Downtown Waxhaw is one of my favorite locations to take seniors for their portrait sessions. It has the charm of an old timey Main Street lined with brick buildings full of unique shops and restaurants. The main part of town, which is just south of Charlotte, North Carolina, is separated by train tracks and a pedestrian footbridge bridge. There are a ton of cute backdrops for pictures. Walls and doors of different colors and textures, iron stairs, and plenty of greenery and pretty light.
Spend an afternoon or evening there and you will surely see the train roll by, or head to the historical wooden foot bridge and watch the train pass by under your feet! Be careful on the stairs of the bridge as they are very steep and narrow. At the end of the picturesque bridge are safety flags that you can grab to wave as you cross the street.
Redfin recently posted an article about Charlotte Hidden Gems and you will see NBP featured at the very end shouting out Downtown Waxhaw because I absolutely love it. Go check it out, you will not be disappointed.
Portrait Locations in Downtown Waxhaw
Generally, when I’m doing a one hour portrait session that takes place only in Downtown Waxhaw, I start on the North side of the tracks and walk my client west toward the bridge stopping at various spots along the way. Then, we’ll do another outfit change and walk or drive to the other side of the tracks and shoot on the backside of Maxwell’s Tavern and walk east to toward the skate park. If downtown Waxhaw is part of a multi-location shoot, the I will stick on the north side only and then we head to our next location.
Some of my go to spots include the old turquoise door near Tangles Knitting on Main, sometimes the wall there is covered with knitting designs that make for cute photo ops.
Senior Boy Locations in Downtown Waxhaw
For boys, I love to shoot at the newly renovated WH Collins and Son building at 121 South Broom Street. The Mule Barn Mercantile as it is called is silver barn filled with specialty artisan shops.
I typically prefer to start my sessions in the late afternoon on a weekday. Weekends are usually busy with foot traffic and weekdays are heavier with car traffic. There are a lot of options of where to finish the session with some beautiful backlight. Wherever I am at the end of the session, I typically will face my client toward the footbridge with the light coming behind them peeking through some greenery.
I like to let my clients know that there are some good options to grab dinner in downtown Waxhaw after their session. My clients are pretty hungry after their session and they usually end right around dinner time. I love Maxwell’s Tavern. You can’t go wrong with a burger and brew, but I also love their Greek salad with chicken. Mary O’Neil’s is another good one for some hearty Irish fare. I like the Beef Stew dish. For lighter options, you can try Emmet’s Social Table for small plates and gluten free options.
For the most part I serve local clients and it’s amazing to me how many of them have never been to Downtown Waxhaw, which is about 20 minutes south of 485 and the Providence Road exit near Waverly. I love that I am the one that gets to introduce them to this little local gem. It’s always one of the first places I take family or friends who are visiting from out of town.
leave a comment