Ontario California | Cheryl Spelts Photo Blog

September 28, 2010 by Cheryl Spelts

Miss American Coed – California Pageant Queens

Last weekend I got the chance to photograph the California State Queens for the Miss American Coed Pageant. They met for the day in Ontario, at the Hyatt, and after full make up and hair, we started shooting out by the pool, with the girls wearing Celebrity Pink Jeans.

This might be my favorite image from the day – it’s just so dramatic and emotional. It’s a beautiful portrait!

What could be more Californian, than beautiful girls, bright sunny light, windswept hair, and a crown?

And we’ll end with the littlest pageant queen – you’d think that crown might be maybe a bit too big? But you’d be wrong – she knew how to work it!

May 2, 2010 by Cheryl Spelts

Not Hiring

I love this image! I mean, really love it! It’s so light and bright and the colors are so soft – but the subject matter is as hard as can be.

I’ve never seen a Not Hiring sign before, but I totally get why it’s necessary here. A construction project of this size on the side of the 10 Freeway is obviously going to be a huge magnet for all the unemployed construction workers in the Inland Empire. But how sad that it’s necessary! How sad that a company could be so inundated with job seekers that they need a sign to help stem the flow. Unemployment is at 15% in the Inland Empire right now – just way too high.

I’ve been playing around with the idea of a project – on the economic crisis. Not seriously pursuing it as a project, but just sort of toying around with the idea. And this image is the best of the lot so far – and the first to focus on unemployment. I’m still not sure if I want to make a full blown project out of this, but I do plan to continue playing around with it, and seeing if anything comes of it.