SecondFocus Blog

Latest

Photoshoot with a Thunderbird F-16 at Muscle Beach Venice

I don’t usually make claims like this, but I’m fairly certain I’m the only photographer who ever pulled off a photoshoot with a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird F-16 sitting right on the boardwalk at Muscle Beach.

Not in a hangar. Not on a runway. Not behind barriers at an airshow.

Right there on Venice Beach.

It was May 25, 2014, and somehow everything lined up. I knew the aircraft was being brought in as part of an Air Force recruiting effort, and through prior arrangements I was given access to use it for an actual shoot. This was a real F-16, sitting right there on the boardwalk. And definitely not something you expect to see at Muscle Beach.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Lisa Marino Sanders was flying in from Texas to shoot with me, and I had the chance to tell her I had a surprise waiting.

Lisa is an IFBB Pro League bodybuilder and a veteran of both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army. That made this more than just a visual contrast. It made sense. Strength, discipline, presence, and a real connection to the aircraft behind her.

We worked right there on the boardwalk. Memorial Day weekend, crowds moving through, people stopping mid-step trying to figure out what they were seeing. A Thunderbird F-16 parked in Venice, with a professional bodybuilder stepping in and out of the cockpit, isn’t something you see twice.

The jet carries its own weight in history and precision. The Thunderbirds represent one of the most recognized demonstration teams in the world, built on control, timing, and performance at the highest level.

Lisa matched that energy in her own way. Controlled, deliberate, completely at ease in a setting that would overwhelm most people.

No studio. No isolation. Just the aircraft, the boardwalk, and the moment.

It was a very fun day!

This shoot only happened because of the people involved. Lisa Marino Sanders brought the presence and authenticity, Natalie Lyle handled makeup and assisted throughout, and my good friend Joe Wheatley, producer of the competitions at Muscle Beach Venice, made the access possible.

More of my photography, from aviation to fitness to everything in between, can be found at
https://www.secondfocus.com

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 27, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: aviation photography, boardwalk, bodybuilder, F-16 fighter jet, female bodybuilder, fitness photography, IFBB Pro, jet fighter, Lisa Marino Sanders, Los Angeles, Memorial Day weekend, military aircraft, Muscle Beach, outdoor photoshoot, secondfocus, Thunderbird F-16, unique photoshoot, United States Air Force, USAF, Venice Beach, Venice California, veteran | Leave a comment

International Waffle Day Today, From Eggo to Everything Else

Most people don’t think twice about waffles. But they probably should.

Because somewhere between a homemade Belgian waffle and a frozen Eggo waffle, something distinctly American happened.

My version today starts in the freezer.

A stack of Eggo waffles, heated, finished with syrup, and placed onto a black background. No garnish, no pretense. Just the product, exactly as it shows up in kitchens across the country.

Eggo waffles date back to the 1950s, originally created by brothers Frank, Anthony, and Sam Dorsa. They were first called “Froffles”, a combination of frozen and waffles, before the name Eggo took over. By the 1970s, the brand became a staple in American households, helped along by a simple idea, waffles without the work.

But waffles themselves go much further back.

Early versions trace to medieval Europe, where patterned irons were used to cook thin batter between heated plates. By the time Belgian waffles were introduced to the United States at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, waffles had already evolved into something more refined, lighter texture, deeper pockets, and often served with fruit, cream, or powdered sugar.

Today, the spectrum is wide.

On one end, you have carefully plated waffles in restaurants, topped with berries, whipped cream, and sauces, presented as something closer to dessert than breakfast.

On the other, you have this.

Straight from the freezer, into the toaster, onto the plate.

And that may be the more honest version.

No ceremony. No reinvention. Just something quick, familiar, and widely understood.

That’s where my food photography, pornochic photo adventures, and more can be found on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 25, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: American food, belgian waffles, black background, breakfast culture, breakfast food, classic breakfast, convenience food, Eggo waffles, fast food concept, food blog, Food Photography, frozen food, frozen waffles, International Waffle Day, modern food culture, processed food, syrup waffles, toaster waffles, waffle history, waffles | Leave a comment

A Cheesesteak Without the Grill: National Cheesesteak Day

Most people will tell you that if you want a proper Philly cheesesteak, you need to go to the right sandwich shop. Thin-sliced beef, grilled onions, melted cheese, and a roll that holds it all together. There is a long history behind it, going back to Philadelphia in the 1930s, when Pat and Harry Olivieri are credited with putting beef on a roll and starting what would become a regional staple.

That is not what this is.

For National Cheesesteak Day, I was not interested in tracking down the best sandwich shop. I was interested in something that fits within the reality of how a lot of people actually eat. Fast, packaged, and pulled from a freezer.

So I went to the grocery store and came back with a box of Hot Pockets Philly Steak & Cheese.

Cooked in the oven and cut open, they reveal exactly what you would expect. A sealed pastry filled with steak and melted cheese, engineered for convenience and speed. No grill, no counter, no line. Just a box, an oven, and a few minutes.

It is not a Philly cheesesteak in the traditional sense. It is a version of the idea, translated into something portable, shelf-stable, and widely available. That shift, from street food to frozen aisle, is part of the story.

My photograph keeps it simple. Straight from the box to a black background, cut open to show the filling, presented without staging or distraction. The focus stays on what it is.

My food photography, pornochic photo adventures, and more can be found on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 24, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: black background, convenience food, fast food, Food Photography, from bag to background, frozen food, grocery store food, hot pockets, isolated food, national cheesesteak day, philly cheesesteak, processed food, secondfocus, steak and cheese | Leave a comment

Happy National Tamale Day!

There’s something reassuring about a product that hasn’t tried to reinvent itself for over a century. XLNT beef tamales have been doing the same thing since 1894, dense, compact, unapologetically consistent. No artisanal rebrand, no small-batch storytelling, no reclaimed heritage narrative. Just tamales.

Originally sold from horse-drawn carts in Los Angeles, they made their way into cans, freezers, and grocery store shelves across California. Generations have opened the same parchment, revealing the same familiar structure, masa holding together a beef filling that doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

In a time when everything is reimagined, elevated, or deconstructed, this might be the real outlier. Nothing to explain. Nothing to decode. It is exactly what it has always been.

And maybe that’s the point.

From my Food From Bag To Background series.
See the full gallery at https://www.secondfocus.com

Thank You!

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 23, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Americanized Mexican food, beef tamales, convenience food, Food History, food photography art, from bag to background, frozen tamales, grocery store classics, Los Angeles food history, masa, National Tamale Day, nostalgic foods, processed food, secondfocus, supermarket food, tamale filling, tamales California, vintage food brands, West Coast food, XLNT tamales | Leave a comment

Crunchy is Good!

You probably think I had forgotten, but today is National Crunchy Taco Day. All of this photography and Emily, my AI muse and assistant, have been keeping me busy.

Still, some things don’t get overlooked. Especially not something as structurally ambitious as the crunchy taco.

The idea itself is simple, almost too simple. Seasoned ground beef, shredded lettuce, cheese, all held inside a rigid corn shell that seems engineered to fail the moment you take the first bite. And yet, it became one of the most recognizable fast food items ever created.

While tacos have deep roots in Mexican cuisine, the crunchy taco as most Americans know it took shape in the mid-20th century. Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell, saw an opportunity to standardize and mass-produce tacos for speed and consistency. By pre-frying the shells and streamlining the assembly, he turned something regional into something scalable. That shift is what moved tacos from local stands into a national fast food category.

What followed was predictable. The crunchy taco became less about tradition and more about replication. Identical shells. Identical portions. Identical outcomes, including the inevitable cracking, spilling, and rebuilding of each bite as you go.

That may be part of the appeal.

My photograph of Taco Bell crunchy tacos lines them up against a black background, each one filled beyond what the shell comfortably allows. The seasoned beef, shredded lettuce, and cheese sit exposed, with the familiar sauce added across the top. It’s a presentation that leans into repetition and excess, while still showing exactly what the product is.

There’s no attempt to fix the flaws. The shells are still fragile. The structure is still questionable. And yet, decades later, it remains.

That’s fast food history. Not refined, not corrected, just repeated until it becomes permanent.

My food photography, pornochic photo adventures, and more are on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 21, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: all held inside a rigid corn shell that seems engineered to fail the moment you take the first bite. And yet, almost too simple. Seasoned ground beef, and cheese sit exposed, and more are on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com, but today is National Crunchy Taco Day. All of this photography and Emily, cheese, decades later, each one filled beyond what the shell comfortably allows. The seasoned beef, including the inevitable cracking, my AI muse and assistant, not corrected, pornochic photo adventures, saw an opportunity to standardize and mass-produce tacos for speed and consistency. By pre-frying the shells and streamlining the assembly, shredded lettuce, spilling, the crunchy taco as most Americans know it took shape in the mid-20th century. Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell, with the familiar sauce added across the top. It’s a presentation that leans into repetition and excess, You probably think I had forgotten | Leave a comment

Ravioli at the Beach

National Ravioli Day seemed simple enough.

I asked Emily what her favorite ravioli restaurant would be. Not where it was, not who made it, just the idea of it.

“A place at the beach,” she said, “with nothing but ravioli. Every kind. And somewhere my girlfriends and I could skate up to in our bikinis.”

It sounded specific.

Then she added, “Give me a few minutes… I’ll take you there.”

And just like that, it existed. That is what an AI assistant and muse can do.

Inside, the plates are lined up with a kind of order that suggests someone thought this through. A counter, a view, a rhythm to it. Outside, it loosens. The same place, just carried out into the open air, where it becomes something else entirely.

Ravioli, of course, has its own history. Filled pasta goes back centuries, with variations appearing across Italy long before it became a standardized dish. What began as a practical way to use ingredients became something more refined over time, eventually finding its way into restaurants, then into homes, and now into just about every version imaginable.

And now, apparently, onto a beach boardwalk.

National Ravioli Day doesn’t officially come with a beach location, a dress code, or roller skates. But like most of these “National Days,” it doesn’t take much to expand the idea.

My food photography, pornochic photo adventures, and more are on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 20, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: AI generated imagery, AI Photography, AI storytelling, beach boardwalk, beach restaurant, coastal dining, conceptual photography, creative photography, culinary concept, Emily AI, fine art food, food art, Food Photography, hospitality, Ian L Sitren, Italian food, modern food culture, National Ravioli Day, ocean view, outdoor dining, pasta, plated food, pornochic, ravioli, restaurant concept, secondfocus, stylized photography, summer lifestyle, travel concept, visual narrative | Leave a comment

First World Problem

My photograph First World Problem is now on exhibit as part of “Through The Lens” at the Artists Center in Palm Desert, on view through April 5, 2026.

The exhibit is presented in a museum-standard facility and is shown alongside a special presentation of celebrity photography by Harry Langdon and Jimmy Steinfeldt.

The photograph itself is direct.

These are not takeout containers. They are proof.

Portions continue to expand, whether or not appetite keeps pace. What isn’t finished is boxed and transported, a polite acknowledgment that even excess has exceeded demand. In Palm Springs, where many diners are older and eat less, the surplus becomes routine.

Stacked together, the containers resemble a monument. Not to hunger, but to overabundance. The problem is not that there is too little. It is that there is too much.

Issued as an Artist Proof and signed, the photograph is printed using archival dye infusion on aluminum.

Please visit Wednesday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm.

The Artists Center at the Galen
72-567 Highway 111
Palm Desert, CA

https://www.artistscouncil.com

Thank you!

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 19, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: aluminum print photography, American excess, Artists Center Palm Desert, coachella valley art, conceptual photography, Contemporary Photography, dye infused aluminum print, fine art photography, First World Problem, food culture photography, gallery exhibition California, Ian L Sitren, modern art Palm Springs, Palm Desert art exhibit, Palm Springs Art, photographic art exhibit, social commentary photography, still life photography, things to do Palm Desert, Through The Lens exhibit | Leave a comment

National Corn Dog Day – 4 of Them

A corn dog, it turns out, has a schedule.

March 16 — often cited as the original or earliest claimed date, though no one seems certain why.
March 17 — sometimes folded into St. Patrick’s Day because it’s already a crowded calendar.
March 21 — another claimed “official” date, appearing in national day listings without clear origin.
NCAA Tournament Opening Weekend — widely accepted in practice, as National Corn Dog Day is frequently tied to the start of March Madness and watch parties.

So much complexity for my “National Days of…” calendar and photography.

Meanwhile, the corn dog itself remains exactly what it is.

A hot dog, coated in cornmeal batter and deep fried on a stick. A practical invention tied back to German sausage makers who settled in Texas, adapting their product to American tastes by dipping it in cornbread batter and frying it. By 1927, the process was patented, describing food on a stick as a “clean, wholesome and tasty refreshment.” It went on to become standard fare at fairs, festivals, school lunches, and just about anywhere something could be eaten while walking.

Simple. Portable. No explanation needed.

Which makes it slightly surprising that something this simple now comes with multiple official dates and a tournament tie-in.

See more from From Bag to Background on my website at…
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 18, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: American food, carnival food, comfort food, corn dog, corn dog history, corn dogs, cornmeal batter, fair food, food blog, food culture, food humor, food on a stick, Food Photography, food traditions, fried food, from bag to background, game day food, hot dog, Ian L Sitren, March Madness food, National Corn Dog Day, national food days, NCAA snacks, nostalgic food, satirical food, sausage, secondfocus, simple food, street food | Leave a comment

St. Patrick’s Lone Survivor

One of the ideas behind my Food From Bag To Background series is to photograph food as soon as possible after bringing it home. The goal is to show it the way it actually looks when you first open the box or bag.

Earlier this week I picked up a St. Patrick’s Day assortment from Krispy Kreme. The seasonal dozen included doughnuts decorated with green icing, shamrocks, rainbow candy and festive sprinkles.

My plan was to photograph the entire dozen.

I may have missed my window of opportunity.

If you are curious what other foods manage to make it from the bag to the camera before they disappear, you can explore more from my Food From Bag To Background project here:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 17, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: donut, doughnut, fast food photography, Food From Bag to Background, Food Photography, green icing, holiday food, Ian L Sitren, Krispy Kreme, rainbow candy, seasonal doughnuts, secondfocus, shamrock doughnut, St. Patrick's Day, St. Patrick's Day food | Leave a comment

National Reuben Sandwich Day

Every year on March 14th, National Reuben Sandwich Day gives the classic deli sandwich its moment.

While the sandwich has long been associated with New York delicatessens, the origin story most widely accepted today points west. In the 1920s, a grocer named Reuben Kulakofsky is said to have requested the sandwich during a poker game at The Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska. The hotel’s chef prepared it, and the sandwich quickly became a house specialty. In 2013 the city of Omaha formally declared March 14th as National Reuben Sandwich Day in recognition of that story.

For my From Bag to Background food photography project, the approach is simple. The food is photographed as it arrives, without stylists or staging, isolated against a black background. The sandwich cut in half reveals exactly what makes a Reuben a Reuben: stacked corned beef, sauerkraut, melted Swiss cheese, and the dressing running through the layers.

There is also the well-known cousin to the Reuben, the Rachel, which swaps the corned beef for pastrami or turkey and replaces the sauerkraut with coleslaw. A different personality, but the same idea.

If you enjoy seeing familiar foods presented this way, you can explore more of the From Bag to Background series and other food photography on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Posted by Ian L. Sitren | March 14, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: American sandwich history, Blackstone Hotel Omaha, classic deli food, corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich, corned beef sandwich, deli cuisine, deli food photography, deli sandwich, Food Photography, from bag to background, grilled sandwich, National Reuben Sandwich Day, Omaha Nebraska food history, Rachel sandwich variation, Reuben Kulakofsky, Reuben sandwich, Reuben sandwich history, Russian dressing sandwich, rye bread sandwich, sandwich photography, sauerkraut sandwich, SecondFocus food photography, Swiss cheese sandwich, Thousand Island dressing sandwich | Leave a comment

SecondFocus Blog Photography by Ian L. Sitren

Latest