I Have Been Busy!

Here are a few things that have come around in the last few weeks...

An advertising shoot (appropriately named for this one for sure!)...



The "Cal" Bodybuilding and Figure Competition...



The big Bodybuilding and Figure Competition at Muscle Beach...



A photo shoot with amateur figure competitor, Allison...



And Allison also won at the "Cal"...



Thanks for visiting! More soon, so come on back!

Behind The Scenes On The Bus...

If you have picked up any bodybuilding or health and fitness magazines in the last few months you have seen the BodyBuilding.com "Public Transportation" advertisement. Like so many ads that we do this one started with a phone call to me…


At first thought to some people this would seem pretty simple; get a bus, put some people on it and take some photos. Well it didn’t seem that simple to me because I immediately realized that getting people evenly lit in the interior of a bus to get a lot of good color could be tricky, especially if it ended up being a cloudy day. And then of course there was the part about getting a real transit bus.


Living near the land of movie magic, Hollywood, usually means that you can get anything you want and it all just depends on what it will cost. And as it turned out the bus was available. Actually the place we found had every kind of transit bus you could imagine from 1950’s East Coast buses to current Los Angeles type buses. And while we were finding a bus, I lined up a cast. We had the face of BodyBuilding.com, World Champion Bob Cicherillo, the bigger than life competitor Jerome ‘Hollywood’ Ferguson, stunning fitness model Cara Basso, Mr. Canada Eric DiLauro, and amateur bodybuilding competitors Larry Brown, Eric Domer, and Geoff Etherson, and amateur figure competitor Kim Hill.


Now I have to thank world famous Gold’s Gym in Venice for giving us a place to put this all together in their parking lot behind the gym. So on a sunny morning it all started to happen. A lot of lighting gear got set up, a generator was delivered, the bus showed up and we got going. If you look at the actual ad the things that you don’t see is down the left side of the bus on the outside is a lot of lighting equipment shooting in to the bus at various angles. Down the right side of the bus are two parked cars placed so it looks like the bus is in traffic but so you don’t see that there are no drivers in those cars. At one point we even tried having Bob as our bus driver but we ended up not using that series. The dish you see on the right is an additional strobe that it took to light up Bob deep in the dark in the driver’s seat.


This was another fun shoot and it was interesting to see it all come together from everything from the city permits being delivered to the bus driving in, all of the gear getting set up, the cast arriving and then of course some friends and bystanders. And my personal thanks to everyone who was a part of it.

This next photo is also from a series we did not use. But it does show you what it would look like on an airplane if you put a bunch of bodybuilders in aisle seats in coach! Like my buddy Cicherillo says; when flying you have to change sides of the airplanes each flight so that you get even bruises on the back of your arms from the service cart!


Thanks again for checking in and keep coming back for more!

The Arnold Classic 2007 Redux

As the photographer for BodyBuilding.com, one of the things I get asked all the time is... What is it like to sit up front and center at a big show like the Arnold? Well it is like this....

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!