Drag Pageant: Miss Gay Central Arkansas America (2023) -

A friend of mine recently asked me how I went from being a lawyer to photographing Drag queens and Drag pageants.

The short version is that, after a health scare in 2022, I decided that my second 50 years were going to be as full of color and joy and creativity as my first 50 years were full of anxiety and industriousness and ambition.

I am simply following the color. Photographing the joy. That led me to Drag Queens, which led me to Drag Pageants.

Arkansas Drag Queen Monica Savant recently wrote this about her experience performing at Drag pageants.

I couldn’t agree more.

Drag Pageants are about joy. Color. Performance. Art. Expressions of who we are – and acceptance of those expressions, no matter how atypical they may be.

Thanks to Janice Marie for taking a risk on an un-tested photographer to record her first drag pageant – the Miss Gay Central Arkansas America 2023 Drag Pageant in Conway, Arkansas.

I hope that the pictures met your expectations.

I have shared a few galleries below.

The first gallery includes my favorite photographs from the event.

The second gallery focuses on the contestants.

The third gallery focuses on the entertainers – Drag Queens who performed and entertained between sets while the contestants changed outfits.

The fourth gallery looks at the crew and behind-the-scenes work of a Drag Pageant.

I am already booked to photograph another pageant in June 2023, so I will have a chance to work on some of the techniques you see here.

If you are a contestant, performer, or otherwise pictured in these photos, you are free to use these photos however and wherever you want, so please email me for digital copies of your photos (I don’t allow photo downloads directly from my website).

Click on the first photo to see the complete photos in gallery format.

FAVORITES