Blogger Mohd Yusuf Ismail is all out to dispel any negative perception about beauty pageants. The 32-year-old health adviser, who works in Kuala Lumpur, sees such pageants as a celebration of youth and life. And he has set up the Beauty Queen Gallery at http://beautyqueengallery.blogspot.com to prove his point.

Mohd Yusuf plans to go to countries where beauty pageants are big business to gather material for his blog.

The idea for the blog came about after Mohd Yusuf caught the Miss Universe pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, last year.

“I have a huge collection of beauty queen photos, paper cuttings, articles, Miss Universe and Miss World crown replicas, books and magazines,” he said, adding that the memorabilia is kept at a house in Pantai Cenanghouse, Langkawi, which serves as a physical gallery.

Through the blog, Mohd Yusuf is able to share his memorabilia with the world. “It’s better than having them kept inside the cupboard,” he said.

So far, the blog has seen over 120,000 visits.

“I think it’s quite an achievement since I started blogging seriously only some months ago. Daily, there are about 380 visits. The number goes up as high as 700 during beauty pageant season, which is from April until end of the year,” Mohd Yusuf pointed out.

Although most of his visitors come from the United States and locally, readers from other countries are slowly discovering his little universe. There have been some interest from the Scandinavian countries, the Philippines, India and Singapore.

Mohd Yusuf updates his blog daily. Readers have shared with him rare photos of beauty pageants from their countries.

“To ensure that I have a continuous supply of materials, my fellow enthusiast and friend, Amir from Langkawi, allows me access to his huge and exclusive collection of beauty pageant memorabilia,” he said.

So, what else can visitors find on the blog? “There is a music console... there are also links to various sites, including online media and social networking sites. An interactive visitor’s meter has been placed, too, to log how many blog visitors as well as track where they come from,” Mohd Yusuf said.

He is planning to include more photos of local beauty queens and news about the local beauty pageant scene. “If I could, I’d like to interview past and current Malaysian beauty queens, regardless of their titles,” he said.

Mohd Yusuf would like to work with beauty pageant promoters to promote beauty queens worldwide.

“I would also like to work with other beauty pageant bloggers or fans and exchange information with them,” he said.

“I plan to attend more beauty pageants and travel to countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela, where beauty pageants are big business, to gather material for my blog.”