When my friend TJ (Taquiya) asked me about a portrait session, I was so excited! TJ is an amazing person — she’s beautiful, smart, funny, and one of the coolest people I know. I knew we would have a great time with an “anytime” photo session. And we did!
It was a dark and cloudy Saturday. It had been raining all week, but we somehow managed to find a few dry hours in the day for our photo shoot. Lucky us!
We started the session in Market Square, meeting up in our favorite little alley between the Miller’s Building and the Tomato Head (yum!). It’s our favorite spot because of an episode of The Heartland Series that points out the “trompe l’oeil” painted on the back of the Miller’s Building. “That’s what ya call a trompe l’oeil. It’s means ‘to fool the eye’ in French.” (It’s a lot funnier when you actually watch the episode.)
From the trompe l’oeil, we headed around the Square to downtown Knoxville’s wall of graffiti art and assorted flyers. TJ struck some serious poses in front of the chaotic background. Vogue! Following our short Market Square excursion, we headed towards Krutch Park and crossed over to the other side of downtown Knoxville near the post office and the John Duncan Federal Office Building. (No crazy security guards yelled at me this time.)
We walked down to St. John’s Cathedral on Cumberland Avenue to take advantage of the church’s amazing masonry and red doors as a backdrop. The doors are the brightest red — and they are, perhaps, my favorite doors in all of downtown Knoxville.
We took several photos against the stone walls and on the steps in front of the church doors. We even found some cool steps with curling iron rails leading from a loft building close to the church. There are so many awesome nooks and crannies in downtown that are just perfect for any portrait session.
After wandering through the area, we headed back for a quick wardrobe change. Then it was off to the Old City!
We noticed that the clouds seemed to be growing thicker, and the sky was becoming rather dark. We took that as a warning that our outdoor shoot was going to be ending soon — so we zipped through the Old City on a mission for colorful scenes and antique stores.
Antique stores are the best. I thought it would be nice to try for something a little like an Anthropologie catalog. (I drool over Anthropologie catalogs.)
We invaded the Crown and Goose for a few minutes, taking over the huge red leather couches facing the street. (Red was the color of the day.) And after joking around with some of the waitstaff, we crossed the street to grab some photos in front of Big Don The Costumier’s shop. The fenced up door gave us a nice grungy photo op.
TJ and I also loved the huge circle window at Old City Java and had to stop there for a few minutes. (Old City Java has one of the coolest windows in downtown Knoxville.)
Then suddenly, it started to rain! Thank goodness TJ brought her umbrella.
As we started to run back down the street towards the parking garage near Market Square, we found the best antique store for photographs. It was full of bright green leather furniture, a bright green lamp shade, and all kinds of fun kitschy decor. Bingo!
TJ and I had such an awesome portrait session. It was a blast running through downtown with her and discovering new places for photographs. She was a great model, and I hope we can to do this again soon. And maybe it won’t rain next time!
