Every year since the contest has existed the competition for Miss South Dakota, a step toward the Miss America pageant, has been held in Hot Springs, South Dakota. One of the final events in the local program is a parade through the streets of the town. Several times I have used it as an opportunity to practice my photography skills, shooting images of moving targets with a telephoto lens.
Yesterday, June 20, I again used it as training, and took pictures of all of the 16 contestants as they passed by in open-top convertibles. I did not attend the contest Saturday night, but found out Sunday morning a local lady, Autumn Simunek, became our Miss South Dakota.
Miss Simunek also won the preliminary talent award Thursday night, performing the classic pop vocal “Hallelujah.” The 22-year-old is a senior at the University of South Dakota.
It’s funny — the Miss South Dakota contestants totally understood the importance of smile-your-ass-off, but the youngsters in the “Little Sister” category did not get the memo.
The driver of Miss Simunek’s car stopped in front of me when she saw I was taking photos with what appeared to be high-end gear. So I shot a bunch of the contestant, then lowered the camera and gave them a thumbs up. Then they continued in the parade. That was the only car to stop for photos in my area.
Here are a couple of shots of Miss Simunek, and then a few other ladies, followed by a little fire truck porn.
Photos from the 2010 Miss South Dakota parade.
Any nice pix of apparatus.
Now, if we know of any beauty contest winners who are firefighters, that would be fascinating.
Okay, I gotta ask. What is “Firetruck Porn”?