Reddit Love: Rachel and Alex's Engagement Shoot

Dec 31

I am a Redditor, which means I have an account on Reddit.com. It is a marvelous waste of time, and I say that lovingly. And I don't care if you know my Reddit name - it's /u/saricher.

I check in with the r/Knoxville subreddit and found a user who was looking for places to do photos of her and her fiance. They had just gotten engaged and wanted something to use to announce to the people back in their home state the good news. So, it's wasn't quite an engagement shoot, but the bride-to-be was leaving to return to their state (he was staying here since he is employed here), she only had until Saturday, and . . .

So I responded and gave them a long laundry list of places they might use. Because while most people choose to remain anonymous on Reddit, and while some may be trolls, the majority are folks who are happy to help and give answers, instructions, explanations, examples, directions, and sometimes just lend an ear. I remember having to go to Fargo, ND to do an engagement shoot and posting in the Fargo subreddit a request for advice on where to shoot and plenty of folks helped me out. Pay it forward.

Well, the OP (Reddit speak for Original Poster) contacted me - could I do the photos?

And so I got to meet the lovely Rachel and Alex - who are just fun. I mean, they are a laughing couple, comfortable in their own brand of geekiness, and utterly charming. Having just met on line, I thought they were a kick to work with. We decided to hit some of the iconic spots around downtown Knoxville, since this would become their home after the wedding: Worlds Fair Park, Graffiti Alley, Gay Street Bridge, etc.

It was windy. At times cold. But as Rachel kept saying, "We can do this!"

While waiting for the sun to sit down, we grabbed a coffee together. Kids from Connecticut. He grew up speaking Polish. She loves the Giants. He is an air traffic controller. She works with universities. Just sweet, hip, fun people.