Child beauty pageants: fun or fiendish?

[Butterfly]

It doesn't even look like a live human, let alone the child.

[cheetopia]

The purpose is to win the photo contests, that's it. And to make DD (darling daughter) look like Barbeeeee!

[card]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

I have another question.. what is the point of doing some fucked up headshot photo, and then photoshopping it to within an inch of its life, using fake eyes, noses, lips and other crap to make the original shot look like some sort of matte barbie doll monstrosity? I mean.. do they not realize that the finished product looks NOTHING LIKE THE CHILD IN QUESTION?

Seriously.. i don't understand that. If it doesn't LOOK like the kid, what's the point??

No shit. It was a carefully calculated scheme by the vendors to suck some more money out of stupid pageant moms. I never understood it either. It's out of control and there is no way to justify it. NONE of the kids look anything like their photos. It's basically judging on the quality of the retoucher, not the photo subject. I always thought they should judge the damned photos WHILE THE KID IS IN FRONT OF THEM. I did have a glitz picture taken of my daughter in 2003, but back then the retouching was minimal, they basically just filled in eyelashes, cleaned up stray hair, and smoothed the skin out a little more, i.e. get rid of dark circles under eyes.

Portfolio shots are another pet peeve. When you think of portfolio, you think of outdoor shots or something like that. I have taken beautiful photos of my daughter outside, in the park, or by a landmark, etc. You'd think those would qualify as portfolio, and at one time long ago, they did. NOW they are just rridiculous. I've seen some where it's basically a cartoon of Judy Jetson with a pageant kids head attached, or Cinderella with the kid's head. Fu**ing ridiculous, we NEVER could make sense of those, but for whatever reason, those are what WIN.

I'll see if I can dig up the photographer's websites and you can see this atrocity.

[cheetopia]

Saw one earlier today where they had a girl photoshopped into a tropical scene surfing and another as a genie coming out of a bottle. Too ridiculous of stuff.

[card]

Originally Posted by cheetopia

Saw one earlier today where they had a girl photoshopped into a tropical scene surfing and another as a genie coming out of a bottle. Too ridiculous of stuff.

OMG YES!!! I saw that one too Cheetopia!!

I did some googling, and found some sites to entertain and shock:

OPP ~ Stuio3305 ..... National Award Winning Photographers

Welcome To Toni Overby Online

[Grimmlok]

That's demented. The whole thing is demented! LOL

How do they justify that "remember, it's for the children" bullshit in their heads? I mean, it's not. At all. Its for their own fucking egos.

[card]

I knew you would be in utter disbelief over these. It's hard to believe this shit actually is for real and people are SO SERIOUS about it. And the photo contest are the biggest rip-offs, yet the idiots continue to do it. And it's for bragging rights, for sure. Nothing more. How can you justify a PHOTO contest when it's not even a photo, it's a cartoon?

[cheetopia]

OMG!!! I am so stealing that Jetsons photo and getting my head photoshopped in as my avatar!

[OCK]

Originally Posted by twitchy

$325 for a used swimsuit!

She looks like one of the Girls Next Door.

[mrs.v]

One just joined,bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cheetopia]

Ha-Le-Frickin'-Lu-ja~

[DeChayz]

Don't be haters, it takes a lot of skill to make an 8 year old look like a cougar

[Annika]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

I have another question.. what is the point of doing some fucked up headshot photo, and then photoshopping it to within an inch of its life, using fake eyes, noses, lips and other crap to make the original shot look like some sort of matte barbie doll monstrosity? I mean.. do they not realize that the finished product looks NOTHING LIKE THE CHILD IN QUESTION?

Seriously.. i don't understand that. If it doesn't LOOK like the kid, what's the point??

i can't even begin to imagine what that's doing to the poor kid's self esteem when they aren't good enough to to have their own nose on their picture.

and those glittery gold eyes. WTF. it's children of the corn, man.

can you imagine what's going through a fricking four year old's head when she looks at herself and she's not real?

i think i need to major in psychology, then specialize in pageant victims, i'm sure quite a few of them would be coming through my doors in the future.

[Lobelia]

*gets settled in the comfy chair*

[Butterfly]

Originally Posted by mrs.v

One just joined,bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just saw that!!! Love the name!!!!!