Women and muscle: photography great Bill Dobbins speaks out

October 10, 5:04 PMNutrition ExaminerCarol Bardelli

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Female muscle is the new sexy.

Carol Bardelli: "Thanks for speaking with me, Bill. Bill Dobbins is a highly respected name in the world of photography.  Bill, your area of expertise is photographing elite athletes and female bodybuilders. But you've also written extensively for physique magazines and collaborated with Arnold Schwarzenegger on several books. 'Arnold's Bodybuilding For Men' and 'The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding' are well regarded classics.

Now you're embarking on a new venture producing and directing 90 minute documentary/reality DVDs featuring physique women (female bodybuilders, fitness and figure competitors, fitness models). Would you like to share more details on your new focus and why you chose to tackle this subject?"

Bill Dobbins: "I have the answer to the question, "What if they had a revolution and nobody noticed?" The answer is you'd end up with the development of something like "women's physique" (female bodybuilding, fitness and figure competition) which has totally revised our thinking about the female body, teaching how women can get and stay fit, how the shape of the body is determined in large part by muscular development and  how a youthful body can be maintained for decades longer than we ever before imagined - and yet the women who have taught us all this have gotten little or no credit or recognition.

Over the years I have dealt with both male and female bodybuilding. I have watched actors, athletes, models and much of the public profit from increased knowledge as to how to develop "hardbodies" to look good, feel good and get healthier.   But few seem to realize that everyone from Olympic athletes to race drivers to the young girls on MTV (proud of their flat and hard abs) have benefited from the training and dieting methods bodybuilders - not scientists and not doctors - have developed.   

A few years ago I realized that the idea of women developing their muscles for primarily aesthetic purposes was "something new under the sun." I began specializing in photographing these women, became widely published and had two photo art books on the subject published. But, after this initial success, I have found it more and more difficult to get these photos published, either in mainstream magazines or in physique publications.   People respond to these photos - when they see them. But lately the best way to show these pictures to a wider audience has been through my websites.  However, the Internet keeps changing and currently it is very difficult to "monetize" websites which charge a fee to access photos - even  hundreds of thousands of photos, as is the case with my sites.

I am finding that people seem to prefer movie images (video) to stills to a large degree. I have a background in TV as well as print publications - I was in charge of creating the Weider System video series for Weider Health and Fitness as well as the Weider Video Library - so I decided to work with the same fabulous and beautiful women I've been photographing but instead of still photos to do a series of documentary/reality show DVDs that would give the viewer a sense of who they are, how they live, their histories and their aspirations, plus a lot of instructional information regarding working out, dieting, how to become a model or to get into physique competition for those few who might have that goal. There is lots of "eye candy" featuring sexy women in bikinis but lots of content with substance as well.

I am very encouraged by the response from those who have seen my first efforts. I am just getting ready to bring these DVDs to market so it remains to be seen how well they sell. But I am confident that the "general public" or the "mainstream" will like and respond to these women, who combine traditional standards of beauty with the newly emerging paradigm of hardbody health and fitness. I have my fingers crossed that these DVDs will be the vehicle that helps make this happen."

Bill Dobbins websites include:

Bill Dobbins Photography
Bill Dobbins Music