More Than A Bag
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!
Fitness Marketing
We take it as common place seeing neck lanyards with company names at events and conventions etc. But that was certainly not the case 15 years ago at bodybuilding and fitness events. At one of the major amateur bodybuilding competitions, thousands of attendees, competitors and guests all had their passes on plain black lanyards. I said to Bodybuilding.com, let’s make lanyards and give them free to all of the bodybuilding and fitness event producers around the country, even around the world. Within the next few months and going forward, hundreds of thousands of people at these events became individual billboards for Bodybuilding.com.
T-Shirts T-Shirts T-Shirts
Grandma!
Tammy Neslund, age 56, mother of two and grandmother. Being fit and healthy is better and is the fountain of youth!
From our photoshoot at the Coachella Movie Ranch. Makeup and styling with Estee Lauder featured artist Blanche Lebeau. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Thanks!
Chest Fly’s And Crush Press
Another workout video with some good points that I shot for Palm Springs Fitness Center with trainer Dan Partridge. Thanks!
About “good form” in doing exercises… “… the reason I have a job”. “We want to make sure that when you come in here that you are doing the exercises not only to better yourself but to make sure you are doing it properly…” – Dan Partridge
Photo Shoots In The Gym
From one of my favorite gym photo shoots ever. My buddy Chris from a advertising shoot we did for a multi page brochure for Bodybuilding.com.
BTS For Ad Campaign
I have been having great fun with short videos and especially “behind the scenes” in my photo shoots. The idea for me comes from a series I had done for Bodybuilding.com for their ad campaigns promoting “BodySpace”. Then a new social media concept for fitness people that when I came into the picture had only 7,000 members and then grew to millions. That in turn helped grow the company to perhaps pushing towards a billion dollars of sales annually.
The videos were shot with a video crew and built around my photo shoots for the print and online advertising, features and content such as online wallpaper. The ads we produced are some of my all time favorites and appeared in magazines monthly for a long time. One of the print ads became a favorite for women, affixed to their refrigerator doors as fitness and workout motivation. I dare say the same ad was torn out and taped next to many a guy’s office wall or truck dashboard. So here is a favorite and watch for the “behind the scenes”.
So Many!
The subject came up about all of the photo shoots I did for Bodybuilding.com. Having become one of the most visited websites in the world, sales for the company had grown to exceed a half billion dollars per year. During those growth years, I photographed their advertising, online and print magazine features and endless bodybuilding and fitness competitions around the country. Most memorable for me, so many, very many. But way at the top was the advertising, video and features that came out of my photo shoot with Maria Rogers. “A picture is worth a thousand words” and way more!
Stop Action Bodybuilding
Another multi-exposure stop action bodybuilding posing with the consummate professional of the world of bodybuilding and fitness, Doug Brignole.
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting with their Para 133 reflector and Move 1200L pack. Only the best all he way around!
Contemplative
A bodybuilding pose begins between the ears. You can see it on his face. That is if you are going to do it right. Doug Brignole is one guy in bodybuilding and fitness who is widely known for doing it right. If there were a belt grade in bodybuilding as there is in martial arts, Doug would hold a black belt at the very highest level of the sport.
Photo shoot notes… Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera system. Lighting with a Broncolor Para 133 reflector and a Broncolor Move 1200L pack for multiple exposures. Only the best!
Scenic Imagination
So great fun doing photo shoots in interesting and scenic places. Sometimes they do not seem scenic at first, but then just use your imagination. The imagination of knowing what something will look like in the photograph. One of my favorite photo shoots, this time with bodybuilder Daniel Hill.
FitExpo – Meet Up!
They Walk Amongst Us
Distinctive, standouts, gorgeous, handsome ,beautiful and maybe driven. Kerstin Schulze is one of them. A professional in the world of fitness, she is equally fun, considerate and compassionate. And Kerstin would be the first to tell you that anyone can be one who walks amongst us. Makeup and Hair Styling by Natalie Lyle who also walks amongst us! From our photo shoot. Thanks!
Photos In The Gym
If you read the bodybuilding and fitness magazines, visit the most popular websites, you have seen my photographs. All around the world, magazine features, advertising, brochures, billboards, bus wraps, 4 story high banners on the sides of buildings.
You work hard in the gym to get ahead and be your best like my buddy Travis Ely. You are spending your money for your ads to build your business. You are spending money to build features for your magazines or websites.
Talk to me about doing your photography. Send me an e-mail to Ian@SecondFocus.com. Also if you are going to be there, I will be at the Anaheim FitExpo on Saturday August 27th. Send me a note and we can meet and chat. Thanks!
Travis Ely photographed at Palm Springs Fitness Center by me with a Hasselblad digital camera system. Only the best!
Yes Guys!
You see men in front of my cameras too. And not just in the gym. Bodybuilder and fitness model Jake Sawyer has often been in my photo shoots for magazine features and advertising. Everybody says the same thing… “good looking guy”.
The Beginnings Of An Icon
Jamie Eason, for almost 10 years one of the biggest names in fitness. From her cover and feature in Planet Muscle Magazine, she came to the attention of Bodybuilding.com. They assigned me the very pleasant task of photographing Jamie for two days in a studio and a gym. Her very first gym photo shoot by the way. That led to her signing on as spokesperson for Bodybuilding.com and launching her success and helping to propel them to the behemoth of the fitness business they are today, pushing towards $1 billion in annual sales. Maybe I should shoot your advertising and magazine features! Send me an e-mail to Ian@SecondFocus.com and Thank You!
Working Your Way To Muscle Beach
If you are going to work that hard and do the show at Muscle Beach on Memorial Day, you have to get in front of my cameras! Just ask Melissa Loya! Time to sign up, and for more details click here… https://squareup.com/store/secondfocus
You can have your photos on stage and backstage in the famous workout “pit”. You can also have your own mini photo shoot for yourself or a couple on the Saturday or Sunday of that weekend. That can be on the beach and around the world famous Venice Boardwalk.
Not doing the show? You can still have your own mini photo shoot. Either way, take advantage of me! My shoot rates are often at least 10 times what I do for this show. I do these photo shoots like this only for Muscle Beach.
But you must sign up ASAP! I will not have time to photograph everyone as much as I really would like to. So get signed up and let’s get you some outstanding photographs! Click here… https://squareup.com/store/secondfocus
Melissa Loya at The Muscle Beach International Classic Memorial Day 2015
Got Your Attention!
So much fun getting your attention with my photography for Bodybuilding.com. The Bodybuilding.com Mission:”To help our visitors reach their health, fitness and appearance goals through information, motivation and supplementation.” “The largest online sports nutrition company and recently ranked the No. 1 most visited bodybuilding and fitness website in the world!”
How To Find Me
If you are going to be at Muscle Beach for the big Memorial Day weekend show, this is how you find me. Look for my 6ft tall gorgeous assistant Natalie Lyle. Most often on my photo shoots as Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist, she is very exceptional in front of the camera too. Natalie will be helping me keep track of the people who sign up for photo shoots. For signing up details, click here… http://squ.re/1Sl56iQ
I will be shooting everyone who signs up with me and I am the Muscle Beach photographer. Bikini class, Vintage Swimsuit, Bodybuilding, Physique, all of it, I am your photographer. It will be a really busy show and to be fair I will only be photographing the people who sign up for photographs. I just will not have enough time otherwise. At the show, you can have your photographs on stage and also you can select to add on backstage in the world famous Muscle Beach “Pit”.
You can also have your own mini photo shoot for just yourself or a couple. On the Saturday and Sunday before the show, I will be photographing right there at Venice Beach and nearby on the beach in Marina Del Rey. And you do not have to be doing the Muscle Beach show to sign up for a mini photo shoot.
If you have at all been wanting to shoot with me or wanting to have some great professional photographs, this is the chance at a really reduced cost. I make these prices available only for times like this when I can photograph a lot of people. I have really done this so it can be as inexpensive as possible for everyone. For the details, here is the link and Thank You! I really hope as many of you as possible get in front of my cameras! Click here and please sign up right away, only a few weeks left… http://squ.re/1Sl56iQ
Vintage Muscle Beach
So excited to be a part of the new Muscle Beach Vintage Swimsuit competition coming up on Memorial Day! Along with show producer Joe Wheatley we are planning on re-creating timeless photographs like this. If you are doing the show, you just might be a part of it. And you can have your own moments in my photographs too. I am the Muscle Beach photographer. You can sign up for your photographs on stage, back stage in the famous “Pit” and your own personal mini photo shoot. Also available for couples. But please sign up ASAP, I will not have time for everyone, so do not wait. Thanks and click here for details… https://squareup.com/store/secondfocus/
Black Belt at Venice Beach
When Alex appeared on stage at Muscle Beach with his competition partner Maud, I had no idea what was next. But after the show for their photo shoot I found out how fun it was to be! Alexandre Michel Franchini exhibiting his black belt prowess all the way from Saint-Mihiel, France in front of my Hasselblad camera in the ocean waves at Venice Beach.
Sign up are now open for you in front of my camera at Muscle Beach and Venice Beach for the Memorial Day weekend. I will be shooting your photos if you are doing the show on stage and also backstage. You can also have your own mini photo shoot Saturday or Sunday before the show on Monday, Memorial Day. That is also for couples or even if you are not doing the show. It is only because I will be photographing a lot of people that weekend that I can make these prices so very low. But you must sign up ahead of time. I will not have the time to photograph everyone so please sign up as soon as possible. Here is the sign up page and Thanks… MuscleBeachPhoto.com
Flying In To Muscle Beach
Of course Lisa Marino Sanders would arrive in her United States Air Force F-16 for her photo shoot with me at Venice Beach.
The high flying Makeup and Hair Styling by Natalie Lyle. Flight wear styling by April Ann Styles. And the real F-16 courtesy of the United States Air Force. Only at the real Muscle Beach for the real Muscle Beach/Venice bodybuilding and fitness shows.
The Fit Life Journey
More from our photo shoot with Chris Polityka. Photographs that show that you really can work out in the gym as part of your fitness journey and have fun through your whole life. I like this! Thanks to Power of Fitness gym in Palm Desert for sharing their great gym with us. Thanks to Hassleblad digital and broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Making The Pit Look So Good!
Just perfect! My best buddy Maria Bertrand making the “Pit” at Muscle Beach look so good!
Maria Bertrand In The Pit At Muscle Beach
SecondFocus Blog 