At one point in my photography career, I was swaying toward shooting models. Because that was the in thing at the time, a lot of people in my circle wanted to be models, America’s Next Top Model was a big thing and more iconic than it would ever be now.

I mean the reasons are endless.

It was back when I was searching for who I wanted to be as a photographer and was still too timid and unsure of myself to call myself a professional photographer— because professionals should have decades on me right? Or a degree from an art school in photography at the very least right?

The answer is literally no to both of those but I was young, dumb, and bought into what the world was trying to tell me about what made a professional at the time.

Anyways, there were two girls who worked for the then Dixie— now Dolly Stampede— and wanted modeling photographs done. I was going to be in the area visiting a then-friend and agreed to bring my equipment and take some images of the girls in Knoxville.

Check out a few images from those sessions below.