Governor's Bay Engagement Session - New Zealand

New Zealand is THE most amazing country I've got to see so far. I've traveled quite a lot, having worked for the airline industry, I've seen most of the countries in Asia and Pacific, but New-Zealand really had my heart. The landscape, the people, the good vibes, the Maori culture, everything adds up on my "why" list for "why should you visit New Zealand?" . One city in particular touched me, not because it's the prettiest but because of its people. That city is Christchurch, which was hit by a massive earthquake in 2011, destroying most of the city. The first time I visited Christchurch was in 2014 and the city was still rebuilding itself; I was struck by the resilience shown by its people, the positive mindset, the energy put into making the city beautiful again... And that was the spirit that I felt throughout my trip within the North and South Islands, Kiwis are one of the most welcoming and warm people I've got to meet, I think, we as -French, especially Parisians- have A LOT to learn about. Now, enough about the blabbering, I'm sharing with you this engagement session with Nooshin and Judah, a lovely couple who was getting married the week after this session. We chose Governor's Bay as a location for this shoot because... well just look at it:

Shot on Mamiya 645 AFD; Film Lab : Carmencita Film Lab

Engagement session on Bethells Beach, New Zealand

Last January, I had the chance to travel through New-Zealand (for those who never been, write it down on your TO DO LIST NOW) to discover its amazing landscape and people as well as to shoot for Soil and Stem's amazing floral workshop. It was such an amazing experience to be surrounded by so many talented florists and see how they create, but I'll tell you more about it in a next post! Today I wanted to share with you this engagement session I had the chance to capture while I was there. I am beyond grateful to have met these two. Theo and Maddie are the sweetest couple and I'm so happy we got to shoot at Bethells beach which is the epitome of the natural beauty of New Zealand, it is not only surrounded by the ocean but also rocks, caves, white sand dunes and freshwater streams - paradise in a nutshell!

Shot on Mamiya 645, Fuji 400h. Dev & Scans by Carmencita Film Lab

Flowers by Horrobin and hodge | Dress  : A la robe | Calligraphy : Nice plume Calligraphies

This session was also published on Style Me Pretty

The Secret of a happy(ier) life : RESILIENCE

Last January, I've traveled through Australia and visited the amazing  Blue Mountains. The slate-blue haze that gives the mountains their name comes from a fine mist of oil exuded by the huge Eucalyptus trees that form a dense canopy across the landscape.
What I've learned is that Eucalyptus are one of the most resilient trees as it can grow back leaves only within 48 hours after being completely burnt! Isn't amazing? 48 hours !
I remember telling myself that one of my 2016 resolutions would be to learn to become as resilient as an Eucalyptus! Little did I know that it is scientifically proven that our human body actually stores emotions -  physiologically speaking - for only 90 seconds. Yep, you read well, 90 seconds. Now, I do hear you say : "well, when I get angry, it surely lasts more than 90 seconds!"... Sorry to say that if it does last longer than 90 seconds, it's because you choose to. It is actually our brain and the choice we make once the emotional trigger hits that will determine how we feel. We can either decide to let our thoughts escalate to a more frenzied state or down talk ourselves into a calm state. Honestly, I was blown away when I read about it. You can read more about this in Jill Bolte Taylor's book on how she discovered the brain's functioning after she suffered a stroke. She's talking about it with Oprah, here. Here's what she discovered:

"When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90 second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop. Something happens in the external world and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body it takes less than 90 seconds.

This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away.

After that, if you continue to feel fear, anger, and so on, you need to look at the thoughts that you’re thinking that are re-stimulating the circuitry that is resulting in you having this physiological response over and over again."

NOW, isn't this a-ma-zing ? So here's a secret to a happier life : 90 seconds of ...patience! #2016goals

Spring is just around the corner, I think it is a great opportunity for us to do a little "spring cleaning" in our mind. As a baha'i, I will also celebrate Naw-Ruz, the beginning of a New Year with new resolutions!

Film photos are shot on Mamiya 645 AFD with Portra 400 | Dev and Scans by Carmencita Film Lab

A fun family session in Bali

Hello beauties ! As it's freezing cold in Paris nowadays, I wanted to bring a little bit of warmth and sunshine into your screen today ! :)

So sharing with you a family session I had the chance to shoot in Bali with Aslinda and her beautiful family. I met Aslinda a few years ago through work before she decided to quit and do the most beautiful and hardest jobs in the world : being a full time mum (by the way : Kudos to all the mums in the world, you are an inspiration to me!) and I straight away fell in love with her class and kindness. She's one of those girls you know, who is unaware of how gorgeous and talented she is and that makes her even more beautiful. I wanted to shoot her and her family in a very fun and relaxed way so we just planned it as a normal family Sunday, had breakfast together, played by the pool, had the goûter (french equivalent of 'after-school snack') with the Bonne Maman biscuits that I brought from France and were about to end up with a yummy dinner all together. But when Aslinda shyly told me that she recently designed her own clothing brand named Solei,  I asked to see some of the clothes and I absolutely adored the whole line she created even though she told me it was only the beginning and it was only sold in a few selected shops in Bali. I told her we NEED to shoot these ! and you MUST wear them, because I mean, look at her, isn't she gorgeous? I secretly dream of being that beautiful after 2 kids ! So to the family shoot we added a small fun fashion shoot showing her designs. Keep an eye open for Solei, I think you'll see more of it soon !

I had so much fun shooting this, combining my love for family portraits and fashion, I couldn't ask for more ! :) I feel so grateful for all the amazing and talented people I get to meet through my work. I hope to meet you too who are reading these lines right now. Let's get in touch, drop me a line HERE and tell me about your story, I'd love to hear!

Thank you Aslinda, Andrew, Paris and Helio, you made my stay in Bali such a beautiful one !

Clothing : Beige dress by Magali Pascal | Kimonos and other dresses by Solei

Accesories and jewelry by Tulola

Film shots are processed by Carmencita Film Lab.

C'est quand le Soleil ?

♫  J'veux du Soleil - Au p'tit Bonheur  ♫

En mai, fais ce qu'il te plaît mais surtout mets ta doudoune ... Voilà c'est le retour de #missmétéo ! Mais franchement, on est d'accord non ? C'est quoi ce temps ?! Nan mais ALLÔ quoi ... T'es le printemps et t'as pas de Soleil ?! c'est comme si t'étais une tartine sans motte de beure Président (voir ici). Bref, y'en a marre de passer de l'hiver à l'automne ! Est-ce qu'au moins on aura un été, rien n'est moins sûr ... en attendant, on va tous se mettre à la luminothérapie, sinon on va tous craquerrrrr.

 

 Right, so it's supposed to be what's called SPRING... errrrr where is it ? I can't see it, I can't feel it ... All I can feel is my face freezing each time I step outside. HelloOoOo we're still wearing our winter coat !! So seasons change apparently ... we might end up with a two season cycle : Winter - Autumn - Winter -Autumn ... So we might as well Escape somewhere far far awayyyyyyy where there's only one season : SUMMER !