About the photographer

MANILA, Philippines - Tammy David is a photojournalist who has chronicled beauty pageants — and all the effort that goes into joining one — in a series called “Crown and Country.” She says: “As a photographer, any story that involves competition is always interesting. But I’m not talking about some lame Ateneo-La Salle rivalry, but some honest-to-goodness girl aspirations plus gay passion emotional extravaganza.

“I blame my obsession with pageants for my lack of enthusiasm in covering the upcoming elections because the latter visually pales in comparison. The local pageant culture is insane! There are just too many stories to tell, like the boot camps and the politics of pageant organizers.

“Often, my pictures do not do justice to what really is going on in the pageant world which is why I chose this as my long-term project. From the summa cum laude from the state university who aspires to join from the mid-age pageant addict who still breaks down whenever she watches the question and answer portion...

There are tons of stories to tell, the human side of pageants. People think pageants are a waste of time and really dumb but I learned a lot about myself and about the country just covering the national pageant which is why like a good reality TV series, you just can’t get enough.”