The meeting comes first · Lyon and Montpellier

The session starts a week before the session

A week before, we meet over coffee. We look together at what you'll wear, how the session will unfold, and the framings where your face isn't needed. On the day itself, all you have to do is show up

And it works even if you no longer recognise yourself in the mirror. Even if you've never posed for a photo in your life. Even if your partner comes along dragging their feet. Even if you've been telling yourself "I'll wait until I've lost the weight" for six months

Since the start of the year, six pregnant women have come. Six, and that's deliberate: each session needs a meeting beforehand, preparation, and three days of retouching afterwards

I want to cry, for once I find myself beautifulAmandine, leaving her session

It's not a photo session. It's the week you stop putting it off

You're six months, seven months along. You know you should do it, and you don't. Not for lack of wanting to: because every time you think about it, something gets in the way

Have you ever told yourself

• that you don't recognise yourself any more, that your face looks puffy, that it's not the right time
• that you're waiting until your belly is a bit smaller, or your skin looks better
• that you have nothing to wear, and that at midnight in front of the open wardrobe you still won't find anything
• that you don't know what to do with your hands, or how to look at a lens
• that your partner has no desire to pose, and that you're not going to force them

And at the same time, you want

• to keep these weeks, because "time passes so fast and we can't remember it all"
• an image where you find yourself beautiful, not an image where you're well lit
• something your child will look at in fifteen years and say "that's me, there"
• files that stay with you, not a link that expires

Without spending three evenings searching for poses, without buying a dress you'll never wear again, and without negotiating for a week to get your partner to come along

Why pregnancy photos fail, even when the photographer is good

The phone at home. The partner takes three photos on a Sunday evening. It doesn't work, and not because of the camera. In those photos you're busy wondering what you look like. A face that's watching itself shows, even with a very good lens

Preparing alone. You search for poses in the evening, you save examples, you buy a dress. You arrive on the day with a list in your head. A list to execute is the opposite of being present

Relying on the day itself. The first half hour goes into settling in: the place, the person, the lens. Over a two-hour session, half the time goes into relaxing

Here's the real cause: emotion in a photo can't be caught in the moment. Either it's there because the woman is at ease, or it isn't, and then neither the light nor the studio can make up for it

It's not you, it's a habit that has already cost a generation

My mother has almost no photos of her pregnancy. Neither do her friends. Back then it wasn't done: there were other things to think about, it wasn't seen as important, there'd be time later. I heard them regret it for years, and there's nothing to make up for now

The idea that you first have to earn the right to be photographed. Lose weight, have better skin. No one says it out loud, and a woman eight months pregnant will never meet those conditions, because they were never made for her

The way the profession is organised. With almost every other photographer, preparation comes after payment: a questionnaire, a guide, a phone call. You're handed the most uncomfortable part of the work, and it's called guidance

None of this is your fault

The method, in six points

Why trust me

One family has been coming back for two years. Amandine came for her first child's birth. Then for the two-month mark. Then for the family session. She's expecting her second, and the next session is already arranged

Thank you for the photos and the retouching, they're great, we'll have an unforgettable memory of our young childrenMarine's partner, who hadn't wanted to come

This is all I photograph. No weddings, no corporate work. Pregnancy, birth, family with very young children. A newborn session can last five hours because the baby sets the pace

What I'm offering you

Ten photos of you, pregnant, that you can bear to look at. Not ten photos where you're well lit: ten photos you'll show your child in fifteen years

In the full package, you pay for two sessions and the third is free, that's thirty retouched photos in total. Full pricing and add-ons are on the main page

How it works

• you write to me with your due date and your city, nothing else
• we meet for an hour over coffee, a week before. You pay nothing at this stage
• you decide at home. If it's a yes, a 50% deposit secures the date
• the day after the session, two or three retouched photos. Within three days, the full gallery and the USB key

How to prepare baby for their session: the right timing, the room temperature, and what I bring myself

Why now

A pregnancy session happens in the seventh or eighth month. Between "I should" and the first message, it usually takes two to six weeks. If you're seven months along today and take the usual time to think it over, the window is closed by the time you decide

Slots are set around due dates, which don't move. A week of hesitation can push your session back by a month

What I won't tell you: that there are only two slots left, or that the price goes up next week. The only thing that's actually urgent here is your due date

What you're not risking

• you decide after the meeting, never before
• if the baby arrives early, or your doctor puts you on rest, we move the date and the deposit stays valid
• you won't see any raw photos: I only show the finished result
• nothing is published without your approval, whether it's your face or your children's
• your files stay with you, on a USB key, in addition to the gallery

I won't tell you "satisfied or your money back". A photo session isn't an object you return. What I guarantee is the process, the timeline, and the fact that you won't discover anything at the last minute

Shall we get that coffee?

Two ways to start, depending on what you need right now

The coffee doesn't commit you to anything. We look at it together, and you decide afterwards, at home

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