Very pleased to again be in the APA Sourcebook 2020. Published annually by the American Photographic Artists, the print edition is distributed to advertising agencies, editorial publications, design firms and select companies around the USA. Model Randalene Sargent.
Honoring the people on the front lines of the pandemic, the Palm Springs Air Museum is doing flyovers over different facilities on Fridays through May. This is the three aircraft returning from the flight the other day. The World War II C-47 “What’s Up Doc”, the iconic “Red Tail” P-51 Mustang “Bunny”, and one of only of the very few flying in the entire world, the P-63 Kingcobra “Pretty Polly”.
Photographed with the new Fujifilm GFX100 medium format camera and the GF110mm lens. I am just now shooting with it for the first time. Faster operating than I had expected, it was able to capture aircraft in flight from the ground. This is a 100 megapixel camera still capable of shooting five frames per second with continuous auto-focusing. I will be shooting with it some more, so keep coming back to see what else I do with it. Thanks!
I have found a great place to “Shelter In Place” with an ocean view and still travel. Well maybe not. A Soviet Navy B-39 Submarine, the largest conventionally powered submarine ever built. Likely this one stalked U.S. Navy vessels out of San Diego.
From a photo excursion from Palm Springs to San Diego. At the Maritime Museum San Diego. Photographed with my Hasselblad H4D-40 and HC80mm lens.
This submarine and our current times reminds me of the 1959 motion picture “On The Beach” directed by Stanley Kramer. It takes place during the aftermath of a nuclear war. A tremendous motion picture with an all-star cast. However the similarities to today are somewhat discomforting.
From a photo shoot I did for a magazine series about fitness in the military. At March Air Reserve Base. Photo shoot note… I shot this with a Phase One medium format camera system.
“International Firefighters’ Day is observed each year on 4th May. On this date you are invited to remember the past firefighters who have died while serving our community or dedicated their lives to protecting the safety of us all. At the same time, we can show our support and appreciation to the firefighters world wide who continue to protect us so well throughout the year.”
“The role of a firefighter in today’s society – be it urban, rural, natural environment, volunteer, career, industrial, defence force, aviation, motor sport, or other is one of dedication, commitment and sacrifice – no matter what country we reside and work in. In the fire service we fight together against one common enemy – fire – no matter what country we come from, what uniform we wear or what language we speak.”
– Lt JJ Edmondson, 1999
This was given to me by the Grammys in 2006. I was there photographing rehearsals with a specially invited group from Special Olympics Southern California. I was documenting their visit.
One of the most fulfilling times for me was shooting for Special Olympics. I did everything from their John Wooden Dinner with thousands of people to every sport during their Fall and Summer Games. Photographs were used for annual reports, displays, media etc.
During “Shelter In Place” I have been cleaning up my office. I have a lot of caps and t-shirts from my travels. Many given to me and others I purchase. I will post more, they are fun. Thanks!
I have always been a fan of Hasselblad because of it’s place in history with the exploration of outer space. This is an ad from July/August 2005 in Picture Magazine, but it appeared in many magazines. I remember very well the introduction of the H1D when Hasselblad held a day long special event at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica. It was led by none other than the then President of Hasselblad.
I was there, and as I usually would do, spent a couple of days staying at the Loew’s for other business. Holding that camera and looking through that viewfinder was a total revelation. It shamed other cameras with its huge bright view. The camera so very ergonomic and solid. Everyone was just amazed with it and it’s features and future.
Indeed that held with me when finally I bought my own H4D system some years later. Hasselblad always had some great huge events. Other companies have done so along the way too. I hope to see more. I think it is good marketing although sometimes immediate results are not seen.
What to do during this time for your business. You should be working on your social media presence for one thing. Your audience is spending much more time at that computer, and so is mine. So I decided to build my business Facebook page which had been stagnant.
Most of my Facebook reach was on my personal page over the years. But that is at my limit of 5,000 friends. And I have been on Facebook since 2008. So this is what I have done for my page “SecondFocus Photography by Ian L. Sitren” so far. Thanks!
Today marks the 72nd Anniversary of Israel Independence Day. Celebrated on the anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, according to the Hebrew calendar, on the 5th day of the month of Iyar.
“Throughout their long history, the yearning to return to the Land of Israel has been the focus of Jewish life. Independence Day is a celebration of the renewal of the Jewish state in the land where the Jewish people began to develop its distinctive religion and culture some 4,000 years ago.” – Israeli Ministry Of Foreign Affairs
“Above And Beyond” is an extraordinary documentary of the beginnings of what was to become the Israeli Air Force. It is an amazing story.
“In 1948, just three years after the liberation of Nazi death camps, a group of Jewish American pilots answered a call for help. In secret and at great personal risk, they smuggled planes out of the U.S., trained behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia and flew for Israel in its War of Independence.”
“Above And Beyond” brings together new interviews with the pilots, as well as stunning aerial footage, to present a fascinating, little-known tale filled with heart, heroism and high-flying chutzpah. The film follows the pilots on their circuitous route from the United States—where they met and trained in secret and struggled to stay two steps ahead of the FBI—to Panama, Italy and Czechoslovakia, where they flew versions of the very Nazi planes they had tried to shoot down in World War II.”
You may watch it in it’s entirely on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ZpKhwi4L64o
Congratulations to my friend Dennis Johnson. From our photo excursion to Yermo a few months ago…
“Thank you to American Society of Railway Artists and The Railroad Tourist for posting my recent painting, “Yermo”. The painting of several box cars, inspired by a photo excursion to the Union Pacific Rail Yard in Yermo, CA in February. Painting specifications: Acrylic on canvas, 36″ x 48″.”
At first look, just a wrinkled plastic bag. It has been sitting crunched up in a drawer. Actually it was a part of hugely successful marketing. If you are a bodybuilding and fitness person, you were handed one of these bags at some time.
At one of the annual, week long, planning meetings at Bodybuilding.com in Boise, the bag concept came up. At the major bodybuilding and fitness expos like the Arnold and Olympia, hundreds of companies hand out tremendous amounts of swag and product samples. The same at all of the other bodybuilding and fitness competitions around the country. So the idea was to hand out a bag that would tell people to buy their products at Bodybuilding.com.
It immediately came to my mind and I said “Find everything in this bag at Bodybuilding.com”. That was it and the bag went into production. I am sure hundreds of thousands of these bags were handed out over the years. They were even supplied for free to other companies and manufacturers to hand out with their products.
Part of a concept that was to make sure that everyone knew Bodybuilding.com and went there first for anything related to fitness and bodybuilding. It worked!
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