In a society were obesity has become a major concern and the illnesses related to this condition such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension are at rise, it is imperative for people to realize that exercise should be a habit that must acquire and do it every day.
My relation with fitness and nutrition did not start as a means to improve self image, but it was taught to me by my father as a necessary mean to sustain good health and be able to cope with the everyday stressors of life. As a youngster this idea was a little hard to grasp. I was always very energetic and not many things phased me, whether I worked out or not. Now at the age of 26 I see how important and wise my father was for pushing me on that path.
My name is Gregory Panselinas, I was originally born in Greece and I have been living in New York for the past 9 years. My motivation for coming to NY was to finish college. I went to Hunter College City University of NY and I acquired a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food science. I have been an athlete all my life and I cannot remember a period of my life where my week went by, without engaging in some sort of sport or physical activity. Fitness for me goes beyond all the biological and medical boundaries. There is a sense of self strength that is associated with it, being able to cope with any challenge the world throws on your feet, and a drive that makes you want to conquer the world and that for me is one of the most important gifts of being fit.
My relationship with fitness modeling has come a bit late in my life. As I was approaching the end of my college degree, many people including my father kept pushing me to go into modeling. My first photo shoot was done a year ago and I have to say it came to be a great success. The problems that I faced in my pictures were the fact that many agencies wanted to promote me as a fashion model rather than a fitness model. This meant that I had to lose my fit structure and get skinny with the motivation that I could make more money as a fashion model. However, my passion for fitness made me look beyond that obstacle and I decided not to sign with anyone, but rather dedicate a big part of my life in showing the world my fitness accomplishments. In November 2009 I entered a fitness modeling competition called Fitness America World Tour or commonly known As Musclemania and I placed 3rd. This for me was a great accomplishment as it was my first competition and it ranged from people all over America and WORLD.
After my success in the competition, I started getting a lot of contacts from photographers trying to arrange photo shoots with me. My first experience with a fitness Photographer came to me recently, in early December, when John Mitchell with BBpics contacted me and said he would be really interested to work with me on a day that my schedule permitted me. Coincidently during that period of time Men’s fitness Magazine in corporation with Wilhelmina modeling agency had contacted me to congratulate me for my selection to be in the semifinals of a fitness competition that I have enrolled about 2 months ago. The news were very exciting, yet, I did not have many professional pictures nor a video of myself that was required as part of the contest.
John was Kind enough to arrange a meeting that we were going to put everything together in a timely manner. My experience with BBpics was exceptional. The photo shoot and the videos were taken outdoors and despite the cold weather, we were able to work it out in a very timely manner. John holds a true spirit of a professional photographer he was able to capture the work of my fitness efforts and showed me ways to present my body that were very unique from any other shoot that I have done.
Thank you BBpics!
