This is my GPF afternote originally written by Korean but I translated into English just to practice English writing. With photos I like I just wanted to leave my impression; all contents are just my opinion so do not behave so serious, OK?
0.
This year's GPF was the second competition for me to watch in live and was the first time to take competition pictures. It was also the first time to cheer one particular skater.
Had to spend lots of money and time to be there: I have been dying with the remaining works for the next two weeks. My health was not good enough to stay 8 hours a day in the ice arena.
But anyway I've been there.
1.
I watched junior free programs except the pairs, all senior events except the pair's FS and the exhibition. What I enjoyed most is the senior ice dancing original dance programs.
This competition was full of accidents and withdrawals, especially for the dancing couples. Two of them withdrew and the others did not show their best performances. The problem was even worse in the free dance, for the playing time is much longer, so in my opinion the only team who did enough to show their capability was Davis/White. However in the OD they just need to stand for three minute so it seemed to be better. Actually I do not like the theme of this year's OD('20~'40) but I enjoyed them anyway. I could get many favorite photos in this session.
In the junior discipline, I recognized the last two teams in the FD : Chock/Zuerlein and Riazanova/Guerreiro. Madison Chock was superb, especailly. She had a sort of on-ice charisma and showed different characters well in her FD and Ex.
2.
2.
Right after the calling of her name, cheering banners appeared all around the audience; right after the end of her performance, toys and flowers poured and filled the rink.
In fact, I was a little bit scared at the cheering. People's passion and acting power was far more than my expectation; Yuna's mental strength was FAR more than the expectation.
Especially in the free skating, there were so many downgrades for the Japanese ladies(except Mao). I didn't expect that Joannie would go up to the fourth.
I was suprised with Carolina Kostner. I had not noticed the speed and charm of her skating until I saw her in live; her style was really attracive. Joannie was also gorgeous with very elegant skating. I wasn't touched with her SP this time but in free skating it seemed that she found herself again.
Mao's jump begins with the height; Yuna's jump is all about the distance. Mao is like a feather; Yuna is a bullet. They are of the same age and race but their skatings are totally different. I never saw them in my own eyes sharing the same rink until this time;as I prefer Yuna, I got more good photos of her than Mao. In my opinion her expression was better and it was reflected to the photos. However I sorely understood why Mao is Japanese No.1 skater; her spin position was one of the most beautiful figure in the whole competition.
I'm just wondering : Will Mao can be the next Arakawa? Will she have the attractiveness which Sizuka shows nowadays in the professional region?
The junior champ, Becky Bereswill had wonderful arms & upper body movements so it was a real pleasure to watch her performance especially spiral sequences. If she was born in Canada or Europe, she could get more spotlight.. just my thought.
3.
It's weird that I lost lots of chances of watching the pairs.I really wanted to watch them but the only competition I could watch was the senior SP.
I like Zhang/Zhang because of their technical superiority and the gentle mood between them(especially after the performance). There is no team who can ease my pain of losing B/S, so I rather choose the powerful technic of Z/Z.
Even though I could not find my dream pair couple these days, watching the pairs is exciting. It is really different to watch the pairs in live; when it comes to the top rankers (like the GPF competition), all of their performances are full of strength and movement. Really enjoyable!
4.
Finally, the men's area... :crying:
I didn't notice Jeremy's extreme-level artisary until the GPF (I saw him at the 4CC and I liked his skating but he was totally different this time). All of his movement were so beautiful and the line of his body was exquisite. When he concentrate on skating, he showed some power to grap eyes of all audience to his movement.
Johnny was like a feather, his landing was a real beauty.
Brian was different from anybody else. He was the king of ice in his SP. Too bad he was so sick and could not compete in Saturday.
Takahiko's SP program was one of my favorite but I was a little bit boring when watching his FS. (I don't know why. His skill was so good and watching his skating was a joy. But anyway I was boring in the end of the FS. Maybe a choreographic problem?)
Tomas has better skating skills than I expect but I noticed he lost some concentration in his FS. He was fabluous in the Ex, so I wish him showing a little more power in the remaining competition. I'll give him the world champion if he performs just like he does in the exhibition.
5.
And Patrick Chan. :More crying:
Oh, boy........ If you felt that bad, you could do small jumps, right?
He jumped, flied across the air and he fell badly. And I was nearly crying every time he fell on the ice.
In the warmup before the SP he doubled almost of his 3A and he even fell once or twice. After watching that I expect he would do small jump, or just 2A. But I was wrong. He jumped more, traveled more; he leaned in the air and fell down. It seemed that he was not doing jumps throughtout the two competition days; he was just throwing his body into the air. He was fighting with his bad condition and the mind problem. I do not know if he won or not; but it's obvious that he was far better in his FS than his SP and it made me relieved a little.
But, for me, his FS performance was a beauty. He was a kind of skater who must be seen in live(Well I already knew it but this time it became more obvious). All of his elements and movements are really better than I saw in the TV or monitor. And he kept fighting until the end of his program! In the end of his final slss I could not but weeping, watching him approacing with such a passion.
Well you can say that it's only because I am his big fan. Anyway it is true I was totally impressed with his FS performance (esp. the latter part).
I will wait for his mature. He is already a great skater for me, but I'll wait him become a great skater for (almost) every figure skating lovers, just like the honorable champions of old ages-J. Curry, B. Orser, K. Browning and A. Yagudin.
6.
Exhibition?
It was of great worth because finally I could see Patrick's smile.
We(Patrick's fans in Korea) did not know Patrick would participate in the exhibition so we removed his cheering banner after the FS. Someone had to put it on again so I did. I was the first common audience who entered the rink on Sunday. I could see the rehersal of the junior syncronized teams waiting for the beginning.
Patrick uses classical musics for his exhibition number and the choreography empasize the skating speed and edgeworks. Sometimes I think he has to do various kinds of programs someday, but this style fits on him exactly. I love Nersson Dorma Ex. most, but the Yesterday program was best for him. When I saw the one-foot skating based on the compulsary, I completly forgot what to say.
I was really happy to see him smiling while skating.
I finally could get some good pictures of the pairs.
This is my favorite style photo. But it's really hard to take......
Carolina was cool in the exhibition! I love this number.
One of the best photos. The junior skaters are so cute.
But I'm a little worried of Domnina/Shabalin after I saw him having difficulties in lifts. Is he OK?
Her movement was lovely. But in my opinion she also needs a new style exhibition program. She can present various kinds of character; she proved it enough in her competition programs. So I just want her to show more characters in the shows, which can be performed more freely. I want to watch her girlish character more often before she completely grows to a woman.
Mao's spin position was a beauty (as I said before) and this dress made it more beautiful. Kudos to the costume designer!
Florent knew how to attract audience; I'm eager to watch him at the Euros!
In the exhibition, Pang/Tong were the photogenic skaters for me.
I think this photo represents the mood of the exhibition. I wish all of the skaters skate with smile, just as this one.
Especially, him...:) (Oh what a fanatic I am!)
7.
I decided to change my camera to more profession one especially because of the noise.
But... money is always the biggest problem : )
My next event is AOI in December 25th(Tomorrow!), and I am planning to go to the Korean Nationals in January.
I'm not sure of having chances of photographing big competitions like GPF. But I'll keep trying; first of all, I'm going to go to the nationals and domestic competitions. Well it's just my hope... I have another job and almost all of the domestic competitions seem to be held in weekdays... Can I get a chance? lol
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