I’d heard rumblings about a new venue and was checking both the Florida NPC and the promoter’s sites pretty much daily. Today, two days before the show, I found that the site has indeed been updated and the venue moved.
The new venue is the Radisson Resort at the Port, located at 8701 Astronaut Blvd. in Cape Canaveral. Spread the word.
Shots from the 2010 Southeastern USA show, held September 18 in Kissimmee, FL, are up on the site.
I apologize for the delay– I have been quite insanely busy, and the shots themselves required some TLC because the show’s experiment in pure-LED stage lighting, while well-intentioned, turned out badly.
Iris Davis did well at the 2010 Floridas and we did a few snapshots in the Rosen lobby afterward.
This amazing woman is 66 years old! The thrill of competing again has her motivated to do more shows next year.
In the meantime, enjoy these shots. I may be able to find a couple more as time becomes free; right now I am swimming in the contest shots from the Southeastern USA.
Shots from the 2010 Florida Championships, held August 21 in Orlando, are going up on the site.
The lighting was marginal at the Rosen Center ballroom– two cans on either side of the stage plus the room’s incandescents set low. Not trusting the light, I shot at 1600 ISO with custom white balance and that seemed to turn out passably well– though of course I prefer some room to work with. (There’s a firmware hack to allow the Rebel to shoot at 3200, but I’ve never been able to get it to work.)
I’ve never been a big fan of flat-floor venues for contests, either; the view from the back rows and side wings is nearly always problematic. That said, both the number of competitors and the level of competition were wonderful.
The bikini contest took up an excess of time, both in the judging and in the post-processing. I am seriously considering just skipping that portion of the shows… we’ll see how many hits those shots get in comparison to the shots of the athletes. To their credit, though, some of the bikini class participants are getting noticeably more athletic… likely tired of looking like the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man in comparison.
I also did a shoot afterward with amazing competitor Iris Davis, and those shots came out spectacularly. Look for it shortly…
Just made some updates to the Florida contest schedule database— mostly adding show times but also updating some Web links and in one case correcting a date– luckily moving to a later one this time, unlike the show last year that got moved up at the last moment– and in another case adding an entirely new show to the list.
It’s just a reminder that schedules change, sometimes quickly, often without notice. While it’s handy to have all this information in one place, the *only* authorized source of show data is the official Florida NPC site.
There are great shows coming this fall and I’m looking forward seeing them. I don’t know if I’ll make it to Atlanta for the Nationals but one never knows.
Shots from the 2010 Dexter Jackson Classic are up on the site.
The show had some excitement early in the form of a small fire caused by a wet light before the Saturday prejudging. Officials came and determined that there was no danger, so the show started after only a brief delay.
The show was held again at the Lazarra Theater on the UNF campus, so this time I chose a spot in the wings but more in line with the stage. I’m a lot happier with the outcome than I have been with shows I’ve shot there in the past.
Update July 2: Last of the shots added. Enjoy!
Update July 1: Another 56 shots added.
Update June 30: Another 30 shots added.
Update June 29: Another 115 shots added.
Update June 28: Another 70 shots added.
Update June 27: Another 100 shots added.
Shots from the 2010 Mid-Florida Muscle Classic, held June 19 in Orlando, are being added to the site.
Thanks for being patient– it’s a big show, I got lots of shots, and it’s going to take a while before it’s done.
I also got some nice shots of friend and model Athena that I will add as soon as I can. She’s as lovely as ever and there was some very nice soft light in front of the venue, which itself was an impressive piece of architecture.