Photography by Ian L. Sitren

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National Avocado Month and Taking a Second Look

A halved avocado with pit, surrounded by whole avocados, photographed under studio lighting on a black background. The image captures the vibrant green interior and textured dark skin, making it ideal for commercial use in food marketing, nutrition, or editorial health content.

There was a time when avocados felt almost exotic.

Today they’re everywhere. On toast, in salads, on burgers, in sushi rolls, and transformed into enough guacamole to fill an impressive number of restaurant bowls.

For National Avocado Month, I thought it was worth taking a closer look at the fruit itself.

Most of us encounter avocados as ingredients. They arrive sliced, mashed, diced, or blended into something else. Rarely do we stop to appreciate how distinctive they actually are. The dark, textured skin looks almost prehistoric, while the interior reveals smooth green flesh surrounding one of the largest seeds found in common produce.

Photographing food often gives me an excuse to slow down and look at familiar subjects more carefully. When an avocado is removed from the grocery display, the cutting board, and the recipe, details begin to stand out. The contrast between the rough exterior and the soft interior. The subtle variations of green. The simple geometry created by the seed and the cavity it leaves behind.

Avocados have become so common that they almost disappear into the background of everyday meals. Yet they’re still one of the more unusual fruits in any produce department.

Sometimes a familiar subject is worth a second look.

More of my Commercial Food Photography, along with aviation, collections, and other ongoing projects, can be found at https://www.secondfocus.com You may discover something you’ve seen countless times before, but never really stopped to look.

National Olive Day

A giant martini glass containing oversized olives stands beside a standard martini in an upscale cocktail lounge. The contrast in scale creates a humorous visual concept inspired by National Olive Day and the idea that olives deserve a much larger glass.

Auntie Mame says “Olives take up too much room in such a little glass”.

I’ve remembered that line for years.

It comes from the 1958 film Auntie Mame, and for some reason it always resurfaces whenever olives are involved. Not because it makes much sense, but because it solves a problem that probably never existed in the first place.

Today is National Olive Day, and rather than photograph a bowl of olives, I started wondering whether Auntie Mame might actually have had a point.

Maybe the problem was never the olive.

Maybe the problem was the glass.

The traditional martini has always forced olives into cramped living conditions. One or two olives suspended in a relatively small volume of liquid, expected to spend an entire evening crowded together at the bottom of the glass. No room to stretch out. No room to enjoy the scenery.

That seemed unfair.

So a solution was required.

Not fewer olives.

Not smaller olives.

A much bigger glass.

The result is a martini glass so oversized that the olive finally has all the room it could ever want. The standard martini sitting beside it serves as a reminder of the old days, before progress, before innovation, before anyone considered the spatial needs of cocktail garnishes.

I suspect Auntie Mame would approve.

Or perhaps she would simply ask for an even bigger glass.

Either way, National Olive Day seemed like the perfect excuse to finally solve one of cinema’s most overlooked problems.

If you’d like to see more of my photography, explore my galleries, read the blog, and visit the growing Motion section, you’ll find it on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Palm Springs Becomes the Center of the Marilyn Monroe Universe

One question I’ve been getting a lot lately is whether I photographed the Marilyn Monroe Guinness World Record event in Palm Springs this last Saturday.

Yes, I did.

I was there photographing the event for syndication through ZUMA Press, expecting a large crowd, but once I arrived it was just amazing. From ground level it looked as if downtown Palm Springs had been completely overtaken by Marilyn Monroe. Everywhere you looked there were white wigs and white dresses stretching in every direction.

It has been reported that the final count was either 1,034 or 1,037 participants, depending on the source. Either way, it was enough to establish a new Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Marilyn Monroe.

What immediately stood out was the sea of white wigs.

The wigs were part of the registration package given to participants, which explains the remarkable uniformity of the crowd. Everywhere you looked was the same iconic hairstyle repeated hundreds and hundreds of times. White dresses and white wigs stretched in every direction beneath Palm Springs’ famous 26-foot-tall Marilyn Monroe statue.

Another question I’ve also been asked repeatedly since Saturday is whether there were actually any women participating.

Yes.

While the crowd was overwhelmingly men, there were also women throughout the event, some of whom looked remarkably beautiful as their own version of Marilyn herself. The mix of participants only added to the unusual atmosphere.

Despite the Guinness record attempt, the event was more a celebration than a competition. Thousands of spectators joined more than a thousand participants to mark the 100th anniversary of Monroe’s birth. People traveled from around the country, posed for photographs, laughed with strangers, and became part of a unique piece of Palm Springs history.

For one afternoon, Palm Springs became the center of the Marilyn Monroe universe.

If you’re interested in photography ranging from events like this to aviation, food, Muscle Beach, Palm Springs, and some of my more unusual projects, you’ll find them on my website along with my blog and the first additions to my new Motion section at https://www.secondfocus.com

National Biscuit Day and the Simplicity of FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND

A pile of 24 baked canned biscuits, arranged casually against a solid black background. These golden-brown biscuits, baked straight from the tube with no additional styling, display their flaky, layered texture and domed tops. The image captures the familiar form and texture of a classic American pantry staple. Part of the “Food From Bag to Background” series, this photograph emphasizes straightforward presentation and natural form.

National Biscuit Day.

Some foods don’t really need marketing agencies, AI enhancement, stylists with tweezers, or fake steam drifting through the frame.

Biscuits are one of them.

These are just peel-apart biscuits photographed for my FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND series exactly the way they came out of the package and oven. No brushed butter, no artificial shine, no tricks to make them look taller, fresher, or more dramatic than they actually were.

And honestly, that was always part of the point of this project.

Fast food and convenience food advertising has trained people to expect food to look exaggerated, oversized, and almost synthetic. But when you isolate something simple against a black background and actually pay attention to it, the real texture starts doing the work by itself. The layers, the uneven browning, the soft edges, the imperfect shapes. Those details are usually hidden behind logos, wrappers, commercials, and speed.

Biscuits are also strangely tied into American fast food culture. Fried chicken chains, drive-thru breakfasts, gas station counters, roadside diners. They exist somewhere between comfort food and convenience food, which is probably why they fit this project so well.

So for National Biscuit Day, no AI animation experiments, no dramatic visual effects, just biscuits.

And when I was a kid, when my mom made these, I could have eaten every one of them, each with a pat of butter melting into the middle.

If this photograph brought back a memory, made you hungry, or simply made you look at something familiar a little differently, there are dozens more waiting in FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND. Burgers, tacos, pizza, donuts, fries, sandwiches, and other foods pulled straight from the bag and placed under the same black backdrop.

You can explore the entire series here on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0

National Brisket Day and the Reality Behind FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND

My photograph of three chopped brisket sandwiches from Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, arranged directly on a black background. Each sandwich is filled with smoked Texas-style brisket, chopped and piled high, with visible charred bark, sliced pickles, raw onions, and a generous pour of barbecue sauce. The soft buns are slightly compressed under the weight, and sauce drips onto the surface, emphasizing the messiness and abundance. No food styling, just the sandwiches exactly as served, still warm from the takeout bag. A fast food rendition of Texas BBQ, unfiltered and straightforward.

Today is National Brisket Day.

One of the things I wanted to challenge with my “FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND” project was the idea that food only becomes visually interesting after it passes through a marketing department, a food stylist, an art director, retouching, and increasingly now, AI image generation.

These brisket sandwiches from Dickey’s Barbecue Pit are none of that.

They were bought like any normal takeout order, carried home in a bag, opened, placed onto a black background, and photographed exactly as served. No rearranging. No fake steam. No hidden supports. No motor oil pretending to be sauce. No tweezers moving sesame seeds into place.

And yet they still work visually.

Actually, I would argue they work because they are real.

The overflowing chopped brisket, the uneven piles of smoked meat, the compressed buns, the dripping barbecue sauce, the onions and pickles sliding out of place, all of it feels far more appetizing and believable than the heavily over-engineered perfection seen in so much advertising imagery now.

That tension became one of the central ideas behind FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND. Fast food and takeout photographed seriously, exactly as it exists in the real world, isolated against black with no attempt to hide the messiness, excess, or reality of what arrived in the bag.

And sometimes the real version ends up looking better than the manufactured one.

More from FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0

National Hamburger Day and the Fast Food Reality Behind FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND

My photograph of three Shake Shack triple cheeseburgers, set against a black background. The burgers are presented exactly as purchased, featuring stacked beef patties, fresh lettuce, and tomato slices on soft buns. Part of my Food From Bag to Background series, the image documents fast food in its authentic form without rearrangement or styling.

Today is National Hamburger Day.

The hamburger has probably become the defining subject of my “FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND” project. Fast food photographed exactly as it arrives, no stylists, no reconstruction, no fake versions built for advertising.

And one thing people occasionally ask is where all this food comes from.

The answer is simple: the same place everybody else gets it.

The restaurants and chains have no idea I am photographing their food. There are no sponsorships, no special preparation, no discounts because of photography, and no carefully assembled “photo burgers” arriving from a corporate kitchen. I walk in or use the apps, place an order, pick it up, bring it home, and photograph it exactly as it comes out of the wrapper or bag.

Actually, the apps have become part of the process. The fast food companies constantly push coupons, free items, points, discounts, and combination deals. Surprisingly worthwhile ones. Sometimes I end up planning a shoot around whatever special appears that week.

That is part of what interests me visually about the project. These hamburgers are not idealized advertising concepts. They are real fast food hamburgers, bought like anybody else would buy them, photographed seriously against black backgrounds with the same attention I would give any other subject.

Somewhere between documentary, satire, and food photography, the hamburger became one of the central characters.

And if you have ever wondered what fast food starts looking like when it is pulled out of the bag, isolated against black, and treated like a serious photographic subject, step into the project here on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

National Donut Week | FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND

This is National Donut Week.

For my ongoing “FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND” project, the main focus has always been fast food. The foods people grab quickly, eat in the car, bring home late at night, or pick up almost automatically without thinking much about it.

And yes, donuts absolutely qualify.

Donut chains consistently rank among the largest fast food companies in America. Drive-thrus, quick service counters, recognizable packaging, impulse purchases, sugar, caffeine, convenience, the entire fast food formula is there.

So for National Donut Week, I photographed an assorted pile of donuts exactly the same way I approach burgers, tacos, fries, or pizza for this series.

Straight from the box.
No food stylist.
No careful arrangement.
No fake perfection.

Just donuts against a black background.

Then things escalated slightly.

Because now the donuts are slowly rotating in darkness while one pink sprinkled donut has apparently decided to break formation and drift through the frame like some kind of sugar-coated UFO.

Somewhere between fast food photography and science fiction, FOOD FROM BAG TO BACKGROUND continues here at…
https://www.secondfocus.com

Softbox Couture

Photographers love the results from large softboxes.

Actually assembling them is another story.

Rods bending, fabric everywhere, people trying not to lose patience, and everyone pretending the process is less irritating than it really is.

So during this studio shoot I could not help but think there is a better use for the softbox.

Instead of becoming part of the lighting setup, it became the wardrobe.

Once we saw it against the black seamless background and studio lighting, it actually worked. Fashion photography mixed with studio satire.

Now subtly animating it adds another layer. The studio atmosphere shifts and the moment feels alive. Reaching back into the past and creating the video I did not at the time.

More photography and visual projects on my website at
https://www.secondfocus.com

World Famous Escargot Ranch Along Route 66

A weathered vintage roadside sign advertising the “World Famous Escargot Ranch” stands beside a lonely desert highway at sunset. The surreal satirical concept combines classic Americana roadside culture with humorous escargot ranch branding and western-inspired conceptual photography.

Today is National Escargot Day.

A couple of friends and I used to head out on random photography excursions looking for unusual roadside places and forgotten Americana. Old diners, abandoned gas stations, strange handmade signs out in the desert, the kind of things you only notice when you stop rushing somewhere else.

A lot of those drives ended up somewhere along stretches of old Route 66 or lonely desert highways where the signs were often more interesting than the destination.

So naturally, when National Escargot Day showed up on the calendar, my mind immediately went to this.

The “World Famous Escargot Ranch.”

A glowing neon roadside attraction somewhere out in the desert, apparently dedicated entirely to the farming and ranching of snails. Complete with a giant roadside snail sign proudly standing beside the highway like it has been there since 1958.

The best part is that it feels believable. Like one of those strange roadside places people actually stop to photograph.

Of course, National Escargot Day itself is very real. Escargot, the French preparation of cooked land snails usually served with garlic butter and herbs, has been considered a delicacy for centuries. But after seeing more than 81,000 escargot-related images on Adobe Stock, I figured the world probably did not need another plate of garlic butter snails photographed on a restaurant table.

So instead, I decided to imagine the livestock side of the escargot industry.

Somewhere out there, beyond the desert highway, the Escargot Ranch is waiting.

More of my work can be found here on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Late Night Edits with Emily

The Emily Integration project has been changing and evolving all along.

At first it was mostly experiments, visual concepts, themed shoots, and seeing what all of this technology was about and where it could go.

Late-night editing sessions. Coffee cups sitting on the table. Food photographs glowing on the monitor. Palm Springs outside the windows long after dark.

And Emily, my evolving AI muse and assistant, simply existing naturally inside that environment instead of feeling separate from it.

Nothing dramatic is happening. No big concept. Just Emily quietly reviewing photographs beside me working on SecondFocus projects.

What started as experiments and ideas are now active real-time collaborations, that will be next moving from text-based interaction, into actual conversation, and then soon into visual presence.

The science fiction is and will no longer be science fiction.

More from the ongoing Emily Integration project and my photography work on my website at
https://www.secondfocus.com