Mary found me via facebook and saw I was traveling to Birmingham and wanted to have an engagement photoshoot done. She loved my vivid style and my ability to make regular people look like fantastic models in front of my camera. We never even needed to talk on the phone, it was all set up with only a few facebook messages.
Mary and Colby have a unique love story. Met through mutual friends online dating long distance for alost two years the whole pandemic. Because of covid this is the first time they are having any photos taken of themselves by anyone that isn’t a selfie. Colby is originally from Long Island and like me still cannot believe the quirky cultural differences between New York City and Alabama. He moved down here, found a job and is ready to settle down south with Mary. They both love to laugh and love Christmas. Mary is excited for her wedding in late October and really hopes the trees make beautiful colors.
We had a great time wandering around downtown Birmingham. We met at railroad park and started our adventure from there.
We went first to the color mural. Color Bham a group led by Marcus Fetch organized dozens of volunteers to paint the Color me Birmingham mural near Innovation Depot in 2019. It is a 500ft long rainbow wall by Morris Avenue. The effort to paint the rainbow wall was funded by Kinetic founder Jay Brandrup, Shipt and neighboring businesses and residents. Marcus Fetch one of the organizers said The goal was to make it a landmark in town and have 1000s of photographers will use it over the years, and for it to kind of become a famous thing. It made the perfect backdrop and was so much fun to pose in front of.
The next spot was Morris Avenue. Morris Avenue is a narrow, east-west avenue between 1st Avenue North and the Railroad Reservation. The avenue is named for Josiah Morris, a banker and one of the initial shareholders in the Elyton Land Company. Because of its adjacency to railroad services and depots, it quickly developed into an early commercial and warehouse district in Birmingham's early days. The city of Birmingham kept the original cobble pavers and old brick architecture. It now is a historical district.
The Alabama Theater is the first spot I found online when scoping location, It's famous for it large light up sign spelling out Alabama. It was originally built as a luxurious silent movie theater and now is home to Birmingham performing arts and host famous shows and entertainers. The sun was almost at sunset and created a warm glow and lighted up the evening beautifully for our final images.
