A Bragg-Mitchell Mansion Portrait Session

Each year, the color pink is reserved for the young lady chosen to be Queen of the Azalea Trail Court. I was so excited to learn that someone I know was chosen for this honor for the 2021-2022 year! Myrna’s family and I go to the same church and she is representing McGill-Toolen Catholic High School (my alma mater!) as an Azalea Trail Maid this year.

We attempted this session two times before it actually happened (thanks to our typical rainy Mobile weather). I was delighted to finally get this session in on a day where we had a beautiful Golden Hour (even if it was quite humid)! I loved that Myrna’s sisters came along with her to the session. It was so fun getting to photograph all three of them. They seriously are the sweetest young ladies! Some of my favorite photos from the shoot are of the three of them together.

So much work and attention to detail goes into each Azalea Trail Maid dress. Myrna told me that a couple of her cousins had served as Azalea Trail Maids in prior years, so she already knew of the dressmaker, Janet Hollinhead, who made her dress. Each Trail Maid gets to have input on the design of their dress. No two are identical. I particularly loved the ribbon embroidery on Myrna’s!

It was quite cloudy for the first half of this shoot, so I was astounded when the sun burst through the clouds and made the majestic oak trees at the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion sparkle with a golden glow. I could barely contain my excitement!

Myrna, congratulations on being chosen as the Queen of the 2021-2022 Azalea Trail Court! I know you’ll serve our city well!

All Azalea Trail Maids love their pockets! This is where they stash their car keys and cell phones during appearances. The pockets can be buttoned to the pantaloons that the girls wear under the dress. One of Myrna’s pockets features her name written in Arabic.