I got to shoot this cover because of a Tilley hat...

The place... the host hotel lobby for the WBFF World Championships in Mississauga. This women pointed at me and the hat and asked if I was Michael Palmer.

The woman was Debbie, owner of Natural Muscle Magazine. I'd known about her and her publication for some years, I'd even tried to make contact a few times but without any success. Within a few minutes we were sitting in the hotel restaurant on our first of several "dates" that weekend.

The following weekend was Olympia in Las Vegas and Debbie had asked me to shoot the cover for her 14th anniversary issue. The concept was simple, getting as many of the previous cover models together and shooting them all at the same time.

The shoot took place early on Friday morning just before the shoots to the Olympia Expo opened. Debbie had asked the master of the group shoot, Fitness America owner Lou Zwick to help us with direction.

Lou was exceptional - easy to see how he's earned the title of "master of the group shoot".

The cover, and my first ever published work within the pages of Natural Muscle magazine can be seen below.

Thank you again Debbie for a wonderful opportunity. An opportunity that may not have happened without my wearing my Tilley Hat...