Bill Dobbins (born 1943) is an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

who specializes in

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

, physique and fitness photography. In particular, Dobbins is well known for his work in photographing

female bodybuilders Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s, when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.

and has published two books of images on the subject, ''The Women'' and ''Modern Amazons''. Dobbins was associated with

Ben Weider Benjamin Weider, (1 February 1923 – 17 October 2008) was a Canadian soldier, author, historian (Napoleonic history), fitness proponent, benefactor of the arts, and entrepreneur. He co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFB ...

and bodybuilding organizations such as the IFBB and NPC. Dobbins is also an author and writer for physique magazines. He has collaborated with Arnold Schwarzenegger on several books, including ''Arnold's Bodybuilding For Men'' and ''The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding''.

Career and history

After working in Europe, predominantly in the music industry, Dobbins returned to America to work as a radio producer, primarily at

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...

and WABC in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. He eventually moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

where he became involved with the original

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training eq ...

. During this period Dobbins met several male bodybuilders, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, and undertook promotional work for the gym. This attracted the attention of

Joe Weider Joseph Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of Mr. Olympia, Ms ...

, and Dobbins began writing for ''

Muscle & Fitness ''Muscle & Fitness'' is an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine founded in 1935 by Canadian entrepreneur Joe Weider. It was originally published under the title ''Your Physique'', before being renamed to ''Muscle Builder'' in 1954, and acq ...

'', eventually being made a founding editor of ''

Flex Flex or FLEX may refer to: Computing * Flex (language), developed by Alan Kay * FLEX (operating system), a single-tasking operating system for the Motorola 6800 * FlexOS, an operating system developed by Digital Research * FLEX (protocol), a ...

'' magazine.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbins, Bill American photographers Physique photographers Living people 1943 births