Preparation for my cover

Hello my friends, as EXERCISE magazine gets in sales around the world this week, I want to share with you the last days before the now famous shoot...

I stop in the far west town of Lone Pine where I meet with Mari-Lou. Growing up in the region, she sugested that I go to Death Valley. Warm and tranquile ,this place seems exactly what I need to meditate and focus on my shoot.


One last phone call to my mom!

The locals warn me about the extreme heat and solitude of this place . I am not affraid !



Here I am on the door steps of Death Valley National Park. I have known this place in school books as being the warmest place on the planet. Already I can feel the temperature warming!

After driving for 200 miles without seing another car I reach the edge of the canyon !! wow ! below me sits the Death Valley. It's simply amazing! SO beautiful, it feels like I am part of a bugs bunny cartoon. I have to check it out closer!

Finally down the immense hill, the heat is almost unbearable! I feel like I am cooking ! As I walk around I see this sign!!

200 feet bellow sea level! This is the Hottest, Driest, Lowest I have ever been. Now I know why they call it the furnace of the world.

Far away I see a castle with palm trees and ponds ! Youpii!! This is an oasis...

or a mirage ?!

I wanted solitude and heat and a beautifull place to meditate.

I got it !!

I thank you GOD !

Finally after many many hours of driving I reach the oasis town of Laughlin Nevada. I am sad about leaving the desert but It gives me a chance to see the mighty Colorado River.... right behind me !

Another achievement, on the way to Los Angeles, I took a small road to see more of the scenery and suddenly I realized that I am driving on the famous " Route 66 ".

Well my friends My little road trip is almost over as I reach Long Beach. The Pacific Ocean smiles at me .....just a few hours before my big photo shoot.

The desert brought me calm, confidence and definitely tight muscle !

One last big breath of fresh air and I get inside the studio ! I feel like a million bucks! Let's land this cover !!!!

The making of a cover shot

Well my friends, this is the final step into the making of a cover shot. After 7 years in the modeling industry. After 10 weeks of extreme dieting and workout program regiments! Another goal is reached!

...I got the phone call from my manager Brian Rusch last night saying ..."Congratulations Cover Boy"... It took me an second but the reality sinked in as I remembered the photoshoot I did less then 6 weeks ago in Long Beach, California. For more then 4 days, I had the honour and the privilege of working exclusively towards making the cover of EXERCISE magazine with renown photographer Andre Deloach . The pressure was on, they where flying me from Vancouver for this only purpose so I had to land it - and I did!

I wanna thank God for his guidance and Brian at Mega Muscle for his support. Also Marie- Eve je t'aime amour !

Vive le Quebec Libre !!

Merci de m'encourager !

Yvan

Yvan's New Blog!

What's up everybody! This is my first blog entry and I am telling you all about my new trip I just got back from. It was to Las Vegas, Nevada with Mega Muscle and it was one of my best adventures yet. I flew down to join Brian, Kenny, Chris and the rest of the Mega Muscle team to be part o the Hotshots contest. There were photographers from all over the world competing to be the next Mega Muscle photographer and the competition was intense.

In Vegas, I got to see some old friends and meet a bunch of new ones. Lance LaMar, Joel McCoy and Trevor Dean - three models I had not seen in awhile were there as were new guys Paul, Lucas, Chris and Zack. I took a lot of photos of the trip whic you can see on my web site or by just clicking here.

We had a lot of fun including the party with Mega Muscle where they announced the winner - Matt Sanders! He was a great photographer and really cool to work with. I cant wait to do more with him. After the contest, there was a photography workshop where I got to work with some of my favorite photographers! It was so good to see Rich, Theo, Mike and Wayne again!

Until next time my friends!