Red Hot Dating

Ashley, hostess of the Red Hot dating competition.

My evening started by getting an email a few days ago asking if I wanted to attend an event that Ashley would be hostessing. "Why not?", afterall it's been a while since I've seen her with my busy bird watching schedule and the odd days of work. That, and her being in Europe. Despite our two busy schedules we've managed to keep in touch through the odd email.

The event was some what of a mystery. I was told that the event was a pageant of some kind and that it was taking place at a club called "Metro". I arrived a tad early. I wanted to scope out the place to see where I might be likely to get the best angles for photos. I noticed the mean looking doorman/bouncer and I told him I was on the list. The list which apparently he never received.

After a bit of questioning and a firm "Stand right there" I was greeting by another person, a female, "Who are you?". She seemed to have no idea who Ashley was or this pageant that was taking place. I wondered if I was on the right door step. After a bit more questioning I was told to follow her inside. We went downstairs to a security room where I was greeted by more bouncer types. Luckily Ashley saw me and was IDed the bouncers became very friendly. "You have one of the luckiest jobs in the world.... being a photographer and shooting all the good looking chicks."

After a few more minutes of getting acquainted I made my way upstairs to the main dance room and the stage. When you have a camera, not a dinky thing like my 990, but an SLR probably of any model it's incredible how many people come up to you and ask for their picture to be taken. Male, female, young, old. If I had a nickel for every girl that just turned 21 and wanted a picture taken with their friends or the guy with two girls wanting a picture to use to brag to his friends that didn't show up. Incredible.

As I meandered my way through a mass of soft, scented, gyrating bodies, cleavage, and exposed leg I came to the conclusion "Wow! I'm old!", "I'll bet most of these people were born after StarWars (1977)", "Did they even know what it meant to get up and change channels using a TV knob or if the knob was broken a wrench or pliers?", "I am going straight to hell".

The epiphany of how young the demographic was only made me pause for a moment. After that I went into photographer mode. "I've got a camera and the the bouncers like me dammit."I became a fly on the wall, be it with a very bright flash, determined to do my best to capture the very essence of the event.

The event was for the Red Hot dating network. Which boiled down to a small bikini, lingerie contest... small in terms of number of contestants as opposed to small bikinis and lingerie. The top three winners winning a few hundred bucks and a few prizes being given away to the fortunate few who filled out ballots. The main prize was a trip to a destination of your choice one of which was Las Vegas. How fun is that?