A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take photos of two long time friends. I’ve known Amy for over ten years and I’ve known Dave for almost that length of time as well. They are the type of friends where if you have a crazy idea for something you want to do, they go along with it and don’t ask questions. Which is what happened when I reached out to Dave to see if he wanted to do a costumed photoshoot at some landmarks around Nashville. He was game and even suggested that we turn it into a “couples” shoot since he and Amy just started dating.
The day of the shoot, I showed up at their place and they had costumes all over the living room of the house. Between the two of them, they had enough to fill a section in a department store. It was fun going through all of the costumes to figure out which ones would work best. We had a few landmarks in mind but ended up only having time to go to a few places. That just means there will have to be a part two for this post.
Our first stop was to Santa’s Pub which is a dive bar that Dave loves going to. It’s a bar in a double wide with Christmas murals around the outside and the perfect setting for a ridiculous photoshoot. Amy wore a cat Christmas sweater with a cat skirt and blonde wig while Dave wore a cat onesie. We took several photos around the outside with the reindeer and Santa murals. After that, they changed into their redneck costumes. They both had mullets, trucker hats and cut off jean shorts. This is how you know they are meant to be together! I laughed so hard during these photos that I had to stop several times to compose myself. At one point Dave even whipped out a mouth harp and started playing.
After we left Santa’s Pub, we headed to the Nashville Zoo which is where Dave works. They changed into some animal costumes which included a monkey outfit and lion head. Any time a small child would see them walking by, they would get very excited. As a side note, I finally got to see the tiny monkey exhibit in the women’s bathroom which was amazing. I had heard that this bathroom was voted as one of the best in the country.
Amy and Dave changed back into their redneck costumes for the petting zoo. One of my favorite moments from this day is when Dave posed next to the alpacas. Needless to say, we had a great time at the zoo.
Our last stop was to Sevier Park but on the way we had to stop for gas and of course took advantage of the opportunity for some more photos.
Thankfully, there were not a lot of people at the park since it was a dreary looking day so we had free reign over the playground. Amy and Dave switched into their Mickey Mouse and Care Bear costumes.
At the very end of the shoot, they put on their redneck costumes one more time in order to reenact some of the photoshoot scenes from the movie Mastermind.