Santa Claus helps close out the "100 Year Anniversary of the 1911" by playing one chorus of "Jingle Bells" with the Colt 1911 Series 80 Government model. Ammo is .45 ACP Winchester 230 gr FMJ, approximately 98 rounds.
(2nd from R) Miss Georgia Betty Cantrell reacts to advancing, en route to victory, at the Miss America Pageant at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, September 13, 2015. (Photo by Mark Makela/Reuters)
An elephant decorated with a cloth walk in the annual Perahera (street pageant) at Rajamaha viharaya Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka September 10, 2016. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)
Miss California Jessa Carmack during swimsuit competition at Miss America 2017 pageant, Sunday, September 11, 2016, in Atlantic City, N.J. (Photo by Noah K. Murray/AP Photo)
Miss Seychelles Gabriella Gonthier walks through the crowd with fellow contestants for the start of the final round of the 71st Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in New Orleans Saturday, January 14, 2023. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)
Models take part in the promotion of the Miss Bumbum (buttocks) beauty pageant, along Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 7, 2017. The annual Bumbum pageant to select the nation' s sexiest female buttocks will be held on November, 6 in Sao Paulo. (Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP Photo)
Child beauty pageants are a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. While some critics see the pageants as an exploitation of innocents, others—particularly pageant parents—view the competitions as a way for a young talent to enter the entertainment industry. Shows such as Toddler & Tiaras have examined the behind-the-scenes drama of these tightly orchestrated contests, but now a show of Susan Anderson’s photographs at L.A.’s Kopeikin Gallery (through December 24), puts the glamour and excess of child beauty pageants on a pedestal for our contemplation.