Backstage Pass to the Arnold Classic

I don’t know exactly what it is about Branch Warren, but when it comes to capturing the immense size of a modern-day professional bodybuilder, there’s no one else I’ve found that’s as impressive as he is in candid photos. The photo on the cover this month was shot backstage at the 2008 Arnold Classic, when Warren was simply walking around the pump-up room. I shot another similar picture of him in 2006, just moments before he went onstage to compete. I put that photo on the April 2006 cover. Standing relaxed, no one else looks as imposing or inspiring as he does. The guy is a mountain of muscles.

On March 7, I’ll be backstage again at the Arnold Classic, part of the massive Arnold Sports Festival that sees more than 100,000 people descend on Columbus, Ohio, USA. No doubt, I’ll be shooting more pictures of Branch Warren since he’s competing there again. But I’ll also be shooting all the other competitiors. I plan to publish many of those pictures online in the soon-to-be-relaunched ThePhotoIssue.com site and also in print publications to which I currently contribute.

I won’t be shooting backstage just at the men’s pro show. I plan to shoot the women’s professional competitions and, as well, the Arnold Amateur Championships, another IFBB event that features male and female amateur competitors from all over the world. A number of Canadians are competing in the Arnold Amateur, including Denis Pedneault who writes the "Body Sculpting" column for us. I plan to do some unique, candid photos of the Canadians who are competing there, hopefully capturing the kind of stuff the public rarely gets to see.

It’s obvious this will be a lot for me to cover, along with plenty of photos to take. If I had to guess, I suspect that I’ll come home with more than 10,000 photographs – more than most people take in a lifetime. Unfortunately, most people won’t see 99% of them. There’s just not enough time to edit them all and stick them online for everyone to see. And there certainly aren’t enough magazines and books out there to publish them all in. Still, I’m going to make sure that the best of best get featured either online or in print. In my opinion, a great photograph isn’t worth taking unless others get to see it.

When you get a backstage pass to the Arnold Classic and access to all the other events that surround it, you don’t want to let it go to waste. I can tell you with no uncertainty whatsoever that I won’t waste it and you’ll be seeing plenty of evidence of that. Look for lots of coverage from all these competitions appearing here and elsewhere in the upcoming months.

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

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