Editorial By Juan Carlos Lopez

2010 is now here, 2009 in many ways was a good but bad year financially. Many business died and some new ones were not able to exist. The economic crisis affected everyone but it seems competitors did not care and still enrolled in as many shows possible.

The Great Silence

And I am not referring to Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece spaghetti western from 1968 with Jean Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski. Corbucci also directed the masterpiece Django (1966) with Franco Nero.

How many competitors and models disappear from the scene? There are some great models for us photographers that won't shoot again certain styles or won't even shoot at all. It seems also that this industry has had many people that have not found themselves. They see that the fitness industry is not the answer and they bounce somewhere else. Few female competitors like Monica Brant and Jenny Lynn have endured the years and still work around the shows.

I remember a few great models who got pregnant and that ended up their run for modeling and competing. Others got turned off by the industry itself, others just decided their bodies could not take it and some other simply got bored and didn't find it fun anymore.

In some cases women will have certain emotions about competing and modeling and when those emotions don't exist even if they are making money off a member site they will close that chapter in their lives. Few models have been around with member sites that are updated weekly and have made good money from them in the years. But I can only count less than 5. Bodybuilders have a niche market that they could use very well but they seem to be lazy and unorganized and choose the wrong webmasters.

The worst of it all is that many women can make very good money off their bodies, some may not want to which is fine but competing and living is expensive. Many women do want to do it but certain things will stop them and mostly they don't think in a business way and don't realize how much they could actually make. So in summary if you are competing or modeling make the most out of it, do all the shoots, shows and events you can. And try to make a business out of it that way if you don't enjoy it as much at least you are making money from it.

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