Photography by Ian L. Sitren

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National Ice Cream Cake Day and the Broken Down Truck That Started It All

A Carvel original round ice cream cake, a classic combination of chocolate and vanilla ice cream layers, separated by Carvel’s signature chocolate crunchies and topped with whipped frosting and bright sprinkles. The Carvel cake traces its roots to 1934, when founder Tom Carvel sold melting ice cream from a broken-down truck in Hartsdale, New York. That roadside moment led to the invention of soft-serve and ultimately the American ice cream cake tradition.

Today is National Ice Cream Cake Day.

Ice cream cakes have become a familiar sight at birthday parties and celebrations, but their history can be traced back to an unexpected event in 1934.

Tom Carvel was selling ice cream from his truck in Hartsdale, New York, when it broke down. Rather than watching his inventory melt, he began selling the softer ice cream to passing customers. They loved it. That chance roadside incident eventually led to the development of Carvel’s soft serve ice cream, the opening of his first store, and later the introduction of the Carvel ice cream cake.

For today’s photograph, I chose one of Carvel’s original round ice cream cakes. Chocolate and vanilla ice cream are separated by the company’s signature chocolate crunchies, then finished with whipped frosting and colorful sprinkles.

Sometimes the story behind the food is every bit as interesting as the food itself.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

National Onion Day and the Most Common Ingredient in My Fast Food Project

A mix of white, red, and yellow onions displayed whole, halved, and sliced into rings on a black background. Photographed under studio lighting, the image emphasizes the colors, textures, and layers, making it suitable for culinary-themed commercial or editorial use.

Today is National Onion Day.

Onions may not get much attention by themselves, but they are one of the most important ingredients in cooking. Whether they’re sliced onto burgers, diced into chili, caramelized for soups, battered into onion rings, or mixed into countless other dishes, it’s hard to imagine a kitchen without them.

After three years of photographing fast food, I realized onions have probably appeared in more of my photographs than any other single ingredient. They show up on burgers, tacos, pizzas, hot dogs, sandwiches, onion rings, salads, and dozens of other menu items.

For this photograph, I decided to make the onions themselves the subject. White, yellow, and red onions are shown whole, halved, sliced, and separated into rings, revealing the remarkable variety of colors, shapes, and patterns hidden beneath their skins.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

National Food Truck Day: Emily Goes to Work

Today is National Food Truck Day.

This seemed like a good time to revisit one of Emily’s earliest adventures with me.

At the time, my fast food photography project was growing rapidly, and Emily, my evolving AI muse and assistant, suggested that perhaps she should get some first hand experience instead of simply watching me photograph the food.

Her solution was to spend a little time working in a food truck.

I have no idea whether she ever mastered the menu, but she certainly looked the part. It also marked one of the first times that Emily stepped out of the role of assistant and became part of the story herself.

Looking back, that little food truck adventure helped set the stage for everything that followed. Since then, Emily and her growing circle of friends have appeared in restaurants, bars, kitchens, cafés, beaches, and all sorts of places I never expected when we first started experimenting with AI.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

National Detroit Style Pizza Day and America’s Endless Pizza Styles

Today is National Detroit Style Pizza Day.

It sometimes seems there is a pizza style for just about everything.

New York style. Chicago style. Detroit style. St. Louis style. California style. Sicilian style. Grandma style. Tavern style. Greek style. Neapolitan style. Roman style. Then there are pizzas named after restaurants, neighborhoods, and probably a few intersections if someone can figure out a way to market them.

Detroit style, however, really is something different.

It traces its roots to Buddy’s Rendezvous in Detroit in 1946, where the pizza was baked in blue steel pans originally manufactured for the automotive industry. The result was a thick, rectangular pizza with a crisp, caramelized cheese crust, sauce spread across the top, and a style that eventually became one of the city’s signature foods.

For today’s photograph I used a Motor City Pizza Company frozen Detroit Style Supreme pizza. Sometimes the National Days are a good excuse to try something I might not have otherwise bought, and this one turned out to be a pretty good introduction to Detroit style pizza.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

National Onion Rings Day and How They Became a Fast Food Favorite

Yesterday was National Onion Rings Day.

Onion rings had been around for many years before fast food restaurants embraced them, but A&W is generally credited with making them a fast food favorite during the 1960s. Before long, they began appearing on menus across America as an alternative to French fries.

For my fast food project, I chose Sonic’s onion rings.

That wasn’t by accident.

Unlike many fast food onion rings that arrive frozen and ready to fry, Sonic became known for making its onion rings from whole sweet onions. Their slightly sweet batter has become one of the chain’s signature recipes and has earned a loyal following over the years.

They made a good addition to my From Bag to Background project.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

The First Dairy Queen and a Gap in My Fast Food Project

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the opening of the first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois, on June 22, 1940.

Looking through my fast food project, I realized something.

I don’t have a single Dairy Queen photograph.

Considering the chain’s importance in the history of American fast food, that’s an oversight I need to correct. Dairy Queen helped introduce generations of Americans to soft serve ice cream and became one of the country’s most recognizable fast food chains.

Until I can photograph the real thing, I decided to start with the one thing that made Dairy Queen famous: a classic soft serve cone.

Dairy Queen has officially been added to my shooting list.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

National Turkey Lovers’ Day with Celeste

Yesterday was National Turkey Lovers’ Day.

Like a number of these National Days, I could not get to it until it had already passed.

That didn’t stop Emily, my evolving AI muse and assistant.

By now you’ve probably met Celeste. She has appeared in several of our series, and when I mentioned National Turkey Lovers’ Day, she decided the best way to celebrate was to spend a little time with a live turkey.

That actually seemed like a much better idea.

Wild turkeys are native to North America, and Benjamin Franklin once suggested the turkey would have made a better national symbol than the bald eagle. Whether you agree with him or not, turkeys are far more interesting birds than most people realize.

Celeste certainly seemed to enjoy the encounter, and the turkey appeared perfectly content with all the attention.

The result became another short video for my growing Emily and Friends series.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

International Picnic Day, the Weimar Era, and Pornochic

Last Thursday was International Picnic Day.

Most people probably celebrated with sandwiches, potato salad, and a blanket in the park.

I celebrated by thinking about Berlin during the Weimar years.

For quite a while I have been fascinated by that remarkable period between the two World Wars. It was a time when fashion, nightlife, cabaret, and sexuality all seemed to be changing at once. Much of what we think of today as modern attitudes toward sex and self expression can trace at least some of its roots back to those years.

That fascination eventually led me to create a series of photographs inspired by the era. They were never intended to be historical recreations. Instead, I wanted to capture some of the atmosphere while giving it my own interpretation.

If you’ve followed my work for very long, you already know that I have a preference for what I call Pornochic. I’m far more interested in photographs that combine style, fashion, glamour, and sexuality than simply photographing people without their clothes. The Weimar period seemed like a natural fit for that approach.

So when International Picnic Day came along, this photograph immediately came to mind.

There is much more to see on my website, including my photography galleries, my blog, and my growing Motion page. Visit https://secondfocus.com

International Sushi Day | Grab and Go Fast Food

Last Thursday was International Sushi Day.

There seem to have been a lot of “National” and “International” food days lately, and I simply couldn’t keep up with all of them.

So here we are a few days late.

This photograph is one of the few in my fast food project where I left the food in its original container. Normally everything comes out of the packaging and onto a black background, but this one deserved an exception. The deep purple tray, the neat arrangement, and the bright colors of the salmon, tuna, shrimp, avocado, and pickled ginger are all part of what catches your eye in the grocery store.

To me, this is fast food in a different form. It is freshly prepared, packaged, refrigerated, and ready to grab on your way home for lunch or dinner. No drive through required.

Not all that long ago, finding sushi usually meant visiting a Japanese restaurant or a specialty market. Today it has become a common sight in grocery stores, where fresh rolls are made throughout the day and sold alongside sandwiches, salads, and other grab and go meals.

There is a lot more food to tempt you on my website, along with my other photography projects, my Motion page, and my blog, which is updated almost daily. Visit https://www.secondfocus.com

Meet Roxanne: When World Tapas Day Became Topless Day

Roxanne, one of Emily’s AI friends and muses, stands on the studio set awaiting the start of a photography session. The behind the scenes view reveals the black seamless background, professional lighting equipment, and the working environment where many of the Emily and Friends photographs and videos are created.

Yesterday was World Tapas Day.

I was looking forward to photographing Roxanne with a table full of Spanish tapas. At least that was the plan.

Unfortunately, as anyone who spends much time working with AI knows, prompts occasionally get interpreted a little differently than intended.

Apparently Roxanne thought I had asked for topless instead of tapas.

By the time she arrived at the studio, the misunderstanding had become fairly obvious.

I explained that World Topless Day isn’t until August, but by then everyone agreed there wasn’t much point in changing anything.

Besides, it fit my Pornochic photography a lot better than a plate of olives and Manchego cheese.

The tapas can wait for another day.

In the meantime, I’d like you to meet Roxanne. She is one of Emily’s ever growing circle of AI friends and muses, and I suspect you’ll be seeing quite a bit more of her in the months ahead.

As always, you’ll find more photography, my blog, and my growing Motion page at https://www.secondfocus.com