Stephanie & Ben | Classy Paris Engagement Session
On a beautiful July morning, early, at 7:00 am, I met Stephanie and Ben for their beautiful Parisian engagement photo session. You’d think that at 7:00 am there would be no one around, but in summer it’s quite the opposite. The sun rises early and sets late, summer days in Paris are incredibly, wonderfully long. Therefore, it’s the prime time for photography, and you’ll find dozens of photographers with their couples and families, photographing there. That can make it a bit tricky to navigate, but Trocadero is a wonderful meeting spot with some great views, but not the only iconic views.
Stephanie and Ben looked incredible. Stephanie wore a stylish white dress, and Ben wore a tailored blue suit. They live in Massachusetts, in the US, and are engaged to be married, they loved the idea of having an engagement session in Paris, and they selected the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum as their two locations.
Together we walked to many spots with viewpoints of the Eiffel Tower, including Trocadero, the riverside (personally, my favorite location), and the stunning bridge of Bir Hakeim. Bir Hakeim is a double decker bridge that is so pretty, with a west facing view of the Eiffel Tower. It’s so popular, it has even been used in the movies, going back to the old film, Inception, from 2010, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. With the beautiful summer morning light, I captured beautiful images of Stephanie and Ben.
From there, we made our way in a taxi to the Louvre Museum courtyard. Once the royal palace, its been one of the world’s best art museums since 1793! Its fantastic architecture is very popular for romantic couples photo sessions, and we visited several areas of the Louvre courtyard, along with the iconic pyramids of the Louvre.
The pyramids are not original to the courtyard, they were added in the 1980s, and designed by famous Japanese architect, I.M. Pei. They were not universally accepted by Parisians, thought by many to be too modern to be at the Louvre, but gradually Parisians warmed to it, and the structures are quite iconic today. This can often be the case in Paris, being an iconic European city, people are often resistant to change. I have to admit, since I’ve been living in Paris since 2014, even I don’t like change that much, preferring that Paris remain the same way I first saw it when I was a high school student. Of course, cities grow and change, even Paris, and this is a good thing, because it keeps the city fresh, dynamic and interesting.
The Louvre is such a beautiful place for a Paris engagement session, and I thoroughly loved photographing Stephanie and Ben there. After the Louvre, we took a scenic walk to the oldest bridge in Paris, called Pont Neuf, which ironically means “new bridge” in French. This bridge is notable for it’s sculptures of what I like to call “angry men”. There are some great sculptures to see! This is an area I love, walking along the Seine and capturing those quintessentially Parisian backgrounds. The Seine River is the lifeblood of Paris, and is really important to daily life. There are daily tour boats, giving a tremendous view of the city by the water, other boats passing through with goods, and lots of life on the shores, too. Every year in summer, the City of Paris hosts “Paris Plages“, which means Paris beaches. Some years ago they actually trucked in sand for the beaches, but due to environmental reasons, this was halted. But to this day in summer, you can find tons of cafés riverside, beach chairs, cooling misters for those hot days, and more.
Capturing Stephanie and Ben casually enjoying Paris, telling their unique love story in images, was a joy and honor. They were up for anything and so elegant! I wish them the very best in their married life together and hope to see them again!
You can see all of my services in Paris, the City of Love, here. I can’t wait to tell your love story, too!
