Behind The Scenes - Fighting Over A Bikini!

This seems to be a really popular ad for BodyBuilding.com running in many magazines over a couple of months now. And it is one that I have been receiving requests about the behind the scenes as to how it came to be.


Like so many ads this began as part of a discussion as a need to put together something different specifically for the women’s magazines such as Oxygen and Muscle & Fitness Hers. We have been looking to make ads more fun because we know that we are all hit with so many ads on a daily basis that it would be nice to be more entertained by them. During our discussions the concept for this ad emerged. And one of the first things is to plan it with rough sketches from the art department at BodyBuilding.com.


Then it is up to me to plan the actual shoot, find a location, cast for my models, arrange for props and wardrobe, the right lighting equipment, and even arrange the permits and insurance for the location. The date is set and in between a lot of discussion and thought. And it all must fit within a production budget. The day comes, everyone from the models to assistants arrive and we start.


Now you just can’t put a bunch of people in a location and take pretty pictures, it won’t happen. Here one of the models and my good friend, Cara, stands in the area we will shoot so we can see what we have for lighting. The first thing to see is that it is too dark, very uneven and will be prone to a lot of shadowing. We wanted some bright colors for this so light would be a very important factor. So what is a fairly small area required a rather substantial amount of lighting gear in lots of locations and different angles, above, below, behind and to the sides. Once we got set up, it was off to shooting.


Here it gets tough because I needed four girls to fight over a bikini for hours. They got warmed up and it wasn’t before long when they started to have just too much fun. And they get paid for this.


And I had to personally get down and dirty to show them one of the scenes I was looking for. My good friend Shaela was more than happy to push me around in the interest of getting the job done.


I had the girls alternate on the floor, in pushing and fighting positions. Yes they continued to have a ball. Oh well, my shoots are pretty well know for being a lot of fun for the models.


We did draw a pretty good crowd outside watching the goings on inside the store. We were right on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, California on a warm sunny day. And the store owner and the employees got to watch a great show. In the end it all worked out just great.


My models pushed and shoved, pulled hair and grabbed at arms and legs. But they had nothing but fun and left good friends. Two of the models I had worked with before and known for a few years. One model I had known but had not worked with and one was brand new with me but she fit right in. From left to right we have Cara Basso, Hannah Gordon, Lauren Elaine and Shaela Luter. Cara is an accomplished actress, dancer and a very well known yoga and health instructor. Hannah you might remember as the very popular hostess from the FitShow. Lauren Elaine is a very successful model and actress having appeared in many ads and music videos. And Shaela has been in many magazine layouts in the bodybuilding and fitness business as well as many exercise videos. They were all great, we had a lot of fun, they will always remain my friends. And we put together a fun shoot and a fun ad.

Thanks for visiting and keep coming back for more!

The Boise Fitness Expo 2007

I just returned from Boise Idaho and among the many thing I did was to shoot the Boise Fitness Expo for BodyBuilding.com, the largest bodybuilding and fitness resource in the world. Held in downtown Boise, the Expo is entirely put on for free by BodyBuilding.com to say thank you for all of the support from the people of Boise where BodyBuilding.com is headquartered.


Over 1200 people filled the Expo to capacity and as many as 2000 or more came through during the evening. They were treated to free gifts from the supplement companies, guest posing by the top bodybuilders in the country including Mr. Olympia 2006, Jay Cutler, famous personalities like cover model Jamie Eason and a never ending exciting level of entertainment. It was great fun!

BodyBuilding.com Wallpaper

BodyBuilding.com is not only the largest bodybuilding and fitness resource in the world but also the leader in cutting edge free content on the internet. Over one year ago, BodyBuilding.com started providing free weekly wallpaper downloads of the top people in the sport. These wallpapers are designed from photographs shot by SecondFocus at major bodybuilding competitions, on location and in the studio. This is a compilation to date of some of those wallpapers.



BodyBuilding.com continues to develop new concepts of free and entertaining online content for the fans of bodybuilding, fitness and a fit lifestyle. And SecondFocus is more than proud to be a part of that creative team now expanding into multimedia and video.

And a special thanks to the creative team at BodyBuilding.com. And thank you to RoyaltyFreeMusic.com for the soundtrack. Stay tuned for more!

Behind The Scenes With Jamie Eason

The last 5 weeks have been busier than I can tell you. Among the many shoots I have done and in my many travels was an assignment to shoot with Jamie Eason. If you have thumbed through any men's or women's health, fitness or bodybuilding magazines you have stopped and stared at photos of Jamie. She is without question the hottest model in the health and fitness business today.


The first part of the shoot was a day in a studio in Pasadena California for BodyBuilding.com, the largest bodybuilding and fitness resource in the world. The request from their art department was not unusual for this type of shoot but for two things. They wanted images with movement and they were possibly going to need really large files. To accomplish that I made arrangements to bring in a medium format Mamiya 645 AFDII with a Leaf 65 Digital Back.



Lighting was with a Profoto Acute 2400R pack and the Profoto 7 ft Reflector was used as the main light. I really enjoyed using this set up, it is really flawless and easy to work with. I would also note that the camera system was supported by a brand new Induro carbon tripod and ballhead. It proved itself to be rock solid and convenient to use while at the same time being lightweight. I liked this tripod system from the moment I first saw it and my choice was a good one.



Never too simple, my makeup artist and hair stylist were on the set as was my lighting specialist and assistant. And obviously my second shooter was on hand to shoot background. We also had a huge amount of secondary equipment on hand including camera bodies, lenses, additional lighting gear, computers and more. As near as I could estimate we had $75,000 of gear on hand. But I don't take chances when a client is spending that kind of money and so much is being arranged for just one shoot.



Leaf and MAC Group were kind enough to give me some extra tech support to make sure I had it under control to be shooting tethered to my Apple computer. And I must also thank Samy's for making sure I had on hand all of the extra gear that was needed.



The very next day found us at Gold's Gym in Pasadena California. This is a huge gym with a very real fun area which is outside. What could be better than having part of your gym in the Southern California sun. Shooting in a gym always has it's own unique requirements. However I had been here only the week prior and knew ahead of time what the layout was like and what the lighting was like.



I knew for this shoot I wanted to use the ambient light in the gym, outdoors and with some on camera fill flash. I also knew I would be shooting at slightly higher ISO. Gym shooting in an operating gym also needs to be a little faster. The purpose for these images was going to be more stock for future use for BodyBuilding.com. So my gear choice was a Canon 1DMkII, a 24-70L 2.8 lens and a Speedlite 580 flash unit. And as usual I had plenty of back up gear on hand. And even better I had the art director from BodyBuilding.com with me so I made him carry the extra gear. He thought it was a fair trade because he got to spend the day with Jamie! Thanks Paul! And a special Thank You for the support from the staff of Gold's Gym.

It was a great two days of shooting and we all had a lot of fun. So please check back and I will fill you in more on what I have been doing in the last few weeks. Thanks!

And More For The Photographers

I have been keeping this Blog as an avenue to quickly share the photography business of SecondFocus with clients and others. The many of you who have been watching have seen some of the latest advertising shoots I am doing for corporate clients, some of the many events I shoot around the country or the weddings I get to photograph. And it has all been great fun communicating it all and I appreciate the great response I have been given from you.

I am going to expand this Blog now to encompass some fun stuff for the photographers out there who come by and visit. I am going to try and share some of the experience and details about what has brought me this far. I will try to share with you some of the business experience I have accumulated along the way and some of the new things I am doing. And of course as photographers we have to stay on top of the gear and suppliers that help us practice our art. So I am going to share with you what I use, where I get it, how I use it and where I get the best support.

So please keep coming back. This is the business of SecondFocus, Photography by Ian L. Sitren. But I will tell you a secret..... I am having a lot of fun. Don't tell anyone. Thanks!


Photos courtesy of Nancy Nimmons

Fitness Champion, Adela Garcia

Isaac Hinds of Lift Studios is developing Fitness Olympia and Fitness International Champion, Adela Garcia’s new website at AdelaFitness.com. Lift Studios created this banner for the front page of the website from SecondFocus photos taken during the 2006 bodybuilding and fitness show season. In addition, SecondFocus created a video of photos of Adela from 2006 which is also now on her website front page. You can view that video right here. Thanks!

The BodyBuilding Season Opener

We are only a few weeks away from the first major bodybuilding show and expo of the season. The Iron Man Pro will be on February 16th - 18th in Pasadena California. And SecondFocus will be there for BodyBuilding.com, the largest bodybuilding and fitness resource in the world.

And not only will I be covering the show with my photography but also reporting, writing and doing video clips for the 220,000 people per day that visit BodyBuilding.com. To kick it off, here are two of the first free computer wallpapers for the event. So please check it out and download them yourself. Just go over to the SecondFocus BodySpace link on the right and see what is there. It is a lot of fun. Thanks and keep coming back!