Another friend, another site

As you can tell, things have been slow on the FitSights front lately. The site will soon go through a bit of a transformation, focusing alot more on photography and, well, not much more. But that's neither here nor there, because this post is about another site..

My good friend Melissa Deal recently launched her site, and its pretty cool if I do say so myself. She was the one who organized and put the site together, which is pretty impressive. Beauty *and* brains? C'mon now, that's not fair to all the other girls out there.

So check it out, and if you feel like throwing down 12 bones, you can join her members section -- which I'm told has some unique elements in it (like members get to vote on photoshoot and video clip ideas).

Woo! Have fun.

Photo Finish - Crystal Lowrey

This evening I shot with NPC San Diego overall winner and NPC LA short class winner, Crystal Lowrey. Crystal is a couple days out from the USAs, where she'll be stepping on a national stage for the first time. She's built up a good amount of momentum in Southern California, blowing away the competition in her class, so it will be interesting to see how she stacks up against a higher caliber of competitor in Las Vegas.

We shot at a somewhat secret spot I know of nearby, and although it was a little chilly and cloudy, I told Crystal to enjoy it while she could because the forecasts for Vegas this weekend is — no joke — 107 degrees with thunderstorms.

Which brings me to a personal conundrum. I have about 20 people that want to shoot with me during the USAs, but in those pore-melting conditions, there are really only two times I can shoot — sunrise and sunset. Anything else would be unbearable, for myself and the competitor. So it's established that my window to shoot is small, then let me also add that the only real day competitors can shoot is Sunday. So that means I have two 2-hour slots available for 20 people.

wtf..

Also, for the first time ever, I'm actually more looking forward to going on the trip to support a friend thats vying for a pro card, not really just to shoot. However, I almost feel like I'm obligated to drag all my equipment with me to shoot, just because I am who I am and I do what I do. And now I have to pick a handful of girls to shoot with, alienating all the others in the process because they "weren't good enough".

So, that being said, I still have no idea what I'm doing for the USAs. I'm gonna figure it out tomorrow though, because time is running out. I just hate saying "no" to people, and I know I'm going to have to do that to ALOT of folks for this competition. Maybe I'll just pick names out of a hat or something, I dunno. Ah well, you've gotta be the bad guy every once in awhile..

Photo Finish - Melissa Deal

Fresh off her overall figure win at the 2007 NPC LA competition last night, I thought it was only appropriate to post a photo of Melissa Deal, someone you've seen photos of before here on The Eye, but maybe not a photo like this.

This was taken on Thursday, just a couple days out from the show in Los Angeles.

Hopefully Melissa's success at the LAs is foreshadowing to even bigger things at the USAs. All I know is that I'm wearing my lucky shoes and jacket to the USAs to do my part. And yes, I know it'll probably be 120 degrees in Vegas, so I'll be the one collapsed outside the venue due to heat stroke, possibly twitching and foaming from the mouth.

Be sure to say hi.

Nicole Wilkins sweeps at Team U

It's only fitting that Nicole Wilkins chose to wear a Wonder Woman costume during her fitness routine, because she pulled off something suitable for a superhero at the 2007 Team Universe — an NYC Sweep. Competing in both fitness and figure, Nicole not only won her pro card in each discipline, but she also won the overall in both as well, something I don't believe has even been done before. Jessica Booth of Colorado won a pro card in fitness and figure at the 2005 Team U, but did not capture either of the overall titles.

On the professional side, the striking Zivile Raudoniene took the top spot. Following her were Shannon Meteraud and Jennifer Gates, with all three earning prestigious Olympia bids.

Lost in all of the Nicole Wilkins sweep talk were the 16 — yes, 16 — other competitors that got pro cards in either fitness or figure. They included Jessica Rohm and Bethany Wagner, both winning their classes in fitness, and Maggie Blanchard, Erin Riley and Michelle Mayberry coming in second.

In figure, the class winners were Huong Arcinas, Tara Chandler, Becky Clawson, Krissy Chin, Nicole, and Theresa Anthony. Also winning pro cards and coming in second in their respective classes were Meriza DeGuzman, Tara Alicki, Heather Green, Hazel Nelson, Stacy Clary and Melissa Griffin.

Yep, the professional figure world just got a whole lot bigger. And just wait until after the USAs in two weeks!

Congrats to all of the winners.. and also congrats to Jodi Miller for winning her lightweight bodybuilding class, after making the (successful) transition from figure after last year's USAs.

Check out coverage at the usual suspects (not here).. Bodybuilding.com, HardFitness, and Muscular Development.

DWD - Driving While Dieting

More and more, I see my figure friends getting into fender-benders and somewhat serious car accidents, and I can't help to hypothesize that this isn't just a coincidence. In the final few weeks before a show, competitors are physically exhausted and mentally drained, even though its that same exact time when cardio is ramped up and a number of things on the contest prep checklist need to be attended to. Things like mental focus and reaction time have to be severly hampered, and when combined with a steering wheel, many things can go very wrong.

So people, be careful out there when you're driving, especially those last couple weeks prior to stepping on stage. I know these fender-benders aren't always your fault, but just remember that car accidents are no joke.

Photo Finish - Christine Aguilar

Little did I know that my shoot with Olesya a few months ago would spark so many ideas and change the overall styling of my shoots to this day. First it was Gina, then MaryJo, and last night it was Arizona figure competitor Christine Aguilar.

Stating that she loved the styling of those past shoots, Christine put together a little (figuratively and literally) baseball inspired outfit. Lucky for me, I knew of a handful of diamonds nearby so we were able to match the look of the outfit with the look of the surroundings. A baseball themed outfit in a hotel hallway? Not so good. But a baseball themed outfit on an actual field? Mo-ney!

So I supplied the location (and the bat), Christine supplied the great themed outfit and awesome physique, and we went to work.

We also ended up shooting at the beach post-sunset and got some beautiful photos, but you've seen enough beach stuff from me (edit: ok, I lied, I'll post up one of those at the bottom). And of course EVERYTHING can't go perfect, and we found that out when the Parking Police decided to ticket Christine and her fiance, but not me, for staying in the lot for too long after sunset. I mean, I know I'm charming and all, but I didn't think *I* would be able to get out a parking ticket, and not Christine!

Olesya's new site

I usually don't post blog entries whenever a new site goes up, but I'll make an exception this time around.

One of my best buds in the industry, Olesya Novik, launched her revamped website not too long ago. Olesya is an extremely talented and gifted person, with writing being one of her specialties; so be sure to check out her Training Zone, which contains alot of her amusing and informative soliloquies.

Good times.