Editorial by Juan Carlos Lopez

The End of the Line

Finally the end of the competitor year has arrived and it was an interesting year. In many ways it was weak and full of turmoil and rumors about a physique and bikini division. The bikini division was the actual rumor that became a fact. NPC Officials did meet at Nationals and discussed matters including bikini category at National level shows and a pro bikini division in the future. The one piece will also be eliminated from the figure category. It will be interesting how shows run for 2009 maybe be much easier for us photographers.

Now how would it work for the industry? Some have spoken that sponsors will leave shows and there will be less coverage by including bikini. Many competitors and this is higher than a 90% have expressed a displease in the upcoming bikini division. The criteria is not set so the assumption is that any girl that has a bikini at home, some good looks and the guts to step on stage will be the standard for the competitor in bikini. The women that train hard don't want someone who is eating a cheeseburger twice a day to step on the same stage as them. While this may be true in some sense I am sure the NPC will choose those women that do look a a bit more fit and would appear on fitness magazines. But this would alienate many potential competitors. If you do look like you somehow work out and win there are tons of girls that don't even touch a weight at all and would be too lazy to compete.

The first couple of shows that include bikini division will tell us much more about it. The HardFitness Model Search we ran in NJ State show depicted a winner who would be good for modeling rather than the best physique. I set the criteria very clearly with my judges and they were able to understand to some extent what I was looking for. Of course we ran tests online before the real show to have them practice what I wanted but once we got to the show it was much harder.

But I believe at least myself as a photographer I am looking forward to see what new faces bikini can bring as there are hundreds of excellent models that are willing to come out to show themselves on stage. The other end of the problem is that the experienced models that do modeling as a business rather than a hobby may not think competing (in a federation that doesn't reward with money) would be a good idea. But we will see what happens next year for all these events.

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