March 1, 2006

The Photo Issue – Ours Lasts All Year Long

Although bodybuilding-related articles are often interesting, it’s the photographs that capture the essence of what it’s about. Bodybuilding is, after all, a visual sport, judged solely with the eyes. Therefore, it’s the visual impact a bodybuilder creates onstage that results in a lasting memory, and nothing – not words, and not even video or film – captures that better than a great photograph.

There’s no shortage of great bodybuilding photographers around – countless names have come and gone for decades – but I would say that there is a shortage of bodybuilding photographs available that people can view freely. For example, if you compare the number of photographers’ shutter clicks at a competition with the number of pictures that get published in magazines or online, you’ll realize that only a small fraction of the pictures that get taken actually get seen by the public. Most photographs sit in archives somewhere and are rarely, if ever, seen.

This year, though, we’re hoping to change all that with our recently revamped ThePhotoIssue.com website, which has been designed specifically to accommodate a large number of high-quality photographs. It’s already the best gallery of this type in Canada, and it will get even better.

ThePhotoIssue.com was named that way to mimic "The Photo Issue" features that print magazines put out, usually once or twice a year. The two biggest differences with our "The Photo Issue" are, obviously, that it’s online and that it’s available all year long. So, no more waiting for that special issue or two; ThePhotoIssue.com is available 365 days a year!

Now, some may ask: Why don’t you put all the pictures right here on SeriousAboutMuscle.com? Good question, although I think I have a pretty good answer that revolves around the old saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none."

My years of experience with publishing have taught me that you can’t be everything to everyone, which is all too often what publishers try to be, particularly on the Internet. However, if you go that route and become simply a grab-bag of everything, you lose focus of what you’re about, and, more often than not, although you have a lot of stuff, you’re not particularly good at any one thing. That’s why I believe in keeping our bodybuilding- and fitness-related sites separate, so that the focus of what each is about never gets lost.

SeriousAboutMuscle.com will remain as our "editorial" site, focusing solely on bodybuilding and related activities. Our writing staff features Garry Bartlett, David Ford, Autumn Raby, Vince Wawryk, and myself, and there will be others when we expand.

BodyBuildingLive.com will continue to provide editorial-type coverage too, but only for competitions – it can be thought of as the competition coverage site, thoroughly describing each event and its winners in great detail.

As for photos, obviously that’s what ThePhotoIssue.com is for – large images that look great and are easy to find. When you have read about a competition on SeriousAboutMuscle.com or BodyBuildingLive.com, you can then browse through the photos at ThePhotoIssue.com

What’s more, on ThePhotoIssue.com you’ll find many photos that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. For example, our cover shot this month is of Mboya Edwards, a great Canadian bodybuilder who took the runner-up spot in the Light-Heavyweight class at the CBBF Canadian BodyBuilding Championships this year. You’ll also find great backstage shots as well.

Contributing photographers to ThePhotoIssue.com are Garry Bartlett, D.Dave Paul, David Ford, and myself. We’re all well-experienced bodybuilding photographers, having done it for years. In fact, Garry has been shooting bodybuilding events for almost 30 years! No one else in Canada comes close to that.

As well as having photos to browse through, you’ll also be able to purchase the photos that you see on ThePhotoIssue.com. We plan to make them available in two ways: First, you can buy the pictures printed out in a variety of sizes, even framed, or you can receive them digitally, either on a CD or through e-mail. Second, we plan to create "photo CDs" of competitions – groupings of great shots available on CD for a very reasonable price. We’ll even custom-make CDs, tailored to the type of photographs you want.

Our goal with the ThePhotoIssue.com is to make it the best gallery of bodybuilding photos that you’ll find anywhere. It’s online right now, so check it out. After that, tell us what you think – bookmark www.ThePhotoIssue.com today.

...Doug Schneider, Publisher
das@seriousaboutmuscle.com

Doug Schneider is the publisher and chief photographer for SeriousAboutMuscle.com, BodyBuildingLive.com, and SeriousAboutFitness.com.