April 30th, 1953

The Junior Chamber of Commerce had a "beauty" contest to name four Misses in connection with "Clean-up", "Paint-up", "Fix-up" week.    It was held in the Hotel Muehlebach's Music Room, Mezzanine Level.  Herb Harper was the photographer.

Pageantry

Sunday night my favorite face (and the rest of her) competed in the Miss United States Teen Missouri contest at the Overland Park Convention Center. Amber was one of 19 girls competing in a combined Kansas/Missouri event. Note to self: don't take a slow lens to a fast dance.
All the girls made a first impression walk at the start... wearing basic black.

One of the best pageant moments was when each girl came out in the summer ware of their choice.... this showed their own individualism... and, I'm proud to say, Amber came in first out of 19.



Evening wear is always the classiest portion of the program.




Next to last on the program the dreaded questions.... two for each contestant. Amber did just fine.

Above, Amber taking first in the individual choice portion and below winning First Runner Up in the Miss United States Teen competition.
All shots taken with the Nikon D5000 and 18-200mm lens (truly not appropriate combination for this kind of event). ASA 3200, available light only.

Blatant Bragging

My client, Amber, won Crown Cover Model with the above picture we took in the America US Miss pageant in St. Louis. She also was the 3rd runner up overall. Congratulations Amber... and yes, she is taken by a fellow who has access to torpedoes.... :) Above shot taken with the Nikon D 3 at F16 and 1/250th, ASA 200... one large softbox above the camera position, one hairlight set to the same power as the mainlight and one background light on the white background....

Meleah

Meleah is the reigning Miss Sooner State Sweetheart 2010 in the American Coed pageant series. We updated her photos last week for her next pageant. She is very poised for her age but perfectly willing to have fun. She lives outside of Oklahoma, City and is 10 years old.
She reminds me (and I know I'm dating myself) of a young Lauren Bacall.....
Her beautiful name means "Mary" in Hawaiian and she LOVES social studies. I think that's cool.



I suddenly realized that probably few would even remember Lauren Bacall.... here she is below at 19.

Francesca

Francesca, America's US Miss Teen 2010 .... was recently in the studio; we updated her photos for her next competition.. Miss Missouri USA (Teen) in November. She is a high school senior this year and lives in a suburb of St. Louis. She is extremely poised for her age and is able to achieve a number of different looks with ease.

Amber

Amber will be competing in a pageant this month in St. Louis... I think she will do very well. She's a trouper. We shot these in the studio last Sunday.

All images were shot with the Nikon D3 and 105mm macro lens with a three or four light setup.