SecondFocus Blog

Muscle Beach is perhaps the most significant place and state of mind of the world’s idea of health, fitness and of course bodybuilding. And in the last few years under the direction of producer/promoter Joe Wheatley and with the huge support of BodyBuilding.com and Iron Man Magazine, Muscle Beach continues to be that place. In the last few years such luminaries as Arnold and Jack LaLanne, Franco Columbo and Joe Weider himself have graced the stage during the Summer…

Now to further the history, time capsules will be buried at Muscle Beach inside the center of the concrete stage along the Venice Boardwalk at 1 p.m. Sunday, December 13th!

“Several bodybuilding icons are expected to take part in the ceremony including Joe Weider, considered the “godfather of bodybuilding,” former Mr. Olympians Franco Columbu and Samir Bannout, former Mr. Universe Bill Grant, former Ms. Olympia Cory Everson and Muscle Beach pioneer Relna Brewer.”

“The evolution of bodybuilding is sure to see a transformation 50 years from now but fitness enthusiasts from that era will have a chance to see what working out was like in the first 75 years of Muscle Beach.”

“Originating in Santa Monica in 1934 as a pioneering location for bodybuilding and fitness and later moving to its current headquarters in Venice, Muscle Beach wants to give the people of 2059 an idea of its progression during the first three quarters of a century.”

And here is a great story about the event in the Argonaut Newspaper.

Also for the weekend will be the third annual Muscle Beach Toy Drive, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, December 12th and 13th at the Venice Beach Recreation Center, 1800 Ocean Front Walk. Unwrapped toys that were collected at the LAPD Pacific station will be handed out to children at the event and Santa Claus is scheduled to appear at 12:30 p.m. December 13th.

If you are in Southern California and want to witness a truly historical event in bodybuilding history, Muscle Beach this weekend is the place to be. And when you are there, give a big round of applause to Joe Wheatley, the man who is now the father of Muscle Beach and give a big vote of thanks to John Balik the Publisher of Iron Man Magazine and a huge Thank You to BodyBuilding.com who has been devoted both in financial support and spirit to the place "Where Muscles Were Born"!

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

At Fitness America a couple of weeks ago as I was walking over to the auditorium past the pool I saw someone giving on the competitors some posing tips. And that some one was none other than pro bodybuilder Kevin Levrone. When Kevin was on stage he possessed one of the most admired physiques ever to have been built and seen in bodybuilding. So I went on out to say hello and met Kevin’s “trainee”, his nephew Antwaun Smith. Antwaun is making his way up the ranks in bodybuilding so I thought a few photographs were in order. Take a look…

And here is Antwaun on stage in the Musclemania competition that weekend…

I would say Antwaun is looking good and as a matter of fact I think he is looking like Kevin, runs in the family perhaps! And if you had your pick of a family member to be your bodybuilding coach, well that is pretty lucky!

Here is Kevin with my good friend Troy Johnson from Gaspari Nutrition at the show…

Anyway go check out Kevin Levrone’s website, the Levrone Report, interesting stuff and some fun videos. And keep watching for Antwaun Smith on stage and in the magazines, I think you will be seeing more of him.

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

If you have a Fitness America weekend, you have to have fitness and fitness there was! The opening itself was amazing, a spectacular choreographed dance routine performed by all of the fitness competitors. It was even more amazing when you consider that these women probably only had one rehearsal the day before and performed like a superb professional dance troupe.

Then it was on to the fitness competition itself. These women not only work hard in the gym but they dance and fly and jump and roll and show a tremendous amount of talent. Fitness is one of my favorite things to photograph, I hope you like it too…

That is a Fitness America weekend! Look for it next year, also in Las Vegas and rumor has it that it will be even bigger and at a really hot location!

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

The Fitness America weekend includes the Musclemania bodybuilding competitions. Both amateur and pro level, guys come from around the world to be on stage and show off the hard work they have done. As a photographer I really enjoy this show because of the opportunity it provides to shoot some really interesting photos that I hope you will like too! Here are some…

It has been a lot to see so far from that weekend, and another post shortly.

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

No they are not naked! The Fitness America weekend does include much of the competition we see at shows like as women in two piece suits…

Next installment from the weekend, the men!

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The Fitness America weekend since I have been going to it has always been a pretty big event and this year there were almost 600 competitors. It is a broad spectrum including bodybuilding, figure, bikini, modeling and fitness. And one thing that will really surprise you is that many events include sportswear and costumes. So here are a few photos of the women in different attire than what you might expect. Much fun!

By the way you will see more than one BodySpace member in these photos. Another installment of this weekend shortly!

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

Well I got a little lazy about my BodyBlog since my last post  so I am going to catch up now. I have been busy so I am going to do this in parts. As last I wrote I was going to be on my way to Las Vegas for the Fitness America weekend and indeed I was on my way.

I am kind of lucky that the drive to Las Vegas for me can almost all be done without getting on a freeway and I get to see some interesting places. One of those places is Roy’s Motel along old Route 66. Roy’s has been in endless numbers of movies and once was a bustling stop along the highway. Actually it is still pretty busy as a tourist stop in the mostly deserted town of Amboy.

Aside from very few cars the only traffic I see along the route is freight trains. I did get caught on the wrong side of the tracks at Kelso while two trains slowly passed each other.

From Kelso the drive takes you through the middle of the Mojave National Preserve. There is a tendency to drive pretty fast through here but I slow it down. I like the solitude and the view.

First stop in Las Vegas, my hotel room at the Golden Nugget in downtown. That is where the show is and I must say I was looking forward to it. I always stay on the strip and had not even seen downtown Las Vegas in probably 25 years. Actually I used to stay at the Golden Nugget back then and they still had me in their reservation system. I had nicely appointed big room with a wet bar but not much of a view. But very comfortable.

Next stop at the hotel, the Shark Tank! I didn’t know they had a shark tank but they sure do. It is the main feature at the pool area. It was somewhat cold that night so nobody around the pool except some lonely dealers.

Outside, if you can call it that, the main street has been converted to a 75 foot high covered pedestrian mall called the Fremont Street Experience. Four blocks long it is one big screen with a tremendous sound system. And in the middle of it was a fitness surprise I was not expecting. It was the Firefighter Combat Challenge International Finals. Over 650 firefighters had already been in Las Vegas since the beginning of the week competing in all kinds of events. Here in downtown Las Vegas they were running up and down this multi-story tower, pulling hoses, dragging dummies, running obstacles. I must tell you, these guys are in good shape!

Well that was it for me that night. I went off to the Sushi bar and bed. More to follow next as I got down to why I was in Las Vegas, photographing some hot bodies.

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Ok I took a few days away from "business". My business of course is photography and I do live, eat and breathe photography 24 hours a day 7 days per week. I love it! But I did get away for a couple of days and that is why I have not posted any bodybuilding or fitness photos this week. But I did shoot some other photos while I was away like where I stayed…

Where I was at night for a few drinks…

But the hotel did have a nice gym and an indoor pool, quite opulent…

On the way out of town, last stop was world famous Canter’s Deli, I had not been there in many years…

Anyway back to work! Next stop for me is Las Vegas this weekend for Fitness America. So I will shoot more of the photos you might expect to see here when I get back.

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Not all of my photo shoots are in the gym or on a competition stage…

BodySpace member Ali Harris is getting ready to do the NPC Excalibur on December 5th in Southern California so she sent me a note to see if I would be interested in doing a photo shoot with her. For one thing, at the beginning of the year I photographed Ali for the Iron Man Magazine Physique of the Month, so I already knew I loved working with her. And I needed a model for a photo shoot for new designer fitness wear from DennisDennis. It was perfect…

I hope you think it was perfect too!

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I am very proud to have been selected as a featured photographer on PhotoShelter, a community of approximately 50,000 photographers from part time semi-professional shooters to some of the most famous photographers in the world. And it was my Olympia photos this year that got the attention and specifically this one of Phil Heath on stage at the finals…

So when you get a chance go visit my PhotoShelter website and check out the photos and let me know what you think!

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