of the 2021 Games, solitude giving way to fellowship, craft bending toward feeling.

At these World Championships, Goeff Lowe’s lens looked both outward and inward. Years ago, his artistic philosophy planted a seed in the Japanese capital, one that blossomed in Paris and has now entered a new phase of bloom during World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

This evolution was made possible thanks to Julie Fuster, Luis Gomez, and Kiara Cherubini—three distinct perspectives that pushed Lowe to see this high moment in sport not only as a spectacle to capture, but as a space for creative connection. Between late-night coffees and editing sessions, he and the three lenses featured here shared stories, chose images, and reminded each other why they chose this path—at the intersection of sport and art.

What follows is a field note from the heart: a stream of consciousness about love for a discipline, the ache of change, and the grace of finding your people exactly when the work asks you to become someone new. This is sport, yes—but it’s also an artist learning how to begin again.

‘I came to Tokyo to shoot the World Athletics Championships, without clients and with no specific assignment. I came with an open heart and mind to see what might happen. I was ready to do it alone, self-funded, just to satisfy my own creative curiosity.

Four years ago, when I shot the Olympics, it was a very lonely and yet liberating experience. By being isolated most of the time, I could really focus deeply on the art—shooting intensely during the competition and editing for hours alone in my room during the evenings.

Being back here, it feels as though I left pieces of myself scattered around this stadium and city. As I revisited certain spots, it was as if timelines overlapped and I could see the younger version of me. The emotions of what I was going through back in 2021 all came back, and it was a strange but beautiful feeling to reflect on how I have grown and changed as a person in these last few years.

I love this sport so much, but recently I’ve been feeling as though my time shooting it might be done. The passion I have is still there, deep inside me, but it just feels different. It feels like it was a seed that I planted here in Tokyo years ago that grew into a big tree and produced some beautiful flowers last year in Paris. But this year the season has changed, and a new seed has fallen to the ground that I need to care for and grow into something beautiful for 2028.

I needed these nine days to be different from anything I had done before. I rented an apartment not far from the stadium, and in the days leading up to the event I managed to fill it with some incredible photographers/friends, all with their own dreams and stories to chase. I hoped this would help reignite the flame inside me.

This championship, for me, became more about taking inspiration from them than about asking, “What am I going to do every day?” I know myself too well, and I’m not very interesting anymore.

I would watch them work and listen to their experiences. I loved getting coffee for us in the mornings and discussing the people and pictures from the day before, or chatting in the evenings while editing in the kitchen over some beers and some Uber Eats—looking at each other’s images and curating posts.’

This is Julie

‘A photographer and videographer from Paris. She is extremely passionate about the sport. When I met her in London, she had just quit a job in finance to pursue her dream of capturing sport. She has the biggest love I have ever seen for the athletes, who have also become her friends over the years. The trust she builds with them results in some of the coolest athlete lifestyle shoots you will see. She lives in the moments of every session, feeling all the ups and downs as if she were competing in the events herself. This love shines through in the images and videos she makes, and it inspires me to build closer relationships with the athletes I shoot.’

This is Luis

‘The Costa Rican kid with a camera, currently studying in the USA. He is young, fearless, and filled with energy and optimism. Three years ago he was a volunteer at the Oregon World Championships, and now, at the age of 21, he has already made one of his dreams come true by being here as an accredited photographer. He has an exceptional talent for storytelling—sharing his experiences with others. He is kind, he is humble, and it has been so great to hear about his journey and to watch him learn, grow, and develop his style in just a few days. He reminds me of what it feels like to shoot a big event for the first time, the excitement of capturing crazy moments, and why we do this job. We do it from love, not for love.’

And then there is Kiara

‘Born in Rome but not based there. Kiara is an athlete and a soulful creative. She has a beautiful kindness and love when you are in conversation with her that makes you want to show her your heart—it’s a superpower to have as a documentary filmmaker. Her videos and images have a depth and meaning to them that grab my soul every time they cross my path. She has a mission: to discover, to study, and to share the stories and emotions of sport—the highs and the lows—to dig beyond the surface and explore what is going on within the hearts and minds of the people striving for greatness every day. She is strong, she is a warrior, and she is relentless in pursuing her goals. She inspires me every day to think more and be better in every aspect of my art and the whole creative process.’

‘So what did Tokyo mean to me in 2025? More than just creating art and taking pictures of athletes.

I got to experience it with three creative people, all at different stages of their journey, from different cultures and walks of life—battling different struggles every day but coming together around a table in the evenings to learn and share with each other.

I’m so grateful for them, and I think it has been my favorite athletics photography experience so far.

So if you are feeling burnt out or uninspired—as an artist or an athlete—I can tell it really helps to carefully surround yourself with genuine people who want to uplift each other, and to be open to experiencing something you have done a million times in a different way—to force yourself to look at it through a different lens.’