Cat walk training with Nelly Kruger, who is a part of a global trend of middle-aged women now aspiring to be beauty queens.
Nelly Kruger has reached a stage in her life where she feels it's time to focus on her own dreams and aspirations - one of which is to become a beauty queen.
After sashaying her way to the Mrs Photogenic title at last year's Mrs New Zealand pageant, Kruger is now a finalist in the Miss National Competition.
Although traditionally beauty contests have been the preserve of young women, pageant organisers say they are seeing an increasing number of middle-aged women signing up.
Kruger, who says she is fast approaching 50, explains why she decided to subject herself to entering a contest where, more often than not, a woman is judged on her appearance.
Since migrating from Johannesburg, South Africa, 16 years ago, Kruger said she has had many challenging years - as a mother, carer and businesswoman.
"My son had fatigue syndrome and my mother suffered from heart disease," she said. "Juggling looking after them and running a Kumon franchisee business was a massive challenge."
Kruger's dream since her teenage years has been to take part in a beauty pageant.
After her son made a full recovery and her mother passed away, a business client persuaded her to pursue that dream.
Last year, she signed up for Mrs New Zealand - a nationwide pageant for married women.
"It was about time, I felt, to do something that I want, and I also thought entering a pageant would boost my confidence," Kruger said.
"I signed up for Mrs New Zealand because I felt the contestants would be closer to my age, but winning the Mrs Photogenic title has given me the self-assurance to sign up for other competitions."
Kruger said she loved the "thrill of the competition" and signed up for Miss National, a local pageant for women of different ethnicities.
"I know that this time around most of the contestants would probably about half my age, but that doesn't bother me now," she added.
Nelly Kruger (far left) is a part of a trend of middle-aged women aspiring to be beauty queens. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Organiser Olga Ovsyannikova said about a quarter of the 200 people who applied to compete in Miss National were aged 30 years or over, and about half of those were in the 40s or early 50s.
Three who are in their late 40s or early 50s, including Kruger, have made it to the final, which will be held together with the Miss Russia pageant, on October 7. Ovsyannikova's company, Red Carpet Ball, runs beauty competitions in New Zealand and Australia.
This year's reigning Miss National Australia, Germana Morassi, is age 79.
"It is now common for us to see older ladies enter, and in fact we find that they are more enthusiastic than most younger contestants," she said.
"We believe beauty is not just external, and comes from the inside, and that is why we decided to not have any age restriction."
Most international beauty contests, including Miss International, Miss World and Miss Universe have maximum age requirement of mid to late twenties.
Ovsyannikova said the older contestants were often more confident and "brought more glamour" than most younger contestants.
There is also an increase in the number of middle aged women entering pageants in the UK, according to a Daily Mail report.
Beauty pageants remain popular there, with more than 10,000 female applicants in 2015 for the Miss England contest.
Sally-Ann Fawcett, a pageant judge and author of Misdemeanours - Beauty Queen Scandals, a book about the industry, was quoted as saying it was now "definitely more common for older ladies to enter".
She said the middle-aged entrants were no longer seen as "grannies" but glamorous women who had the self-assurance that 18-year-old contestants lacked.
