What makes you the most nervous during a session?

During a session I am not particularly nervous, most of the time I am so hypnotized by what I am doing that I forget the rest. But sometimes I can get nervous. And this happens when I don’t have a moment before the session to “connect to the creativity flow” (can feel weird said like that, I know hahaha). But I really need time at the beginning of the session to process all the information I have around me. That why I like when there is makeup or hairstyling getting ready before we started and come a little earlier or even just having tea time with the family I will be shooting. If I don’t have this moment it feels like I am not ready yet to be in the creative phase, there are so many things I don’t know about, like the people and the environment. But when I have my warm up, I am ready to go and I go on if you don’t stop me!

What about this session was most memorable?

The most memorable about any of my sessions in general, is when I am at my office and I’m discovering the photos I just finished retouched, this is kind of a magical moment where I can feel proud of myself and where I can see the success of a mission.  

Were there any hurdles?

This session was really an easy one, hahaha, not much to say about it, everything went smoothly. Maybe the only frustration I had, and I always had is not having enough time to shoot more, because it’s always at the end of the session that you have more ideas!

Your best photographer/session advice?

Don’t plan too much ! Did you already plan a session, with all the shots you wanted to do? And then what was the result? Did you succeed to do all that you wanted? Surely not, planned and don’t succeed to shot what you wanted is stressful. Indeed, on a session, you never had time to do all the things you would like to do because as you are a creative person you can have so many ideas on one topic, but not succeed to shoot all of them feels like a fail. Even though you did a great job. That one of the reasons I don’t plan too much my sessions. I want my eyes and my brain to be in a constant state of searching for ideas and thing to be creative. Not being focus on ideas I had prior to the session. At this time I was not in the mood and in this creative flow, so the ideas can be out of the feeling I get inspired by what I am shooting. I need to be really deep in the shooting to let my self let go, forgetting about everything and just let my imagination do the job. Through the years I realize that my creativity feels imprisoned when I’m planning too much because I am focused on certain things. I want to shoot the ideas I had in mind and then I don’t see other things like, what the light is doing in my back, which is so crazy, and I would miss it, what a pity. I am not saying planning is bad, but there are different ways to do it. For instance, before a shooting, I nourish my brain with ideas, concepts, paintings and photos. But I don’t precisely write them down my ideas. Then it’s my brain who will create new ideas from it and like this, I am also getting away from possibilities to get too much inspired by someone else concept. To sum up this, I would say don’t plan too much so stay aware and be creative on your shooting day.

What is one goal for your business ? 

When I started five years ago I did not really have a goal. Because I did not really believe in me being a professional photographer. I did not have any photography education and never worked before outside of my small student jobs. I just tried on the advice of a friend. But then when I realize this can be real, photography can really be my work! It was then in my head a mix between different opposite feelings. I was scared because it was the beginning of real photography work, and on the other hand, I was so happy to do this job, people told me 4 years before, it was impossible. I grew as a photographer with these two feelings inside on me. The feelings grew as well, the fear was sometimes bigger : was I good enough, was I strong enough for that job? and one the other side my pleasure and happiness of doing a work I really love was so strong that it kept me going. Months after that I was questioning my self about where I wanted to go with my photography work. I did question my inner-self by looking at my start with photography when it was still a hobby. I realized that what I always wanted to do is creating something different, offering people a unique style of photos. Then, I understood I would need to implement this vision in my way of working, to be able to offer my clients, family and portrait photo with an artistic touch. I get inspired by the way painters did in the old times: something which represents them and that they will be happy to keep and share through their lives. Today we have so many photos on our devices but we don’t enjoy them enough, too many smartphone basic photos. Then one of my goals is to offer people unique memories to cherish and hang them on their wall.

What gear was used to achieve these?

I used my Nikon D750 and a 50mm 1.4 Nikon and a 35mm 1.4 Sigma.

Any presets used or hand editing?

Since I started photography, I love tweaking presets. This is maybe one of my favorite things hahaha. So, of course, like everyone, I started with a purchase preset as a base, but honestly, I don’t remember which one it was. I tweaked it so much that it doesn’t have any look from the original. And my presets are not something frozen, I am always making modifications to them and creating new ones. I currently created approx 50 different presets for my retouching style.

ABOUT THE ARTIST :

French wedding and portrait photographer, I am traveling in Europe to offering people unique memories with an artistic approach. A subtle mix between vintage and modern I get inspired by the painting and the cinema. The light is my best ally to highlight people’s story.

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