You're Never Fully Dressed without a Smile- A Photoshoot with Anna Thompson

I am so excited to get a chance to share some of the stories behind these fabulous photos! Anna Thompson is a dear friend who I have had the pleasure of knowing for several years. We met throughout local dance troupe about five years ago, and since then she has become a licensed massage therapist in Cleveland, Tennessee. Anna is a girl with such passion for everything she does, that you cannot help but see her joy in her photos.

We started the day in Chattanooga, going to one of my favorite places to photograph- Chattanooga Choo Choo, and you may notice that her dress and shoes have a different kind of look to them. Anna and I both have a love of the vintage look, and we felt that the best way to photograph a vintage look was with a historic location. Honestly, with the green dress, popping heels, curled hair, and historic location, I almost felt like we had stepped back in time. The gazebo was surrounded by green bushes, and the white and brown wood made Anna's dress and hair pop! Anna couldn't help and laugh at me at how excited I got once we started taking pictures.

We ended up taking pictures on a pretty chilly day, so we had to take time warming back up in our coats between photos. But that just gave us time to chat, look over the photos we just took, or hunt out for what area of the historic station we wanted to use next.

We found beautiful blue wall that made Anna's eyes pop, and a bright red train car that we couldn't help but spend some time at. The moment I saw Anna's dress for that day, I knew we had to go back to this blue wall and to this red train.. Anna specifically asked to sit at this table as soon as she found it. The red train, and bright green grass paired with the metal table just suited her so perfectly. The colors were vibrant and bright, but also did not overpower her. As we posed, moved about, and snapped photos, we got to catch up on life and laughed our way through the day.

Of course, we could not leave Choo Choo without taking some dance photos. The cold definitely made us take on and off the jacket often, but we still had loads of fun. We especially had fun with the new sign that Choo Choo had put up a few years ago. We would have spent hours there if it hadn't been so cold and crowded. I was so excited when we managed to catch a break in the crowd and capture this stunning photo before we moved to the second location.

After finishing at Chattanooga Choo Choo, we decided to head over to the blue walking bridge. The wind had picked up and it had gotten colder, so we decided to layer some dance tights underneath her skirt. We were having fun with our photos, especially laughing at how the wind would wipe's our hair straight up if we sat or stood in certain parks of the bridge, but sadly we couldn't spend a lot of time here as the weather was getting to us. Honestly the photos look like we took them in the summertime, but by the end of the photoshoot my fingers were frozen to my camera and we started to see snowflakes on our drive home.

All in all, it was an excellent day with Anna and I had a blast. We ended up with tons of beautiful photos and great memories. I hope you enjoyed reading the behind the scenes glance into Anna's photoshoot!

Until next time!

Serving people and capturing memories

Laura Mantooth