Photo Finish - Sacramento

In past years I didn't really travel to shows outside of California in fears of setting up photoshoots and having mass cancellations (see NPC USAs 05), and in turn wasting alot of time and money. However, in 2006 I rolled the dice a bit, travelling to exotic locales like Sacramento and Bellevue, and I must admit, things have gone well. Just about every session has gone through and I've been lucky enough to find areas to shoot that capture the feel of the aforementioned exotic locales. So who knows, maybe next year you'll see me pop up at a show in Vermont or Wisconsin or Swaziland.. keep an eye out for future travel announcements.

Ok, on to the photos from the Sacramento Pro weekend (in 'chronological' order):

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My first shoot of the trip was MySpace pal and IFBB figure pro Arina Manta. Originally from Romania but now residing in Sydney, Australia, Arina is a definite photo shoot pro. She's one of those models that all I really have to do is sit back and click the camera, because she had a full arsenal of poses and expressions at her disposal. I actually got the opportunity to hang out with Arina a bit during the weekend, and it was interesting to hear an international athlete's view on competiting in the states. A really cool person in general, Arina is someone I hope to work with again in the near future.

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Wrapping up a short day of shoots on Friday was Nicole Pitcher, helping me quickly cover two continents-worth of competitors in just a few hours. I worked with Nicole during the summer months in Malibu, but this time the locale and weather conditions were decidedly different. Gone were the warm dusk temperatures and soft sandy beaches, and insert cloudy, foggy days with dirty river sand and a strange, indecipherable odor. Nevertheless, we had a good time shooting and made the best of the conditions. Personality-wise, shooting with Nicole is always a highlight of a trip.

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Saturday brought upon a photoshoot moritorium, so Sunday was the next chance to shoot the Sacramento competitors. With the recent time change, the window to shoot outdoors became increasingly narrower, so getting alot of shoots in required an earlier start time. Only thing is, early in November usually equals frigid, so finding someone.. uhm.. brave enough to conquer those temperatures might be tough. Thankfully, first time NPC competitor Erin Heath was up to the task.

A quick story regarding Erin.. we had corresponded just a bit before the show, and we agreed to shoot on Sunday morning. However I never saw her photo before heading out to Sacramento, so I wasn't exactly sure who I was shooting. At the night show, they announce each competitors name before they do their model turns at center stage, so I was doing my best to pay attention to the names so I could see who I was going to be shooting. Earlier at the prejudging, I was talking to über-photographer GeneX about some competitors — basic "do you know her name?" sort of things — and there was this one raven-haired competitor in the B-Class that I asked him about, but to no avail. So at the night show, I said that wouldn't it be funny if that competitor I had asked about was actually this mythical "Erin Heath" I was supposed to shoot. So the B-Class came around, and this particular competitor was next in line, when the emcee said..

"Next up... Er..Arianna.."

Doh! Got my hopes up with that first syllable, Mr. Emcee. So I wait for "Arianna" to take the stage.. but wait! Theres some confusion at the podium!

"Sorry about that, it appears Arianna isn't here. Next up.. Erin Heath."

Yes! I win! I win! What I won, I'm not sure, but that didn't stop me from high-fiving myself a couple times and giving myself (and Erin) a round of applause.

Ok, so that wasn't a quick story. Anyhow, Erin is a gorgeous competitor with a bright, bright future. The early morning fog provided a pretty dramatic background for some of the shots, looking like we were shooting at Sleepy Hollow rather than Sacramento. Cool stuff.

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Part two of my Saturday morning four-photoshoot marathon was Natalie Bastiao, one of my favorite people to work with. There are some models that I can just click with automatically personality-wise, and Natalie is one of those select few. We had a great shoot at a not-so-exotic locale the last time out (a hotel in Culver City), so the pressure was on to replicate that same success in Sacramento. The fog and cold didn't really help, but as things went along we were able to capture some great images. Natalie is thinking about doing the Excalibur in a couple of weeks, so we'll see if another photoshoot is in store in the near future.

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Like Erin, Carissa Duran was another first time competitor and first time model.. but it didn't take long for Carissa to gain a fan following during our photo shoot. The location of our shoot was at the bank of a river that is popular with local fisherman. Throughout the day, the fish really seemed to be biting where we were shooting, because throngs of boats would slowly cruise into the area and float off the shore. I think there must have been some rare birds in the trees behind us too, because alot of people had binoculars pointed our way.

Anyhow, one boat actually pulled up to the shore, and I could see a father and son begin to approach Carissa. Turns out the boy wanted a photo with Carissa, so dad obvously couldn't deny his son this wish, so I'm sure he begrudgingly agreed to take the photo. The kid really had to twist dads arm on that one.

Carissa plans on doing the Excalibur as well and hopes to bring in a leaner, tighter package to the stage now that her first show is in the books. Only 18, she has a plenty of time to make a name for herself in the sport.

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Last, but definitely not least, was Sacramento Pro figure champ Gina Camacho. Gina and I had talked off and on about shooting for years now, and it was definitely worth the wait. Now one of the top figure athletes in the world, Gina has a ridiculous physique (see first place finish at the show) and although she claims she's still a bit of a photoshoot newbie, she knows how to work the camera. After the usual photoshoot acclimation process that I go through with everyone (I learn how I can talk to them, how I can joke around with them, how open they are to instruction, etc), Gina and I were rolling along with great shot after great shot. I also have to give props to her husband who was a huge help during the shoot, and was equally cool.

My only hope is that now that I finally shot with Gina, I don't have to wait 3-4 years to shoot with her again. I don't want photoshoots with someone like that to come around as often as the Winter Olympics!