Is This 6 ft?
Trying to figure out how to do some photo shoots. Is this 6 ft? OK, sheltering at home. Thanks!
El Día de Muertos
El Día de Muertos photo shoot with Natalie Lyle. Makeup and hair styling also by Natalie Lyle. So very outstanding!
Golden Hour
The time at Sunrise and Sunset when the light is just right for photographs. I was asked yesterday in an interview if that is when I try to do most of my photography. The answer is yes and no. If it works out that way, ok. But more often than not it doesn’t, so you have to make it work. And especially when you have very bright hot overhead Sun much of the time.
The first step, someone gorgeous and fun in from of your camera, Maria Bertrand. Next step, an incredible Makeup and Hair Stylist, Blanche LeBeau. Third step, wonderful lighting and reliable equipment, Broncolor. Finally the superb Hasselblad digital camera system. See! Wasn’t that easy!
The Right Words
My best buddy always seems to have the perfect thing to say, or wear, at the best times. Maria Bertrand… model, actress and writer. From our “Red Tire” photo shoot with Makeup and Hair Styling by Natalie Lyle.
Space Travel Not Required
Found a new photo shoot location on a recent photo excursion. And no space travel required. I can see you posing in front of that landscape now! The question is… Who is you? Send me an e-mail to Ian@SecondFocus.com. Thanks!
Mystery Posing Fun
Some behind the scenes posing fun during a photo shoot with Kajira. She is truly a gorgeous and fun model!
“I’m Not Going To Move…”
“I’m not going to move until I get your attention” says Maria Bertrand. You got it Maria!
Photo shoot notes… Superb makeup and hair styling by Blanche LeBeau. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Simplicity
Sometimes I prefer simplicity. A 45 year old Polaroid instant film camera and one of my favorite models, Aristodeme. I think I will do more of this in my photo shoots. What do you think?
Like She Was Walking On A Yacht
She walked into the party, like she was walking on a yacht. And they all dreamed that they’d be her partner, they’d be her partner… Ashley Owens-Gulina. Sounds familiar, do you know from where? From our photo shoot. Makeup and Hair Styling by Natalie Lyle.
She Gets Naked
Seeing that my photography sometimes includes nude women, I am occasionally asked “How do you get them to take their clothes off?”. It is a question I find perplexing. It shocks me to think that people would surmise that these beautiful women are somehow tricked out of their clothes and that they are not freely being part of the art or creation. It truly befuddles me.
To that point I just read this wonderful story in “The New Yorker” magazine. “The Opposite Of A Muse” by Anna Heyward. I am not going to try to summarize but merely use a few quotes to explain the story of Isabelle Mage. Click on the photograph to read the entire feature and see more photographs.
“At the time she came to Paris, she had never met an artist, and had been to few museum shows, but she collected record covers and postcards of images that appealed to her. One Saturday in mid-July, she went alone to an exhibition by the portrait photographer Jeanloup Sieff at the Musée d’Art Moderne. Stunned by the images, which depicted anonymous and ordinary, as well as famous, subjects, she wrote to Sieff, telling him that she liked his work. To her surprise, he telephoned her a few days later. She wrote in her diary, which she kept from 1986 until 2008, “He calls me, I’m extremely moved, surprised, I feel drunk.” She asked him if he would consider making a picture of her.”
“She began looking at photography books, buying magazines, and keeping track of the names in the exhibitions she visited. Methodically, and recording her activities in brief, elliptical diary entries, she sought out other artists, explaining how she had encountered their work and asking to be used in it.”
“By 1990, Mège’s collection had grown to around sixty images—most of them black-and-white, and almost all nude, as she preferred to be photographed.”
“Nègre’s Fetishist,” a image from 1990 by Joel-Peter Witkin, whom Mège pursued for years before he agreed to work with her.
Autumn For Only Minutes
Only a few minutes into Autumn and I am already looking back at Summer. I can’t help it, I had such wonderful models in my pool for photo shoots like the breathtaking Noel VanBrocklin.
Shoot Notes… The wonderful makeup and hair styling by Blanche LeBeau. Hasselblad digital camera system. Lighting by Broncolor. Only the best!
Not Fall Flowers
This is not Fall flowers, this is Amber Flowers and she is just perfect. And wardrobe styling by Amber as well. She is so good!
Shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system. Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Move 1200L pack and one strobe head in the Broncolor Para 133 reflector. 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.
Instant BTS
Fun shooting behind the scenes photos with instant film cameras. This one with the Fujifilm Instax. Of course no one really cares because I know you are staring at the magnificent Noel VanBrocklin. Model, actress and the stunning creature in the blue lagoon of my pool. Shoot notes… lighting is a Broncolor Move 1200L and Broncolor beauty dish. The actual shoot with a Hasselblad digital camera system. Often overlooked, the stand and boom are Matthews Studio Equipment. Wonderful and sexy makeup and hair styling by Blanche LeBeau.
This Is It
Among my very favorite photographs I have shot over the years. One of the most respected individuals in bodybuilding and fitness, my friend Doug Brignole. This photo makes me think about what we really do in the gym, struggle and overcome ourselves to be a better person. Not to just lose weight, have bigger arms or a more shapely butt. The idea is to be a better us and somewhat in turn, make it a better world in the best way we can for each of us. Thanks!
My World
The ever so gorgeous Maria Bertrand, often in front of my camera. And my friend! I am so lucky that so very many of the beautiful women and good looking guys I photograph become and remain my friends.
One of my buddies was walking around an event with me a few months ago. He said, looking around at the crowd… “None of these people look like the people you photograph”. Very true! Nothing wrong with it but the thought stayed with me. I do indeed work and live in a different world than many. Just different. I guess I did recognize that some time back when I named the portfolios on my Website as “My World”.
So maybe visit the “My World’s” on my Website at SecondFocus.com. Maria Bertrand is certainly there. Some of you too are there. And there will be more, changing it soon! Thanks!
Shoot notes… Maria Bertrand photographed by me. Makeup and Hair Styling by the Estee Lauder featured Blanche LeBeau. Hasselblad digital camera system. Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
First Shoots
It was not John Black‘s first photo shoot. He has actually been getting some good modeling jobs. But it was his first photo shoot with me. First photo shoots are important because it gets you into a mindset so you know how each other works. Then when I have an assigned or commissioned shoot, I can cast or recommend you with confidence. So John is now up at the top of my list. Shoot notes… Photographed here in Palm Springs. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Specialized
I have good friends who specialize in action sports and sports portraits, really good photographers. So I thought I would work on my skills shooting sports portraits too. Here is my idea of a bicycling sports portrait. My model Aristodeme photographed with my Hasselblad digital camera system. Works for me!
Here We Go!
Coming up to that time of year when all of the activities at the Palm Springs Air Museum really get going. Flight demonstrations, special presentations and programs, chili cook-offs, car shows and so much more fun! And even when there is not something specifically scheduled, you never know what you might see.
This day we sure did know what to expect. A Navy EA-6B Prowler coming in from a carrier in the Persian Gulf to retire at the Museum. What a sight to see that was! Wow! You can check out that amazing aircraft today at it’s permanent home. Come take a look! You will often find me there with my cameras!
The Girl Is Just Beautiful
Model Amber Flowers is not only beautiful but so very talented. When I release some of the other photographs from our shoot, you will see how tremendously creative she is with wardrobe, her looks and shoot ideas. And I will hear this over and over after posting this photograph, because that is what happened on the last photos I posted of her… “She is so beautiful”.
Shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system. Broncolor lighting with the Para 133 reflector and Move 1200L pack. Only the best!
Salton Sea Not A Painting
Not “photoshop” either. From yesterday on another photo excursion and location scouting. The Salton Sea is ever fascinating.
New Again!
Seen by billions! Well maybe not billions, but for sure my most seen photograph ever. Certainly one of the most seen photographs in all of bodybuilding and fitness. “Renee Kissing The Egg”. Photographed by me for my good friends Egg Whites International. The best and most successful pure liquid egg whites on the market. None better!
“Renee Kissing The Egg” now the main attraction on their latest version of trade show booth at this weekend’s Anaheim FitExpo. It is also roll- up banners, the product brochure and has been their van wrap. This photograph for Egg Whites International is now in it’s second decade. How fun is that!
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