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Final 2005 IFBB Rankings, plus changes for '06 scoring
I haven't updated them on the site just yet, but with the conclusion of the Sacramento Pro show, the season for IFBB figure and fitness has come to a close. And who came out on top..? Fitness: Tracey Greenwood Figure: Jenny Lynn Tracey, who competed in 5 of the 7 shows this year, only captured first in one competition — the Europa — yet finished in the top four in every contest she entered except one. With a total of 44 ranking points, she edged out Julie Palmer, who finished with 40 points. By winning the Sacramento show, Jenny Lynn vaulted into first place, beating out Mary Lado by 4 points. Although she only competed in 4 of the 13 shows, Jenny won three of them and placed in second in the Olympia. She was also tied with Davana Medina for the highest PPC score — 13 — which is an element that will become a factor in the 2006 rankings. The PPC, or Points Per Contest, is basically the average points a competitor has earned during the season. So with scores of 15, 12, 13 & 12, Jenny Lynn's PPC for the season is 13. In Fitness, Jen Hendershott had a perfect PPC of 15, however she got that perfect score by only competing in the two weighted competitions (Arnold & Olympia) where you can be awarded 15 points for a win. Although she had a successful season, FitSights rankings award the ability to perform at a high level throughout the competitive season. But next year, having a high PPC will give a competitor a slight advantage. The top competitors in each sport will have the PPC factor combined with their overall score. The competitor with the highest PPC will have their score remain the same, but those competitors who have a lower PPC will have the difference of the two subtracted from their score. For instance: Jen Hendershott finished with a ranking score of 30 and a PPC of 15 Tracey Greenwood finished with a ranking score of 44 and a PPC of 8.8 The adjusted scores would be: Jen Hendershott - 30 (no change due to highest PPC) Tracey Greenwood - 37.8 (original score of 44 minus the difference of 15 and 8.8) Complicated? Not too much. But a better way to judge trends and performances throughout the year and provide a more accurate athlete ranking. We will implement this coming in 2006, however the top 10 PPC rankings will be displayed for 2005. We are also working on an all time ranking, and an all time PPC leaderboard, which will hopefully debut in time for the start of the 2006 season.
Just posted was FitSights 2005 Olympia Expo coverage. Keep in mind that it just centers around the expo, because plenty of other people cover the show itself. Thanks to everyone who agreed to be a part of it — and if you're one of those people reading this, leave a comment and say what's up! Enjoy.
Whenever I think of Latisha, I will always be reminded of one thing.. Ninjas. Yeah, I said ninjas. Alright, so we're out in the middle of nowhere, setting up at our next location, when 2 guys in their late teens/early 20s come bounding through wearing full ninja garb. I'm talking the ninja boots, the ninja jacket and pants, the ninja gloves.. the whole nine. We all stare at each other for a couple of seconds before the ninjas decide to turn around and continue their ninjaly duties.. like fighting crime, assassinating shoguns, and practicing their throwing star techniques. The funny thing is, we ended up driving about 20 minutes to a new spot.. and guess what we see there as well. Ninjas! Maybe there was a convention in town or something, but it was pretty funny. I just can't wait to shoot there again, maybe next time I'll run across some pirates or vikings. Anyhow, I think the photo below speaks to how the shoot with Latisha went. We got some great stuff, and even more impressive than her physique was the fact that she kept her word and didn't cancel the shoot, despite not sleeping much the night before and still be in prep mode for the Sacramento show. I'm always cautious about setting up shoots around shows because I get a high percentage of cancellations, but Latisha was a true pro in every sense. 
Ok, let me just be blunt — Tammy can work it. Quite possibly the best poser I've had the pleasure of working with, my shoot with Tammy produced some memorable images. After arriving at the shoot location, I suggested working around an area that included some round indentations on the surface of the cliff. Within minute, there Tammy was — squatting, stretching, crouching, extending, tweaking, and at times seemingly levitating — all to capture some great images. Keep in mind she was dealing with some painful blisters during all of this as well, so that alone garners her the 'trooper' distinction. We were a little pressed for time due to the expo opening up at 10am, but I was more than happy with what we got. Hopefully Tammy will be, too. 
Olympia Expo - Day 1
I just wanted to share a few photos from day one of the 2005 Olympia Expo. I'll be posting a full set of the photos from the weekend in the upcoming Olympia Expo feature.  EAS girls Amy Fry, Taryn Brody, Dione Miller, Candace Larson, Cassie Weaver and Jo Avery. A big thanks to Jo for helping with gathering up all the girls and tracking down all the names.  Quite the quartet — Deborah Denio, Heather Green, Mandy Blank and Rudy Ouzounova.  FlexStars Felicia Bruno, Esther Taylor and Amy Peters, who will be competing next Friday at the Sacramento Pro competition.
Within hours of driving into Las Vegas I had my first shoot of the night.. and I do mean night. I met with local Las Vegas resident Marisa Eve for a somewhat experimental night shoot. I didn't get in until 9pm, so we didn't really start shooting until 10pm.. but you'd never know it was late at night if you watched Marisa, who was fully of energy and ready to go from the start. Me on the other hand.. ugh.. you don't even wanna know. Let's just say a few things went a bit haywire, but it didn't affect the shoot itself. We lucked out and found a pretty prime spot with some nice views. Because I had to lock in my camera with a tripod, I wasn't able to move around as much as I had liked, but I still think we got some pretty unique shots. Definitely not something I could normally get in socal. I've had a great streak of models that know how to use their face to bring out emotion in the photo, and Marisa continued that streak. Citing Zoolander as inspiration (Blue Steel!), she could turn it off and on like flipping a switch. As she gets older and her physique continues to improve — she just turned 21 a few weeks ago — we should be seeing alot more of Marisa in the industry. 
Shooting at the Olympia
Faithful readers.. despite the Hindenburg-like photographic disaster that took place at the USAs, I'm defying my gut instinct and will try, try again to make a trip out to Vegas to do some shooting. Of course, most photographers would plan months in advance, getting everything lined up way ahead of time. But here at FitSights, this is how we roll.. we schedule shoots the week of. Just think of it as being more spontaneous. Yeah, thats it. So, faithful reader, if you are a female that's attending this weekends Olympia events in Las Vegas and happen to be in somewhat 'in-season' shape, don't hesitate to get in touch with me to possibly set up a shoot. Seriously, I want my camera to be crying for mercy at the end of this weekend because of the amount of photoshoots I shot. Memory cards be damned.. I'll fill up my entire hard drive with photos if I have to. I want my shutter finger to cramp up so much from overuse that I have to go on the DL for a month afterwards. Alright, I'm out of descriptive scenarios. See you in Vegas.
Change is good. Competition is healthy. Thus, the emergence of a new women's fitness federation is a welcome addition to the sport as a whole. WPI — or Women's Physique International — is just getting underway and is currently accepting inquiries about everything from competing to being a regional chairperson. Headed by Brett Bergeron, it was rumored that Kelly Ryan and Craig Titus were going to be involved with the new fed, but in a press release sent out back in September, those allegations were soon denied. A key tenet on the WPI's website seems to be the fact that all management and/or sponsors involved with a competitor are prohibited from judging. In a sport that's solely based on opinion — and not actual quantitative scores, points, hits, or touchdowns — I think this is a wise move. Even if there was no wrong doing, this would eliminate the opportunity for conspiracy theorists to come out of the woodwork when a placing seems out of whack. It'll be interesting to see how this fed takes form over the coming months and into the 2006 season. Here's a tip from me to you though.. implement NABBA style figure. Try it, you'll like it.
Added a small feature to the homepage that may entertain someone out there for a good 10 seconds. In the lower left hand corner of the homepage is an area where you can search the vast library of FitSights for anything your little heart desires. That's always been there, but feel free to utilize it. The new action packed feature is a summary of what the top searches have been the last time the site was updated. For instance, at this moment, numero uno belonged to Jamie Senuk. Clicking on her name will show you all the places Jamie, or her name, appear on FitSights.. this blog entry included now. Pretty helpful? Eh, not a whole lot. But at least now you know who's popular at that given moment.
The Sunday following last week's Tournament of Champions show in Anaheim I was lucky enough to set up a shoot with pro figure competitor Kim Seeley. Kim has been a part of FitSights for awhile now — her Flex File was created in early 2003 — but due to the many miles between us, we had never met or shot until that day. Kim was a great sport and was willing to wake up bright and early, allowing us to have full run at the beach we shot at for a good amount of time. Kim's physique is definitely world class, but it's the intangibles once again that allow for better results. The eyes, the facial expression, the head angles.. Kim was on point the entire shoot. She even brought along accessories to accent her suits, such as the choker and belt seen in the photo below. Great physique. Great model. Can't say much more. 
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