lucas-photo.com

Shots from the 2009 All South are starting to go up on the site.

I made a boneheaded mistake: I had the light meter set to balance the whole frame rather than center-weighted. Either I forgot to reset it or I bonked the dial while swapping lenses, and far too many of the shots were overexposed– hence the black-and-white shots that show up on occasion in the collection.

I also got caught flat-footed when the head judge dismissed a competitor, the only one in her weight class, without performing her mandatories. Sure, I understand that she’d automatically *won* her class and from that aspect there wasn’t much point to keeping her out there, but I’d been shooting all the on-stage competitors equally during the free-posing, which means she only got a couple of shots.

If I’d been paying attention (having been bitten by this before) I’d’ve shot only her during the free-posing and the other competitors during the mandatories. It’s the greater shame because she’s made terrific progress since the last time I saw her, at the 2008 Gainesville.

Either way they were rookie errors that come from letting too much time go between shows. I’ll have to make a checklist for next year, I suppose.

_Update, 2009 Dec 03:_ Last of the show shots are up. Enjoy.

The site overall is still in a state of upheaval (like everything else these days) but with luck I’ll get the final few contests ported over to Coppermine soon, which will allow me to remove the standalone “Contest Photos” page.

WIth some unexpected weekend time available, I thought I’d run down to Tampa to shoot the All Forces championships.

When I got there, I found that the show had been held two weeks previously. My site had out-of-date information.

Strictly my own fault for not-double checking for updates. Just a clear reminder, if one was necessary, to always verify unofficial information against the official sources.

Shots from the 2009 Greater Gainesville prejudging are up on the site.

As last year, promoter Brian Elliot put on a wonderful show, with special attention paid to the lighting and presentation.

Shots from the finals should be up in a couple of days. I’m just back from a quick trip to Cincinnati and, while I enjoyed it thoroughly, I’m *exhausted*. One more good night of sleep should help…

Last shots from the 2009 Florida Championships went up tonight– er, this morning.

Next up: the 2009 Greater Gainesville. Shouldn’t take *nearly* as long, a much smaller show but the shots turned out much better as well.

I managed to get a couple hundred shots from the 2009 Florida Championships up.

For all that, I’ve barely dented the remaining shots, and I’ve got both morning and night shots from the Greater Gainesville to put up as well. (boggle)

_Update 1, Sept 3 2009:_ Another 50 shots up. I’m about 1/3 through.
_Update 2, Sept 7 2009:_ Another 82 shots, which translates to 3 classes. One more men’s class, then things should speed up until I get to the men’s open.
_Update 3, Sept 10 2009:_ Another 186 shots up, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. :)
_Update 4, Sept 12 2009:_ Another 98 shots up. Just 325 left in the post-processing bin, meaning probably another 150 to go.
_Update 5, Sept 13 2009:_ Another 35 shots up.
_Update 6, Sept 21 2009:_ Another 83 shots up. I’m guessing there are about 65-75 left to go.
_Update 7, Sept 22 2009:_ Another 56 shots up. One class left!

*Meanwhile…*

Riddle me this: Someone will spend months, if not years, training, practicing, dieting, tanning, spending moderate fortunes and otherwise making their lives miserable in order to spend about ten to twelve seconds per pose on stage in front of the judges.

Why in the name of all reason would they then spend six to eight seconds of that time *preparing* to pose?

You know the ones I mean. A shot is called, let’s say “side chest”, and they’ll turn sideways, look at the ground, stomp their foot down on the stage behind them, wiggle it around, breathe in and out quickly a few times, flex their legs, straighten their arm, flex out their tricep, send a tweet (“doodz im pwning muh class @ the shw!”), cook some pasta for later, then with the agility of molasses actually _take the side chest pose_.

By which time of course the judges have called for the next pose.

For years I’ve heard the old wives’ tale “you either have to hit your pose FIRST or LAST”. Which is rubbish. The judges can’t judge (not to mention the photographers can’t shoot) until *everyone* has taken their pose.

Stragglers are just holding up the show. I wish they’d just take their pose, and save the contortions for mime class.

Shots from the 2009 Ancient City are up on the site.

I was delighted with my results from this show. A few near the end came out a bit overexposed, but that was caused by PEBCAC (Problem Exists Between Chair And Camera).

It’s a shame, though, that the competitor turnout was so low. Stupid recession…

Apropos nothing, isn’t Eos a nice theme? I wonder if I can hack it and port it over to Coppermine…

Shots from the 2009 Mid Florida Muscle Classic, held June 20 in Orlando, have started to make their way on to the site.

Yes, I’m still *very* busy. And if you feel like rating some of the shots, please feel free to do so.

:)

Update 1: 2009-07-09, 18:20: Another 50 shots up. No more tonight, possible a few early in the morning.

Update 2: 2009-07-12, 16:05: Another 75 shots up.

Update 3: 2009-07-12, 21:10: Another batch up. I’ve lost the count, will have to go back and check later that nothing’s missing.

Update 4: 2009-07-12, 23:00: Another smaller batch up.

Update 5: 2009-07-16, 23:58: Last batch up, just in time for the Ancient City day after tomorrow. Oyez.