Erin Fredrichs

projects: chasing beauty

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it," ~ Confucius

   
  
     
  
Seven-year-old Alexandra Jones winces as her mother, Tammy Larkin, applies eyeliner on her in preparation for the Sunburst Beauty Pageant at the University Mall in Athens, Ohio. About 50 children ranging in ages from infant to 13 from southeastern Ohio towns participated in the pageant in hopes of winning a chance to compete in at the statewide pageant.
   
"When you are on stage, you can express whoever you want to be," said Morgan Piper. "It's almost like getting to live out a fantasy." During a Belladonna Burlesque Review performance at the Guild Theatre, Piper, who becomes Henrietta LeCoup on stage, swings her top above her head. "She (Henrietta) is who I want her to be. If i'm feeling particuallry raunchy, she's raunchy. She's just however I'm feeling."
  
     
  
   
Miss American Coed New Mexico Hostess for 2005 Sheston Culpepper watches the moves of 2005 Miss New Mexico Junior Teen winner Alysha Baca during rehearsal for the dance number for the pageant's finale. "I worked really hard to get where I am today," said Baca. "I'm able to help out in the community and with the other little girls."