What a drag
The camera takes us to the dressing room of "ladies" competing in the Miss Continental Drag Queen show

I arrived at the Miss Continental Drag Queen show about an hour before show time. Most of the contestants had completed their transformation from male to female. But there were still finishing touches to be applied before these "ladies" could grace the stage with their impressions of everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Tina Turner. I was a bit nervous, but excited about having the opportunity to photograph a subject which, in my opinion, has yet to be adequately documented. Natural light, cigarette smoke, hair spray and laughter filled the large dressing room.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I raised my camera and began taking pictures. Most of the men seemed too preoccupied with applying their make-up and putting on their dresses to notice me. When they did look up and catch me snapping pictures, they flashed friendly and flirtatious smiles. These drag queens had a tremendous playfulness about them.

When I shoot ignore the moment in which I'm photographing. It's usually afterwards, when I review the images, that I think how amazing photojournalism really is. How else would I be given the opportunity to experience situations and people that most people would never encounter.

There were a few times when I did feel uncomfortable during the shoot. Perhaps it was due to the unfamiliarity of the subject. However, every comment made towards me was good-natured because, for these performers, this event was about having fun and being they wanted to be.

Though I have grown to love colour images, I don't think that there is anything quite as revealing as the black-and-white photograph. It strips back layers and reduces the subject to it's essence. Emotions and intensities come through in such a way that the viewer is left with the subjects' naked truth.

Scott Munn is a freelance photojournalist living in Halifax. He can be reached at photomunn@hotmail.com.