High school/Lycée Graduation Photos - Photography and Sentimentality Intertwined.

My own children are now at university and I remember this moment well and all the emotions that come with it. Exhaustion after hard work, celebration, excitement for the future, but a little sadness for letting go of our young adults.

Education in the Pays de Gex and Geneva means you are in International School so will get a cap and gown and a celebration to mark the end of this phase of education, or you are in French school where we had very little (sadly for use, none) by way of making this an event. So thank you to the English National Programme in Ferney who have now created a graduation event if you have studied the OIB. But whatever system you have navigated through this is a moment worth remembering.

Why book graduation photos? I don't have many professional photos of my own children as they finished their education here (I know!), and yes I really regret it. When your house is quiet, you will want these!

I remember how exhausted everyone is by the time of graduation, and how there is a whirlwind of events, holidays, trips away and all of a sudden getting ready for uni. So looking back I know it would be nice to take time out to have someone else worry about getting the photos, and to make the photo session part of the memory of this time and spend some time together as a family.

As with everything a photo session is a complement to the photos we capture every day with our phones, hopefully elevating the experience and the outcome As well as making the session itself part of the memory, we get quality images where someone has spent time on attention to detail and refining the result to produce a keepsake that we can print and treasure.

I have done graduation photos in a chosen location in Geneva, in back gardens for convenience and in the one hour slot that was the only hour a family had together before everyone went their separate ways for the summer, but we had to make it happen.

It is a great pleasure to share these moments with families, and I remember how it feels so will do my best to be flexible to your needs, make it fun, manageable and produce photos that are a keepsake.

Hassle-free passport photos and hate getting your passport out slightly less....

So passport photos are not creative, but still require solid technique to get right and can hands down beat the photo booth if you don’t want to groan every time you get your passport out for the next x years, not to metion trying to get a young child into a photo booth….

You look as good as you can

A passport photo has to be taken straight on with even, flat light, but we can still make the best of what we can do with officially acceptable but softer lighting rather than the face on glare of a passport booth which will pretty much guarantee to accentuate any bags under your eyes and likely leave a shiny spot on your forehead.

I can check the photo on the screen before printing and tweak your hair and anything we are allowed to change so you are satisfied with the result before printing. If you don't like it there are no limited retake opportunities.

Assurance that criteria have been met

As well as aesthetics you can have confidence in the accuracy and quality of your images. I have a licensed software for professional photographers which automatically resizes photos according to the biometrics require. So you can avoid the hassle of attempting DIY passport photos and the uncertainty of meeting stringent criteria - and I do have people come to me after their photo booth photos have been rejected.

Babies and young children welcome…

Even if they are big enough to sit in a photo booth, I don’t think any explanation is necessary as to how hard that is.  I have lots of experience with babies and fast moving reluctant toddlers, and so far have always found a solution pretty quickly.

Beyond French documents

My software means I can provide offical passport and visa photos for most countries, as well as digital code photos for both France and the UK.

Personalized customer service with an appointment

We live in an international community and I often have families come for updated passport photos for more than one country at a time.

I am as flexible as I can be on timing as I take all passport photos in my small home studio, so if you can only pass by on the way home from work or on a Saturday I am happy to make an appointment. If it is a short notice just give me a call, I can usually arrange something.