It was almost 3 hours before the Sarong and Talent competition began on the evening of Friday, 26th November, 2010! With formalities out of the way, part of the Port Moresby community got to see what they came for and what their K60 fee was all about. Well, let me say that I had a blast…
Each contestant walked out onto the top stage as she was introduced and then walked down the stairs to the lower stage. What a grand entrance each one of them made!
Their appearances as shown here by these photos are not in any particular order. The competition always started with Fiji. Am not sure whether that was because Fiji was up until 27th November, 2010 was the reigning Miss South Pacific.
Some of the photos of the contestants seem to be farther from the camera. That was because there were two stages. One much higher than the other. I was standing right infront of the lower stage. The photos of the contestants that were closest to the camera were the ones that brought their act to the lower stage. Some also took their time in introducing themselves. Which was great as this gave me time to prime the camera so that I could get a better picture. I was winging it in most cases but I reckon I took some good shots. Most of my photos were kind of one dimensional because the guard near the stage did not allow any of us to get any closer to the contestants – understandable – so my zoom worked overtime! Results were not bad in most of the cases.
By the way. some of these photos were taken by a colleague using my camera. Not bad KP.
The contestants participated in a traditional Motuan dance… It was an interesting and an endearing sight to see all these beautiful young ladies of the South Pacific not missing a beat. They swayed to the rhythmic beat of PNG drums (kundu and garamut). What a night of cultural inspiration and imagination and of course, loads of fun…
The theme of empowering women was most apt, for various reasons. Some reasons: the low number of women in positions of power and in national parliaments around the region, the ever-illusive goal of greater participation of women in national and regional affairs, prevailing domestic or any violence against women for that matter, prevailing forms of discrimination and inequality and, dis-empowerment in all its manifestations. And of course, the slow or often unacknowledged fact that an empowered woman at all levels of the community means an empowered nation – but whether or not women are seen in this light is another story and not for this post.
My Magic Moments 