Ethereal Beauty

La beauté de mes mariées me laisse toujours sans voix, mais celle-ci encore plus que les autres... Mana, c'est son prénom. Dans la culture polynésienne, "mana" fait référence à des pouvoirs magiques ou surnaturels. Je crois qu'elle ne pouvait pas mieux porter son nom. Bientôt d'autres photos sur le blog.

The beauty of all the brides always leaves me speechless, this one is no exception probably even more than the others... Mana, that's her name. in the Polynesian culture, "mana" refers to magical or supernatural powers. No others names could fit her better I guess. More photos coming soon...

Bonne Fête Papa | Tribute to Fatherhood

Immense, immense précarité de la paternité qui n'est jamais donnée, comme la maternité, mais conquise, réellement conquise, de jour en jour, d'instants partagés en instants partagés, de mains doucement serrées en jeux turbulents, de questions déroutantes en réponses appliquées, de paroles en silences, d'émotions en habitudes, de confiance en énigmes.

-Pierre Péju

Colin & Sarah in Paris | When Instagram works its magic

"He's more myself than I am,

Whatever our souls are made of,

His and mine are the same."

-Emilie Brontë

This is what these two lovebirds inspire me. 

If you're a little bit active on Instagram, you might have stumbled upon one of their accounts for sure (@colincabalka and @sarahcabalka). Colin is a filmaker and Sarah is a photographer. They have been among the most inspiring persons to me since I joined Instagram. The love they show for one another but also for humanity in general is so uplifting and inspiring. Yeah I know, I've used the word "inspiring" too many times in these four first lines. But they just are! Anyways, when I knew they were travelling through Europe, I really wanted to meet them if they happened to pass by Paris. Unfortunately, Paris wasn't on their initial plan. But fate finally decided that they should go to Paris after they scribbled country names on paper and threw them into a hat, France came out twice and here they were, in my city. I didn't have time to show them all my favorite spots in Paris on the day we met, nonetheless we still had a great afternoon strolling around the city, of course we couldn't miss my favorite bookshop : Shakespeare and Company and a great coffee at la Caféothèque since they're both coffee lovers.

Sharing our experience about being young (can't believe they're not even 25...) and entrepreneurs, about travelling and having meaningful experiences; made me realize how much I want to use photography not only to create beauty but also to serve others, give back what God has given me as a gift in order to create something meaningful for people, souvenirs they will hold dear from generation to generation. I really like this quote:

"When I stand before God at the end of my life,

 I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me."

Erma Bombeck

Truly, this makes me feel very grateful and thankful that photography walked into my life, I don't really think I deserve any of what has been happening in my life for the past few years, but THANK YOU to anyone who has made all this possible, I'm feeling blessed. (Tanya J. if you're reading this, you're the angel who offered me that analog Olympus one fine day in 2007. Kindface, you're the one who has been developing my first rolls for free. You guys made it all started. M.E.R.C.I). 

And lastly, to anyone out there reading this : BELIEVE YOU CAN, YOU WILL.

Mariage dans les Montagnes Suisses | A Magical Wedding in the Swiss Mountains

Un joli mariage d'hiver avec finalement beaucoup de soleil alors que nous attendions la neige ! Le parapluie a donc servi d'ombrelle...
Virgnie et Nicolas se sont dit oui en février dernier. Tous deux mélomanes, ils ont choisi un mariage sous le signe de la musique: disque vinyle en guise d'invitation, pass de concerts pour les marques places, et le groupe bernois (qui - à mon humble avis- gagne vraiment à être connu. A écouter juste au-dessus) Patrick Bishop  pour sublimer la cérémonie religieuse - une des plus belles auxquelles j'ai assisté. J'ai également redécouvert la magnifique chanson "Wedding Song" de Bob Dylan qui a été lue durant la cérémonie, petit extrait :

I love you more than ever, more than time and more than love

I love you more than money and more than the stars above

I love you more than madness, more than waves upon the sea

I love you more than life itself, you mean that much to me.

Ever since you walked right in the circle's been complete

I've said goodbye to haunted rooms and faces in the street

In the courtyard of the jester which is hidden from the sun

I love you more than ever and I haven't yet begun.

You breathed on me and made my life a richer one to live

When I was deep in powerty you taught me how to give

Dried the tears up from my dreams and pulled me from the hole

I love you more than ever and it binds me to this all.

I finally had some time to share with you this beautiful winter wedding in Switzerland, where we were expecting snow but turned out to be finally quite warm ! The umbrella hence turned to a sunshade :)
Virginie & Nicolas are both music-lovers and decided to have a wedding filled with music, starting from the wedding invitations and save-the-date that were actual vinyles. Rock bands as table names and concert pass as seat name tags...Getting an "all-access" pass was a first for me, I felt pretty cool :)
They also had the amazing (and -to my opinion- so underrated ) German band : Patrick Bishop, who turned the religious ceremony into one of the most sublime I've ever attended. Feel free to play their song, just right above. Some beautiful texts have also been read during the ceremony, such as the lyrics of the "Wedding Song" by Bob Dylan - which reminded me how genius this guy was -read above, it's gorgeous ain't it ?

Merci Virginie et Nicolas de m'avoir fait confiance pour votre beau jour.

Je t'aime, moi non plus | The Parisian Metro

Chaque parisien a son histoire avec le métro, il nous est forcément tous déjà arrivé quelque chose sur l'une de ses 14 lignes... Pour la plupart, en tous les cas pour moi, c'est "Je t'aime, moi non plus" avec ce métro. Parfois, c'est l'homme idéal, toujours là, prêt à nous emmener où l'on veut, quand on veut...enfin, quand il est pas trop fatigué. Et parfois, il te pose un lapin, te laisse poireauter sans te prévenir. Y'en a qui, comme Cabrel, l'aime à mourir, il l'aime tellement qu'ils décident de finir leur vie avec lui, sur ses rails, ce qui n'est pas du goût de tout le monde...
Parfois, chez lui, dans ses couloirs, y'a des super concerts improvisés, parfois tu assistes aussi au pire concert de ta vie genre The Voice avec tous les perdants de la Star Ac.
Parfois il te permet de faire les plus jolies rencontres, parfois il emmène avec lui les gens les plus bizarres de la ville, et bien sûr comme le placement de table c'est pas son fort, ils se retrouvent tous dans ton wagon, assis juste à côté de toi. Et là, tu as juste envie de lui dire : Ecoute métro, on a vécu une belle histoire mais j'en ai ma claque, toi et moi c'est fini ! Et puis au final, tu te rends compte qu'il est comme les artères de Paris, et que c'est quand même difficile de se passer de lui.

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Every Parisian has his own story with the Parisian Metro, we all have a story to tell about what happened on one of its 14 lines... For most of us, at least for me, it's a love-hate relationship with this metro.

Sometimes, the metro is like the perfect guy, always there, ready to take you anywhere you want, anytime you want to...well, that's when he's not too tired. And sometimes, he can stand you up, let you wait for ages without a call. Some love him to death - literally. They throw themselves at his feet rails. Which of course, annoys a lot of us, we all want to be selfish with him and expect him to be here whenever we need him...

Sometimes, the most amazing improvised gigs happened along his corridors, sometimes he take you to the worst gig ever, like a mashup with all the losers from The Voice and X-factor.

Sometimes, when you travel with him you have the most beautiful encounters, sometimes he just travels with the weirdest people in the city and of course, he sat them just beside you. That's when you lose your temper and wanna shout at him : Listen dear metro, I loved you, but I can't take it anymore, let's call it quits! But then, you come to realize, metro is like the arteries of Paris, you can't really live without him.