Laure and Mathieu – maternity photo shoot taken in Nice

The season’s over but that doesn’t mean I’ve got no work! Here are some pictures from a maternity photo shoot taken in Nice.
The weather was lovely, sunny and warm, that’s why Cote d’Azur is perfect for photography, even in winter.
I have found a nice place called Cascade de Gairaut which, I thought would be great for the future mom & dad photo session.

Cascade de Gairaut is located on the Vesubie Canal. Surrounded by an expertly landscaped part, it constitutes a genuine monument to the establishment of the canal in 1883. thanks to its position on a mountain slope, the site offers a great panorama of Nice and the coastline. The dense vegetation and curious rock formations add to the natural beauty of the site. The humming sound of falling water combines with strong scent of blooming plants, stimulating all the senses.

Laure is in 7th month, that’s a perfect time to take pregnancy pictures plus she looked and felt great!
Once little Eduard is born, we’ll take some family photos, so visit my blog soon!

Professional portrait photo shoot

I’ve been asked to take a couple of pictures for an article describing my client’s recent work activities.
She just needed a new, professional portrait of herself. I’ve used Elinchrom’s light with Rotalux Deep Octa 100cm softbox on it.

Aldona and Emmanuel – photos of the couple at Château de Crémat

Aldona and Emmanuel, the couple whose wedding I have photographed in September, have chosen my High Fidelity package.
Besides a full day wedding reportage, it includes a post-wedding photo shoot with the usage of the studio lights. I highly recommend to the couples to choose this option, if their budget allows. This way you can focus on your wedding day without the stress of rushing out from one task to another.  You can spend more time with your family, which in many cases comes from far away just for this special occasion.
After the wedding you can choose a dreamy scenery and concentrate purly on posing. These photos are often more creative, the photographer has more time to think about a perfect idea or composition. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a “trash the dress” photo shoot and you don’t have to do it right after the wedding neither. For instance, we’ve taken the pictures a month after the wedding, because it was hard for us to adjust our plannings and we were aiming for the perfect weather. We wanted to do them in a chic and fashionable style.

Aldona’s asked my favourite maquilleuse – Olga to do her make-up.
I’ve worked with Olga on various occasions and she makes a perfect stylist as well.

Now a little bit of history of the place itself, which I hope you’ll find amusing. Legend has it that the original Château de Cremat logo inspired Coco Chanel to create the famous Chanel logo (the two interlocking Cs). Coco herself reportedly spent a great deal of time at the Château which was owned by a friend of hers in the 1920s and supposedly asked the venue if she could use their logo for her new perfume. The CC logo can indeed be seen in many places around the venue, from the stained glass windows and the stone work to the door frames.
To read more about this beautiful castle, click here.

Magali et Mikael – trash the dress down by the river!

If you were following my blog (which I hope you did ), you must remember Magali and Mikael. I have photographed their wedding in September. A month later they’ve decided to do a Trash the dress photo shoot in a river. Although Cote d’Azur offers splendid landscapes, it’s easier to find a nice spot by the sea than by the river. Since we didn’t want to drive too long, we’ve chosen a little river called Loup in Villeneuve Loubet.

The pictures were taken in October, I had my studio lights with me in case the weather got bad. It wasn’t that bad but the clouds begun to gather and the river was very cold. I even wanted to suggest to Magali to take the photos next to the river but she was so determined to get in! She said it’s only once in your lifetime to take pictures like these and she’s right! So I quickly forgot about my feet turning blue and with a great help of her mom as our light assisant, we continued our great photo shoot!

Qu’est-ce que c’est qu’un “Trash the dress” ? – lisez ici ou ici.

Qu‘est-ce qu’un Trash the Dress?

Jennifer & Kyle – engagement photo shoot at Saint-Paul de Vence

Below you’ll find some pictures from one of my favourite photo shoots of 2011. Jennifer and Kyle have booked me from California, as they just got engaged and wanted to have some nice photos from their holiday in the South of France. I’ve suggested them a little village of Saint Paul de Vence – firslty because it’s one of my coup de cœur, there’s a romantic atmosphere and secondly – to avoid the possible crowds in Nice during the summer.

Built on its rocky outcrop and surrounded by its ramparts built on the orders of François I°, St Paul is certainly one of the most beautiful villages in Provence. The beauty of the surrounding area, quality of life and exceptional light has inspired numerous famous artists, painters, writers and poets, some of whom took up residence in the village. To know more about Saint Paul de Vence click here.

We’ve spent a couple of hours together, chatting a lot, and we’ve really liked each other, we even had a glass of wine in one of the restaurants in Nice, where we continued our engagement photo session. Jennifer has danced before and frankly, this has helped me a lot, I didn’t have to pose them, she looked natural and beautiful at each photograph, along with her husband-to-be of course!

Hi Marta, these are beautiful! You did an amazing job, we love them.

Nicole & Virginie – Portraits of a Mother and a Daughter

I’ve recently had a request to photograph two pretty ladies – Nicole and her daughter Virginie. The pictures were taken at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and Villefranche sur mer. Here’s the result:

Family reunion photo shoot in Monaco

Imagine a lovely sunny day, green garden somewhere in Monte Carlo and a couple of running kids around you..1..2..3..4…5!
That’s what my recent photo shoot looked like. It was great and fun! Not to mention that it was a real pleasure to photograph their beautiful russian mother – Katya & her handsome husband George, the whole family is so photogenic, it’s almost hard to believe!
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/family-portraits-dos-and-donts

Marissa – maternity photo shoot

It’s not the first time I have photographed Marissa but each time I truly enjoy it! She’s expecting her second baby so it was supposed to be a maternity photo shoot but we went a little bit further & also took a couple of 20′s fashion-like pictures.
Check her previous photographs that I took here! And for all future mothers that still hesitate whether to have a professional maternity photos taken, I’ve got an article for you:-) Why pregnant women are sexy?

Children studio photography

Children and teenagers studio portraits

From now on I’ll be posting some more photos of children and teenagers that I regularly photograph in the studio. It’s such a pleasant work that I don’t see the time passing by!  I’ve equipped myself with a couple of books about children and studio photography to become a “specialist” in this domain. Each week is a new challenge and discovery for me as every child is different and what works for 5 yo doesn’t necessarily work for 9 yo! Some kids love to pose while others are more reserved, that’s why establishing a good contact with them a while before a photo shoot is essential.