Tampa: Closer

See the sweat - damn you can even see the pores on some!

As we noted the other day (see Triggers), James Cook does take you to the parts other photographers don't reach, and in Tampa, Mr. Rivieccio went in really close during the Figure presentations. Now the idea that muscle women (and in the grand scheme of things these Figure phenoms are HUGE) "look like men", is, sadly, still prevalent, but for me at least, he's really captured the beauty of these phenomenal ladies...



Even as their Protan begins to streak!

Download and zoom in (the pics are easily hi-res enough to take it) and you'll see that even though Tiffany Laumeyer (left) really is sweating profusely, whoever did her tanning application should definitely consider doing a bit more training before their next show. You'll also see where little beads of sweat have collected into tongue-tip size pools where the flawless Danielle Rose's neck meets the top of her pecs.



The big winner in the day was Canada's Melissa Bumstead (below, left). There are so many strong candidates for "The Most Beautiful Woman in Figure" that it could be a conversation that, once started, might never end. Melissa would definitely be part of that conversation though, and her somewhat wild-eyed excitement at being front and centre in the first callout only makes her even more beautiful to my eyes.



Next to Melissa (here, not in the first callout), Maggie Watson gets a bit of a raw deal - the expression on her face at the exact moment Cook clicked could have been more flattering for sure - but again, zoom in and perhaps think about how good the sweat making her neck shine would taste. Or that on her shoulders. Or the trickle running down her pec line... Would you wait for it to trickle down onto her abs, or not?



Amber Eutsey (left, she of the unabashed bicep flex - see Monday's post, Tease), looks like she felt powerful even when she wasn't showing off "illegally", while Mexico's stunning Georgina Lona has the expression of a woman who can't quite believe what she's standing next to. Or perhaps it's what that guy in the front row is doing...



But while Cook went in close on many of the Figure Phenoms, he only stayed in close on Puerto Rican sizzler Karen Reyes. The camera really loves her, as it were.




Should Annie be worried? I doubt it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she were controlling the whole thing from the comfort of wherever she was, ordering Cook to take more of this girl, more of that girl, and much much more of Karen. The idea that after the show Annie and James reviewed all these pics together (and naked) from the comfort of their hotel bed is perhaps the hottest one I've had all week!

Enjoy!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Tampa for another year.