SecondFocus Blog

The photos and story from the Muscle Beach International Classic are now up!

Take a look and thanks for visiting. Keep coming back when you "Wanna See More…"

Don’t miss the latest computer wallpaper downloads including this one from Muscle Beach 2007. The winner is Carl Matthews Jr who not only won the overall but did it as an over 40 competitor. Get your own right here!

I knew I was going to really like this photo the moment I shot it. Sometimes it is like that! Thanks and keep coming back for more!

I have just come in from two days on the beach, Muscle Beach! The one and only Muscle Beach in Venice, California. This was for the Memorial Day competition and it was huge. And what could be better than the beach in the Summer where it all started. It was good fun and good friends including my good buddy and BodyBuilding.com star, Chris LaCascia.

I will post more as soon as I get a chance but also check out the Pro/Am BodyBlog for more. Thanks and keep coming back!

As you can see in the last post I had fun doing a photo shoot with Alison Busher. Well, she went on the next day to win her class at the Cal! Maybe it’s good luck to do a photo shoot with me! Or maybe she worked really hard and looked really good. What do you think?

Summer is almost here and with summer comes the fun shows. We kick off with the "Cal" in Culver City California with about 125 NPC athletes and 20+ pro figure competitors. This is a big important show and it will be a lot of fun. And Alison Busher will be there…

I had a chance to shoot some photos with Alison today out here in Marina Del Rey on the beach. She is a 36 year old NPC figure competitor and the owner of Desert Adventures BootCamp for women out in the Palm Springs area. She has been competing for about a year and has already made it to the USA’s. She is looking good!

And then on Sunday and Monday we have the big Memorial Day weekend at Muscle Beach Venice complete with an AirForce flyover, a fun amateur competition with athletes from around the world and some of your favorite companies. And it is free, so come on out to Muscle Beach at Venice California.

So if you are around come say Hi to me, I will be right here at these shows starting the summer! Thanks and keep coming back!

It was almost a year ago that I was out at Muscle Beach Venice for the big two day show when we had some special visitors join us. Our own Bob Cicherillo was out there at the beach for BodyBuilding.com and we were joined by IFBB Pro Idrise Ward-El who drove in the 120 miles from his home out in the Palm Springs area. And we were also joined by New Yorker, Victor Martinez who had at the time was not on the radar screen for his big wins at the 2006 Olympia and 2007 Arnold.

I can tell you for sure that Victor had a great time being at Venice Beach and wandering around the weight pen, known as the "Pit", watching the amateurs get ready for the show. Always a lot of fun! Thanks and keep coming back for more!

BodyRock sadly is no more but in July last year in Fairfax VA it was a great show and so very well done. For photography it really was a lot of fun because it had some great backgrounds, some creative lighting and some great moments. One great moment was Gunter Schlierkamp guest posing and running out into the crowd.

Now it is not unusual for guest posers to take the show out among the fans but it is very special when you have a guy like Gunter running around. You see, he is a very imposing 6′ 2″ tall and at that time he was bulking for the Olympia and around 325 lbs. And as always there were a few people in the crowd who had never seen anything like a pro bodybuilder before in person because they were there to support a niece or a grandson doing an amateur competition.

It was great fun following Gunter through the crowd with a long lens from my front row position. And it was pretty dark in there so I had to adjust the camera to get any photos at all. So although it seems like it was bright in there, it was not. Luckily it created some fun looks and effects. I like to watch for those things. It makes for fun photos, what do you think?

Thanks again for visiting and keep coming back!

First competing at the USA’s since the year 2000, Omar Deckard finally got his overall win in Las Vegas at the USA in 2006. This was also the show where he earned his long fought battle for his IFBB Pro Card. It was not that easy in Las Vegas last year because Omar had Michael Ergas, Lionel Brown and Adorthus Cherry all right there in top shape.

When an overall winner is announced and they get the trophy their job is not over. Exhausted and dehydrated, Omar endured flexing and standing for the many photographers from the media, including myself, still shooting away at those photos of the winner.

But while everyone else was wrapping up, I saw this moment where Omar saw a chance to sit down and give it a break at the very end, taking it all in. So I grabbed one more photo of the winner and what it is like to be the winner at that one very special moment.

Thanks for stopping by and keeping coming on back here for more!

The face of BodyBuilding.com and the voice of Pro BodyBuilding Weekly radio, Bob got his IFBB pro card at the 2000 USA. And he is a pro in a lot of ways more than just a pro card. Bob is a fan favorite and he knows more about lifting and competiton than all but a few. He can be a lightining rod for controversy but has earned the respect of most. We have seen Bob emcee the Olympia, act in a few movies and show off in some television commercials.

This was a photo I shot of Bob backstage at the 2006 Masters World Championship. He was getting ready for what would be a first place win. There was no question about how Bob looked that day when he walked out on stage. Sometimes it all comes together and you end up being at 110% and it was that day for Bob in New York City. You could audibly hear the approvals from the other photographers, the whispers of the judges and even see it on their faces.

And I was sure he had it too. And you can be sure that I would have been the first to say something to him if I felt he had fallen short. You can often see Bob and I disagreeing about one thing or another but then you will see us at a table somewhere having breakfast. So when you see my buddy Bob, walk up and talk to the guy and tell him I said Hi! He is a good guy to talk with and know! And keep coming back here for more Behind The Scenes and photos from my archives. Thanks!

Well FitNFeisty asked and so did a few more of you. So here are a couple more photos of top model, Jamie Eason. These were photographed during our shoot at Gold’s Gym in Pasadena CA.

When I do gym shoots with people, I actually do make them work out. Depending on the design of the shoot, that work out can be easy or tough. For Jamie on this one I actually had to hold her back becuase we were going to be doing a lot of different areas of the gym on a lot of equipment so I didn’t want her looking too dragged out at the end of the shoot. And I have to tell you that this girl is very strong beyond her size! I kept having to tell her to not stack the plates on the bars!

So send a Thank You to FitNFeisty if you like these photos. I was planning on starting to post some random photos from my archives on a regular basis so this is the first. Keep checking back for more! Thanks!