SecondFocus Blog

Yes I did! Just ask her! Ava Cowan is one of the hot and hotter models in our business. You have seen her on covers, inside magazines and on the competition stage. And of course she is one our most popular BodySpace members. Well it was another tough assignment for me when I became responsible for photographing Ava just this Wednesday.

We put in a long day starting on the beach, hours in a studio and finishing up at the “Pit” at world famous Muscle Beach Venice. And at the end of the day neither one of us (or the rest of the crew) had anything left. Ava and I were so tired we almost needed a spotter for the dinner forks when we went out to eat. By the way, ask her what she had for dessert!

So go say Hi to Ava at her Bodyspace. And check back here to see some more of her photos and the rest of the behind the scenes story of what was a great photo shoot!

Studio photo shooting doesn’t get much better than this. I had the opportunity to work with BodySpace member Maria Rogers on Monday and it was definitely a good way to spend a day in L.A.

I can only say that Maria is off-the-hook hot and one of the most outstanding models I have ever worked with. She is getting ready to do the USA in Las Vegas in July and I would say she is looking pretty good.

The set ups on these shoots can be fairly involved. This was the studio we used in donwtown Los Angeles. However all of the lighting equipment is brought in and set up by us. In total just for the still photography we had 6 people on set from the makeup artist, assistants and so forth. Simple things like making sure we bring food in and have a lot of water on hand are really important.

You have to communicate to models about what the shoot is about and what you are creating. It does take some direction. You cannot just tell a model to move around and fire off a few thousand shots hoping to come up with something good. Some idea of where you are going is very important. Maria was a joy to work with, she was able to just turn it on for the camera and was very aware of how to move and pose to look her best.

When at all possible in a studio I will shoot tethered. That is where the camera is shooting right into the computer and the photos come up on the screen as you go. It allows you to make adjustments to the lighting, set, makeup, hair and a myriad of other things that you might otherwise miss. Here I am shooting while Conrad is watching the screen which is a great help to me because I am really busy. Conrad is a top notch fashion post production designer and provided me with a lot of additional ideas and input. By the way over the course of a shoot like this, I only shot 241 photos. Not the thousands that some might think.

Let me know what you think of Maria and be sure to drop by her BodySpace and let her know too! You will be seeing a lot more of Maria, if you can take it!

Thanks and keep coming back for more!

This is a little bit of a milestone for me. A few months back I shot some video of “BodyBuilding Pros Silvio Samuel & Hidetada Yamagishi”. It was edited into a short segment right here on BodyBuilding.com and it became somewhat of a hit just today reaching 10,000 views on YouTube. Of course that is short of a lot of videos but I think it’s fun! Take a look at it right here!

Thanks and keep coming back for more!

I just ran across this photo and I could not help myself from doing a posting about my friend Kerstin Khalfani. At 6 foot tall, Kerstin is an amazing sight especially in posing heels. Competitor, trainer, model and actress, she is blessed with great genetics and great habits. And let it be said that she is a really nice person and always funny! If I recall correctly it was last year that I saw Kerstin compete and win her class. I said ‘Kerstin" I didn’t know you were doing this show. She proudly told me that she had decided only a few days before and actually had Chinese food for dinner just the day prior. No hard dieting and nothing special, that is just the way Kerstin is! You have to know the other girls must have hated her.

This photo is actually from almost 2 years ago at the Venice Centennial Parade when Kerstin rode on the float for Muscle Beach. And she had just given birth only a few months before. Amazing! When you look for Kerstin, watch for her with dark hair now, but you can still pick her out in a crowd, for sure!

Thanks and keep coming back for more!

One of the highlights of the Arnold Classic this year was the posing routine by Marcus Haley. I have seen 34 year old Marcus have good times and not so good times at shows in the past and I was really happy to see him make it to the Arnold. And for sure he went all out. His posing routine brought the house down and he won the posing award for the night as a result.

One thing that I saw from my vantage point, that I am sure many did not, was when Marcus was leaving the stage. Everybody was busy clapping and yelling their tremendous approval as Marcus was walking off to stage left. He has just reached the point when he was almost off stage and out of sight when he turned around and took a step back. I could see him look out over the excited crowd and see the look on his face as he took it all in as if to say to himself that this was something to remember for the rest of his life. Well it was something for Marcus to remember for the rest of his life and it is for me too. That look of someone reaching a long time goal in life and having achieved a reach to the top. Thanks and keep coming back!