| Submitted by Nancy Engelke
Several local pageant girls spent Saturday at Elizabeth Michaels in Parkersburg, making a commercial. The girls were also
having photos taken in their crowns and sashes, for portfolios. They learned a lot about what it takes to be a model;
very long hours, patience and the concept of "hurry up and wait."
Sam T'ang, the son of Chinese immigrants, who was born and lives in Detroit, Michigan, came to Elizabeth Michaels to
provide quality head shots for local women. The photos will be used in pageant program books. Sam is an architect who
became fascinated by photography and started studying the art with the finest of photographers. Traveling the world to
capture beautiful faces, Sam has to his credit many USA pageant finalists in addition to stars such as Jamie Bergman and
Carmen Electra. He recently completed a photo shoot in New York City and was in Prague as well.
A perfectionist, Sam spends upwards of three hours on each girl, paying attention to every detail to get that perfect picture.
Unlike many pageant photographers, the finished product looks like the girl he has photographed. Sam captures the natural
beauty of each person.
Left, Danielle applies make-up on Jane Engelke The first step in the process was getting the proper make-up applied by
make-up artist Danielle Welling of Detroit. This step takes up to one hour. When Sam is ready, the girl is perched on a
milk crate with her feet propped on a stack of phone books and the shoot begins. Lights are adjusted, hair is arranged
(which has been washed and dried only, no curling or hairspray) and often a fan is turned on to give the girl a wind blown
look. After two to three hours, squeals of delight are heard from everyone as they view the photos on the digital camera.
Amazing! Definitely worth three hours under the hot lights.
In between the photos Keith of CAS cable in Parkersburg, made a commercial for the store using the same models. The
girls made several changes of clothes, posed, strutted and twirled.
For a thirty second commercial several minutes of footage is shot and taken back to the studio to be edited. The finished
result will be aired on all Parkersburg High School televised football games.
Those participating included three Parkersburg Homecoming Queens, Jane Engelke, Keri Fussell and Allison Anderson,
Jennifer Baileys the current Ripley 4th of July Queen, and Ashlee Small the current Wirt County Fair Queen. Allison
Anderson is the current Black Walnut Festival Queen.
Right, Sam adjusts model, Keri Fussell's hair
Keri Fussell just completed her reign as the National American Woman and can be seen modeling in the new magazine,
Stuff, on newsstands this week. Keri is a third grade teacher.
Just to get a perspective on what it takes to be a model and a photographer, Sam started shooting pictures at 10 a.m. on
Saturday morning and finished at 12:30 Sunday morning with little break time. Thank you Sam T'ang and Danielle Welling
for a great experience.
L to R -Allison, Ashlee, Keri, Jane and Jenny
Photos by Nancy Engelke
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