Worth the Drive.....Waxhaw!

I have lived in Rock Hill for the past 4 years, but I'm not sure why I have never made it to Waxhaw for a little day trip! I finally made the 40 minute drive because I was meeting another photographer there who is helping me with the transition from my Nikon DSLR to my Fujifilm mirrorless camera. More about that in another post. If you need a very talented photographer for a wedding or for engagement pictures I highly suggest hiring Alayna Waggoner because she is awesome in every single way!
We met at Provisions, which is a fresh local food market and restaurant, right in the downtown area. I had the crab cake sandwich and tomato basil soup. It was fantastic! If you want to eat fresh and healthy food this is the place to be. 
After our lunch Alayna was nice enough to show me around the downtown area a little and we enjoyed some shooting time together. We reminisced about how we miss our friend and fellow photog Melissa Butler, who is another amazing photographer, who moved to Lafayette, Louisiana. I am very lucky to be surrounded by others in the same business who are great friends and choose to build each other up. The photography world can get very competitive, but we are all stronger when we band together. 

I said goodbye to my new friend, Alayna, after our trip into the antique shop. She just recently purchased a home and had a long list of home improvement projects she needed to get back to. I loved hearing about all of the cool and fun projects and we made our way through Waxhaw. I decided since I was on spring break to make the most of my trip and continue on my journey discovering each store that ran parallel to the train track. (I will be bringing my kids to Waxhaw at some point since my son LOVES trains).

​The next store I toured into was "Sassy n Classy" and the owner Pat Beatrice greeted me with a big smile. Pat was so welcoming and we got talking. I learned that she has been the store owner for 8 years and has been selling beads and making jewelry for over 18 years. She has 11 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. I could not believe what a hip and young-looking grandmother she was! Her positive energy and stories about her family made me feel like we were old friends. I enjoyed our lively conversation and she acquiesced to my request to take a few pictures of her and her store with my new camera, even though I'm not completely confident with it yet. It was such a fun experience trying on hats with Pat and I even got in some of the pictures because there was a fabulous mirror near the natural lighting in the front of the store! If you make it down to see Pat at "Sassy n Classy" please tell her I sent you there to get a hat for the derby. I bought a perfect hat for the beach since I was heading there this week too! 
Photography tip: If you are taking pictures inside a location, try to find the light by getting next to windows that allow for diffused natural lighting.

My next stop was the Waxhaw Creamery, of course! My son has a peanut allergy, so since I didn't have him with me I went directly for the peanut butter chocolate icecream. It was soooooooo good!!!! I met another friendly soul who had her two children with her. We decided we would plan a play date at some point since we had so much in common (both Biology majors and teachers) and our children are close to the same ages. I'm excited to have my kids meet her kids soon! 
After this I spotted a beautiful memorial and stopped to honor our veterans at the Military Wall of Honor. My husband serves for the Air National Guard, so this was important to me. A HUGE thank you to all those who have served! 
I popped into a few more cute stores and enjoyed browsing all the unique gifts, furniture, and home decor items. 
Photography tip: If you're shooting in manual mode make sure you have your light meter dialed to close to zero for good exposure. The easiest way to do this is by adjusting shutter speed.

​​ If you enjoy shopping, eating, and strolling through a cute downtown area I cannot recommend Waxhaw enough. 
If you would like to learn more about photography and your DSLR camera please sign up to take one of my classes. The next Introductory Class information can be found here.