lucas-photo.com

Shots from the 2009 Jacksonville Championships (a.k.a Jax Physique) are up on the site.

I’m not sure what it is about Jacksonville that all the venues seem to be dark pits, but I smelled trouble on the wind as soon as the front door attendant ushered me around to the side entrance. Turns out the main auditorium was in use by the Sunshine District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, and the bodybuilding was held in a smaller auditorium around the corner.

It’s been far too long since I’ve sung any barbershop. One day soon, perhaps… my voice is still in pretty good shape.

Anyway. I shot the show at 1600, which I don’t like to do, and ran a custom white balance as I couldn’t be sure whether the lights were tungsten, incandescent, or agitated fireflies. A usuable fraction came out all right, though, and though the show was probably the smallest I’ve ever attended, all went smoothly.

Ironically, due to the river and the ginormous mirrored buildings next to the Jacksonville Landing, the area outside was literally awash in light– a magnificently lit setting. I didn’t know anyone at the show well enough to suggest an outside shoot, though, and didn’t feel quite up to making a new connection– my mind was already elsewhere after the prejudging ended.

This is the first show I’ve been to this year, and so is the first in which I’ve encountered the “Bikini” class. There are several reasons that I have been and remain skeptical.

• First, it seems too much of a throwback to the Sixties– is the next step to eliminate all women’s athletics and go back to wet T-shirt contests?
• Second, the most seasoned bikini-circuit competitor in the world is going to appear mushy when compared to the athletes– that has to be a bit initimidating.
• And third, the last thing that women’s bodybuilding needs is _one more_ path to siphon off the potential competitors. Fitness and figure are damaging enough.

Oh, I could have a long theological discussion with the NPC officials about it, but they would just end up noting that it isn’t all about what I think, that the shows aren’t held for my personal benefit, and things would spiral downward from there. Who needs that bother? Not me.

;)

Seriously, though, enjoy the photos (and the short turnaround). There’s another one coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Shots from the 2008 All South in St Augustine, FL, have been added to the site. There are a couple hundred more to go but I’ve gotten the hang of the Coppermine process and should be able to finish in the next day or so.

Followup #1: Another 100 shots up. Only 111 to go, should be able to finish those tomorrow.

Followup #2: Only got 50 in tonight. 61 to go.

Followup #3 All shots up.

I’ve moved the Stock photos into Coppermine so they’ll be searchable and somewhat easier to navigate. I’m not done tweaking the theme yet but it’s getting there.

I’m also close to wrapping up the 2008 All South show; this (and all future) shows will also be in Coppermine. Enjoy.

I’ve added the shows I plan to shoot in 2009 to the site. There are six, all close to home and well-lit venues.

“But,” I hear you cry, “what about the 2009 Nationals? In Hollywood, Florida?”

Probably I’ll go.

I wish that I had more time to devote to what has become a delightful but costly pastime. I expect next year to be better.

Apparently it was circulated via email about a week ago; Ian forwarded me a copy and I parsed it into the database and updated the query page.

It’s messy data from a programmer’s standpoint, but I’d written an interface some time ago that not only eliminates most of the typing but enforces some consistency among things such as telephone numbers and bodybuilding class orders.

The smart thing to do to make this all a lot easier would be to have the promoters _themselves_ update their show information through a similar interface, as well as keeping their contact information and the list of venues current.

Once the data is clean, publishing via print/Web/PDF/whatever becomes cake.

So while my version is a little cleaner and, as mentioned before, *searchable*, it still must not be mistaken for the officially published schedule available on the NPC Florida Web site.

Yes, it’s an actual factual site update! Real new photos and everything!

The 2008 Armed Forces show is now up on the site.

Well you know how busy I’ve been, with the wedding coming up, the job situation, and everything else seemingly falling more and more behind.

But there’s hope yet. I’ve been sneaking in work on the site whenever I can fit it, and happy that I managed to finish a section that can be published. I’m not delighted with the quality of my work in this show– the auditorium has excellent lighting, but the banners tended to muck up the white balance, and as I recall the show was paced far faster than one that size needed to be. But there are a few nice shots in there.

Speaking of, word on the street is that the 2009 Florida NPC schedule is just days away from release. Afterward of course it’ll take me a bit to incorporate it into the LP database (thereby making it searchable).

All South is the last show I have for 2008, and no promises as to when it’ll be ready but it hopefully won’t take as long as this last one. I’ve also got updates for Toni‘s page, some new stock photos, a new page (shh! a secret for now), an update to Adrienne Ann Smith‘s page, and probably a half dozen more I don’t remember right now.

In addition, I’ve got a *ton* of cool stuff waiting to update the Six Flags Atlantis Memorial, so sometime very soon I’ve got to get that done.

So stay tuned, and thanks for your patience.

Just because I was in a mood, I skimmed some of the recent (and not-so-recent) shots I’d been meaning to add to the Stock page and picked a few nice ones.

It also entailed making the navigation button smart enough to handle two digits– which took less that a minute to figure out and implement. Sometimes I think I’m getting the hang of this programming thing– though of course now I would (hopefully) never presume the single-digit restriction of scale in the first place. :)