By TOMMY WILLIAMS / L’Observateur / April 25, 1999

Because of the area we live in, when someone uses the term “competition” the first thought that comes to mind is high school football, or at least that’s what I first thought. But for a great number of mothers and their daughters inour area, the term “competition” means beauty pageants, a battleground that can be fought at least once or twice a weekend this time of the year. I call ita battle ground because many of the mothers train their daughters in military style and use all sources of economics to get yet another crown or photogenic award.

Although there’s not that much advice I could give anyone on dresses and makeup, I can give you moms a little advice on how to produce more competitive photogenic photos.

First, has anyone ever noticed how beautiful fresh flowers look. Well,regardless if you are a man, woman or child, nothing can improve a photograph more than freshly cleaned hair and skin. No matter how muchmakeup and hair spray you try to apply, it will never look fresh unless it starts out fresh. If you wash the face and not the hair, the face will becomejust as oily as it was before in only 30 minutes or so. The makeup and hairwill easily last through many hours of photo shooting if you start with a clean slate (face and hair).

Next question is, should I get black and white photos or color photos? Nothing, in my own opinion, looks more impressive than black and white photogenic photos. Black and white prints tend to be more forgiving thancolor prints when facial imperfections are present; they also appear less doctored if further steps are taken to compensate for those imperfections.

Finally, “the look!” It is always easier to achieve a look that reflects your true personality. For example, a person who really has no interest inmotorcycles may tend to look a little uncomfortable on one. Besides justpersonality, also consider what and how much of your body parts are to be to included in the photograph. Head shots alone don’t always reveal enough bodyparts to convey a person’s personality. Simply put, they need more of you toknow you.

In the end, just keep in mind that pageants as well as any photogenic contest are subjective; it’s how the judges feel at that particular moment that day.

That means that you must have at least four to five photos that you can rotate from contest to contest. More importantly, remember that “real beautyis only in the eyes of the beholder.”Back to Top

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