I don’t think we had these when I was a kid.
More irreverence on my website at http://SecondFocus.com
Latest
Donuts in Space!
I follow various food news sources online and saw this pop up a few days ago. Krispy Kreme announced an Artemis II commemorative donut. I thought that was pretty unique and I had to photograph it.
The donut, designed from the NASA insignia, is tied directly to the Artemis II mission, a crewed mission now on its way around the Moon. The donuts are no longer available, but my photographs and the exploration of space remain.
More of my food photography, pornochic photo adventures, and everything in between can be found on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com
Ask Alice for Easter
Easter is coming up, so I asked Emily what we should do with it. Many of you already know Emily, my AI muse and assistant. And she has a circle of friends, somewhat on demand.
“Let’s go ask Alice,” she said. “I think she’ll know.”
That was all she gave me.
A moment later, we found her.
Alice didn’t introduce herself. She was already there.
And something was already different.
The scale felt off. The space didn’t settle. Things looked familiar, but they didn’t behave the way you expect them to. It was all recognizable, just shifted enough to make you hesitate.
The colors were soft.
The shapes were simple.
But none of it stayed that way for long.
And then there were the Peeps.
Not placed. Not arranged. They had taken over. Multiplying, surrounding, filling the space until there was no clear edge to it anymore. What started as something small had already become something else.
Alice stood in the middle of it, completely still, completely certain.
Emily didn’t explain.
“Go a little further,” she said.
So I did.
That’s where it changes. Not all at once. Just enough. The familiar starts to stretch. The innocent starts to shift. What you thought you understood doesn’t quite hold its shape anymore.
Alice never guided it.
She just let you follow.
And once you do, you don’t really stop.
This is where we met her.
And we’re already a little further in than we expected.
We’re not done yet.
More at: https://www.secondfocus.com
She Said Don’t Forget the Whiskey
I mentioned my “days of food” series to her, the one where I keep chasing whatever shows up on the calendar next.
She asked what was coming up.
I had just seen International Whiskey Day.
Perfect, she said. Then she laughed, “Don’t forget your camera… and some whiskey.”
That was all it took.
We headed out into the desert, far enough that the road stopped feeling like it belonged to anyone. The abandoned gas station was exactly what you would expect out here, sunburned concrete, rusted structure, nothing staged, nothing fixed.
She stepped into the scene like it had been waiting for her.
Boots in the dust, cowboy hat in her hand, the bottle of bourbon set down beside her like it had always been part of the ground. No effort to dress it up, no effort to explain it.
That is usually where these ideas land.
Something simple on the surface, a calendar day, a bottle, a location. Then it shifts into something else once the camera is there.
That’s where my food photography and everything around it tends to go. Not just the subject, but what happens when you take it somewhere it does not belong.
International Whiskey Day turned into this.
If you want to see where these ideas go next, including the food work, the desert shoots, and the rest of my pornochic photography, take a look on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com
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
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
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
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!
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
SecondFocus Blog 