Everybody say CHEE-Z-Z-Z-Z-Y!

To catch you up, dear reader, a comment concerning this photo was made on a very popular social media:

Commentator:  "Green dress. Third from the end in the back. Her face is everything!"

One response to this comment:
"Bright flashes emphasize the difference in color on stage. Plus the lighting on stage was not the brightest, so many of the entertainers painted accordingly show highlight and shadow."

I say, "True, dat, lady boy!"    :)

Because I do tend to look like Satan's Little Sister, just for a brief moment, I will play Devil's advocate and say that it is difficult to tell from the comment whether the poster was pointing out the general look on "3rd from the end in the back"'s face, or whether the comment was based on the MAKE UP on her face.

That difference notwithstanding, I do have to quote RuPaul in saying, "We're born naked. Everything else is drag."

Over 20 yrs ago (!!), I was a size 0 - 2.
I didn't weigh over 100 lbs until I turned 30.

I had - and I still have - high cheek bones, bright blue eyes and SMOOTH skin.  (I still get regular comments like, "OH, I love your theatrical color contacts!"  I kindly thank the observant person, and tell them that I am not wearing color contacts.)

I was skinny, young and cute. Now, I'm fat, old - and still cute! :)

I look exactly like I do in my profile pic when I am going shopping on a Wednesday morning as I do when I go out to a bar on a Saturday night. Today, I do an entirely different form of drag as I did 20 years ago.

Having experience in both drag / stage make-up AND photography, I can vouch for the fact that using a flash in photography, in general and without well-staged ambient lighting is like the "Hoochie Mamma" of photography. Whether or not the subject of the photography is human or a still life, etc, is unimportant.  The results are the same.

I often compare the use of an unprepared, general quick flash as the "Hoochie Mamma" of photography because it creates rude, loud, and garish glares and shadows, and washes out anything that is unfortunate enough to come into contact with it.   A perfect example of my point is "3rd from the end in the back".  In the light for which she intended, her make-up is most likely flawless.

Just once in my life, I would like to see a 'group drag shot' taken in the proper lighting for which it was originally intended, and without the aftermath of a a hideously washed-out and glaring general flash.  Using a flash while photographing a drag queen(s) totally ruins the illusion of the art of female impersonation (and does it's fair share of damage to any other non-drag queen subject!)

- Michael