Windy Romantic Mountain Shoot at Max Patch | Knoxville Portrait Photographer

For months I had this session envisioned in my mind. I kept getting photos flashing through my head of a passionate and adventurous couple wandering the peaks of a mountaintop. But, I couldn’t think of anyone right off who would fit the depiction I had in my mind.

Fast forward a month or two, Cheyenne posted a photo of her and her boyfriend, Joseph. My first thought was that they would be the perfect fit for the mountaintop session I had been wanting to do! However, I was nervous about reaching out and asking them if they would be interested in modeling for this. So, I waited.

The session kept coming back in my mind. I finally gave up and message Cheyenne on Instagram. "Hey! So I have a super odd question. I am wanting to do a session at Max Patch sometime in the spring/early summer this year. And I wanted to see if you and your man would be willing to be models? There’s a certain style that I’m wanting to go for and I think you all would be a perfect fit!” She messaged me back and said that they would LOVE to!

We started collaborating on looks and ideas. Sending inspiration photos back and forth. We decided on a date that would work for the both of us and also planned a back up date because well…we live in Tennessee and we all know how the weather can be.

The thing about photographing on top of a mountain is that you don’t realize how much colder the top is than the base. At the bottom of the trail it was a nice, fairly warm spring day. At the top of the trail…brutal. The winds were very strong and brought with them a chill in the air that instantly gave you goosebumps.

I photographed as quickly as I could so we could get everyone down to the base of the trail and warm up. I noticed an area at the bottom of the trail near the parking lot that was absolutely beautiful. By this time it was golden hour so the lighting was absolutely breathtaking!

Cheyenne and Joseph had never been to Max Patch before so they decided to hike up to the very top before heading back home. I waited for them to come back down the trail to see if they were up for taking just a few more photos. Thankfully, they were totally up for it!

Sessions like these are my little reminders. They are reminders of why I love what I do. Why I continue chasing after my dreams. It’s not for the shares, it’s not for the likes, it’s not for the money…It’s for the journey and for the adventure. It’s for the stories that I get to hear and the ones that I get to document. Something happens when I’m looking through the lens of my camera and I haven’t quite figured out what that is. I do know that behind the camera, that’s my happy place.