SecondFocus Blog

Summer kicks off officially here near the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles with two huge events.

First is the "CAL", the NPC California State Unlimited, Novice, Teens and Masters Bodybuilding Figure & Bikini Championships and the 2009 IFBB California State Pro Figure Championship all on Saturday at Veteran’s Auditorium in Culver City, California.

You can expect to see almost 200 great looking guys and girls on stage during the day and at the evening finals.

You can get all the information right here online about the show and to get tickets. Be there, lots of your favorite supplements companies including BodyBuilding.com will be there as well as you will see lots of your favorite pros hanging in the audience too!

Next up! Well it is not Summer withour MUSCLE BEACH! Three big days at the beach, at the “Pit”, the place where muscles were born. Saturday is Powerlifting, Sunday is Powerlifting and Muscle Beach Boxing, and Monday is the big show kicking off with an Air Force fly-over.

And at Muscle Beach at World Famous Venice Beach there is always a lot to see on stage and on the boardwalk and on the beach…

You can get all the information about the Muscle Beach shows right HERE! And the shows at Muscle Beach are all FREE!!

So make it a weekend of Muscles, Fitness and Beauty! And but the way, you can look for me at almost all of the events. Look for me and say Hi, hoep to see you there!

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That can cause some trouble…

These are from a new series I photographed last week with Eric and Jessica from Anytime Fitness in Cathedral City, California. And of course I had to do a few extra photos of them individually so here is one of Jessica (yes! I think she is hot)…

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I am the guy holding the camera

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SportsShooter is a respected community of photographers from around the world. Not just shooting sports but photographers covering wars, the White House or for that matter Little League, the Olympics and the SuperBowl. A diverse group from community newspaper photographers to people from Sports Illustrated and USA Today. As a member of SportsShooter I am very excited to have my coverage of the just prior posted workout series here on my BodyBlog with Robert Hatch make the front page yesterday.

On SportsShooter you can see the series here.

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Photography at bodybuilding competitions is what most people think of when they ask about what I shoot most of the time. And actually that is not the case.

I spend most of my time in the gym, photographing my subjects working out. My preference is real life gyms and real workouts as opposed to studio gyms and fake weights. Yes there really are fake weights.

Having spent many years myself lifting weights, studying the subject and working with others has given me the advantage of knowing how to really put people through a workout that is technically correct and photo friendly.

This is a series of photographs shot for one of the bodybuilding magazines with my friend Robert Hatch, a long time bodybuilder and just plain impressive human being at 6 ft tall and 258 pounds.

205 pound curls is not something I would have most people do in a photo shoot. But Robert Hatch is big enough to make it look good.

Robert Hatch doing dumbbell curls with 50’s is heavier than I would do with most people. But Hatch is a big guy.

Regardless of how much weight you are lifting, a hard contraction at the top of the movement puts a real strain on the muscle. Rob really hits it with his arms.

I prefer incline dumbbell bench press. It is less dangerous with heavy weights, you can turn them out and have them not fall on you. Here Rob is putting up a pair of hundreds.

Shoulder shrugs build the traps. Rob grabbed a pair of 150’s, big weight for a big guy.

Taking a stop between exercises I shoot a few posed photographs. It also gives Rob a rest.

Taking a break from lifting for a moment, I shoot these posed shots around the equipment nearby.

Working through the photo shoot workout can be a lot of effort. With Rob I am shooting him with heavier weights to have it match his 6 ft 258 pound body. Here you can see he is wearing down a little while we do seated back rows.

We do get in a change of clothes, maybe a few times. And that requires going back and doing some more work. Rob did a few preacher bench curls and it looked good. But he was working hard.

A few body poses to show off the hard work Robert Hatch has done over the years.

I hope you find this view of a photo shoot a little more interesting. If you have any questions, please let me know!

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It was over a year ago that XNick EdgeX, one of our most popular BodySpace members was selected to be an Iron Man Magazine BodySpace Physique of the Month.

When Nick came out to do his photo shoot and interview with me, I remember asking him about his fitness goals.

Nick said that he wanted to gain some weight and some size. Well a year later I can tell you that Nick sure has done that. Go on over to his BodySpace and take a look!

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Going through some photos and thinking about the upcoming Summer, I ran across this photo I shot at Muscle Beach Venice in 2006…

Victor Martinez, BodyBuilding.com’s own Bob Cicherillo and Idrise Ward-El.

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It doesn’t get any better. Long and lean, supple to the touch, powerful! Now this is a body…

I always wanted one but now it won’t fit in my garage. Maybe next time

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Well not really hidden, just not out there. I have been working very diligently in the last few weeks on the many photos I have archived from shoots that have not been used yet anywhere. Typically when I do a photo shoot it is specifically for a specific assignment and I deliver those photos and then on to the next shoot. So a lot of photos that I shoot ‘extra’ go idle. So I have been working lately on getting a lot of those photos out to my magazine clients etc.

Such is the case with a series of photos I just ran across of my good friend Ava Cowan from a shoot we did. Here is one you might like of Ava, one of the top fitness models in the business and a Miss Figure America…

Ava was also one of our very first Iron Man Magazine BodySpace Physiques of the Month. Be sure to go over to her BodySpace and say Hi!

Thanks and keep coming back if you "Wanna See More…?"