One hand perfectly placed on the hip, the other holding the camera at an angle above the head and the eyes looking seductively in the lens.

We’ve all seen this picture before and many more variations of it on MySpace.

It’s one of the most popular social networking website boasting about 245 million users ranging from pre-teens to senior citizens.

Owned by News Corporation, MySpace is currently ranked among the top 10 sites by Alexa.com, a web information company that tracks the most popular sites in the United States.

With MySpace’s fast grown popularity, people, mainly women, are taking the content they post on their profiles to a whole new level.

MySpace allows users to post unlimited amounts of pictures on their profiles to share with anyone who is part of the network.

With that said, women are no longer taking random photos already stored on their computers and uploading them onto MySpace, but rather, hiring professional photographers to take their profile pictures.

Sheffield Quigley, a photographer who formerly shot senior portraits for high schools, is now a self-proclaimed professional MySpace photographer.

In a video interview posted on YouTube, Quigley described the MySpace experience as being unlike any other.

‘MySpace is the most important thing you can do in America right now, as a kid, as an old guy, anybody. It is your civic duty to be on MySpace, to update your profile, to blog, to get new pics, if you’re not, it’s like not voting,’ said Quigley.

Quigley claims to have invented the popular photo angles and tricks that are now used by so many MySpace users all around the world, such as the upward angle shot and the famous mirror picture.

It seems every time a person goes out to any sort of social function there are dozens of girls with cameras in their hands posing for pictures. It doesn’t matter if you’re waiting for a table at a restaurant, hanging out at a party, or waiting in line to buy movie tickets, you can always manage to find groups of people gathering for a picture and shouting out those infamous words, ‘That’s a MySpace picture!’

But amateur pictures apparently are not good enough. Even with the cost of living constantly on the rise, it seems women are still finding a way to pay for professional photos.

Perhaps women are utilizing MySpace as a free alternative to e-Harmony, which charges users a fee to sign up and create a profile. Unlike Facebook, which keeps acquaintances and close friends in contact with one another, many use MySpace to make new friends.

After all, women who go through so much trouble to display top of the line photos could be on a mission to meet new people, and maybe even the love of their life.

Regardless of the fact that MySpace has millions of viewers, the concept of needing professional photos still seems ridiculous.

While there are professional photos on certain MySpace profiles, those usually belong to celebrities, such as musicians and models, who have already created a name for themselves amongst millions of fans.

It appears the average, everyday women who hire professional photographers have become completely incapable of taking their own pictures and have bought into the hype of the MySpace craze.

Women who choose to have their photos taken by a professional take MySpace way too seriously. Females, especially young girls, shouldn’t feel pressured to put on a mask for the outside world to see just so that they can garner attention. Why would anyone want to be based solely on the way they look in a still photo?

The act of hiring a professional photographer can be seen as all around impractical. The seriousness of hiring a professional takes away the fun of taking MySpace pictures with your friends. Even if mirror pictures may be seen as silly, they still cost much less than contracting a professional to tell you how to pose and smile.

So the next time someone feels that their MySpace profile is in desperate need of some new pictures, they should consider that all they really need is their own camera and a smile, because no one really needs to pay someone hundreds of dollars to push a button and make the flash go off.