I am moving my journal over to my www.leswaller.com site and opening to other blogs to go with it. It is time to get to work! :-)

I saw in the paper that there was going to be a bodybuilding competition the next weekend. Ever since I was in the military I was interested in body building; however, I never stuck with it long enough to really make a difference for myself. As a photographer I saw this as an opportunity to meet with people who were really interested in how their bodies looked. And, I knew it could give me the opportunity to use light and shadows to take good photos of a subject most photographers enjoy shooting.
I also saw this as an opportunity to try to work in photo journalism because it was a subject that I had an interest in shooting and writing about. I saw an ad in the paper asking if anyone was interested in writing articles for the "Morning Calm" and responded to it. I did not realize at the time (a big oversight on my part) that the ad was contained within the Area III section. I got an almost immediate response giving me information on whom to contact in Area II, since the event took place in Yongsan. Unfortunately, I did not receive any responses to my inquiries from Area II "Morning Calm" points of contact or even "Stars & Stripes".
I next contacted the Fitness Director who was planning the event, Tracey Briggs. She was a huge help in getting the word out to the competitors that I would like to do interviews and that I was trying to write an article on the event. I got responses from five out of eleven competitors and also from Tracey Briggs; I was amazed at the results from my inquiry. Thanks to everyone who responded to my request!!!
The night show was to begin at 1800 (6 PM), but by then the competitors would have already been on site nine hours earlier! It all started with the registration and weigh-in. I was expecting to be able to take some photos of the scale as it bounced up and down...talk about old school thinking! They had a digital scale that measured their weight. In retrospect, I should have taken some photos of them with their toes pointing towards the digital readout. Here is where my lack of experience as a photographer and having become more of an introvert both hamper my ability to be a good photographer. I have already gotten permission to photograph the entire event and yet I am shy about taking photos when I see one of the competitors is having to dress down before getting on the scale because her weight is close to the line the differentiates her class from the next higher class. I have had this happen on several other occasions where I feel uncomfortable about taking pictures out of respect for the subject's privacy.
The lighting was really difficult at the weigh-in area because of the indirect sunlight coming in the side window and the fluorescent lights overhead. I had already decided not to use flash for the event because I wanted to be as unobtrusive as I could to the competitors. Also, by using camera mounted flash it would take away the shadows that would help to better define their muscular development. Although in the registration area that would not have been the case since everyone was fully clothed. Need to think faster on my feet in the future.

Between the registration and the prejudging most of the competitors were using a tanning method where their bodies were sprayed with a tanning mixture. I am thinking tanning saloons and sitting out in the sun, boy have things changed since the 80's.

Around 10:45 the competitors listened to a prejudging brief given by Tracey Briggs. They were all gathered around the judging table facing the stage. I took photos of the Korean workers setting up weights and also of Ryan Farnham being interviewed by Danielle Washington of the Armed Forces Network. Later on she gave me her business card and said I could submit a paragraph of the event with five good quality jpgs. I submitted those on the following Friday and am waiting to see if she will use them or not. I will send her an email later this week to confirm and get a link.
At 12:00 they began the prejudging. It was to be the same event as the evening show without the individual choreographed posing routine and other added show pieces. For this event I stuck to taking my photos from out on the floor where the judges were seated. The spotlight and some of the floor lights on the stage were playing havoc on my photos. Between the light temperature differences and the washing out of the competitors due to the strength of the spotlight I am surprised to have the photos I do. In some cases I had to go to black and white because I could not correct one light without affecting the overall lighting and colors.
The judging moved very quickly, in order for me to shoot each individual competitor I had to frame, click, frame, click, frame, click...just in time for them to turn 90 degrees to the next position. The competitors were coming up in groups of up to three people at once. Thank goodness for my having the 70-200mm f2.8 lens! I could not have even tried with the kit lens that I bought with the camera several years ago.

Within a little more than an hour it was finished. During that morning and the prejudging I took well over 200 pictures. The competitors were now free until the 16:45 (4:45 PM) Competitors Night Show Brief. I took the time to eat and meet up with a possible model that wanted to work with me to build her own portfolio and assist me with my photography. After that I went home and downloaded my 4GB memory card so I could have it if I needed it as well as my other 4GB card for the night show. Plus, I wanted to see how the photos turned out and what improvements I could make for the night show. I decided to go backstage during the night show to photograph the women competitors warming up prior to the night show and also photograph the male competitors warming up while the female competitors were running their part of the show.
During the show I found the best place for me to be was to shoot from the sound room on the second floor looking down at the competitors. It was a full house and it was standing room only. It was tough getting back to my bag to replace memory cards during the show; there were so many people in attendance.

I have a set of the competition photographs on my flickr account page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leswaller/sets/72157623273654245/

I am rebuilding my web page, so please bear with me. To follow, a blog on the 2010 INBF Bodybuilding and Figure Competition held in Yongsan, Korea on Saturday, 6 February 2010.

Finished with my MBA through the University of Maryland. Now it is time to work out the kinks in my photo workflow and get to updating this page on at least a weekly basis if not more often.

Happy Holidays!

Les

Okay, it is time to get serious! Since October, I had a photoshoot in Japan in December; a photoshoot of a wedding reception in Seoul in January; and a possible shoot of menu items in a restaurant in Itaewon in February. Things are really picking up!

My personal laptop hard drive crashed in December, so I was able to get a MacBook Pro in mid-January. I hope to get the software I need to support my photography on the Mac by the end of February. I've started making my own business cards using my own photos and printing them on photo paper. :-)

I'm considering making this a more useful blog for those who are considering modeling. I am also looking at doing a project on Buddhist temples in Korea. This will definitely be a long-term project, but one that I am very interested in doing.

Wow!!! What has happened in the past year??? Well for one thing I started to pursue my MBA again through a University of Maryland online series of courses. That has taken a lot of my spare time. I have begun to process my photos that I took for Xmas of '07 up to the present. That will take some time. I have also been going over some art books and learning to look at and appreciate good art in the form of photographs. I have also purchased a couple of Photoshop CS2 books so I can improve my processing skills and speed up the workflow so I can get caught up. I will put in a more detailed journal update soon.

I have my own site dedicated for posting pics I've been either commissioned to take or that I take and am allowing others to purchase prints, cups, mugs, puzzles with the pics on them.

http://photos.leswaller.com/

Really busy these days. I am now on a business trip to Japan I have not had time to take any pics yet while here. Perhaps next week things will settle down a little bit.

Moved into a different apartment last week. I have rearranged furniture to allow me to build my own home studio when I come back from Japan. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Wow! What an upgrade from the Nikon D50 this is. I bought the D200 and it is really nice. I have downloaded a good user's guide from www.kenrockwell.com

There is a lot to learn about the camera. I really enjoy using the feature that allows me to fire my SB800 flash unit remotely. Fun, fun, fun!

This month I am really busy at work and will have no more free days until September. I cannot wait for September. Although, it will still be rather hot and humid in September here in Seoul.

TTFN

Well, then!

I have 20 photos now in my portfolio. I got two approved from our trip to Semiwon. It is along the river and there are fields of Lotus flowers and a nice view of the river.

I have also decided to be more active in the current wants/needs forum and have uploaded two more pictures for approval based on a customer wanted something specific for a book he is going to publish. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but the graphic file I saw submitted looked pretty good to me, too. No problem there as it gave me more practice with the camera and if my photos are approved I'll have 22 photos in my portfolio.

My goal is to have 500 photos in my portfolio by the end of September, 2008. I have already made my plans on how I'm going to get there. :-)

Wish me luck!

Les

Last night was another productive evening. After taking an after-dinner nap, I shuffled around the apartment for about five minutes trying to determine what I should do. Finally, I decided I needed to spend more time working on my photography endeavor.

I decided to do a search on organizing a photography business to make sure I was on the right track. I came up with this wonderful site that gave some insight into how to start a photography business. After a couple of hours time I had completed my marketing plan for Les Waller's Photography using his provided template.

In addition to that, I took advantage of smugmug's 14-day free trial to setup my site. I want to use to enable clients to select the photos they want and how they want them; pay for them; and have them delivered by mail to their address. This will save me a lot of time that I do not have.