West Island Motherhood Family, Maternity & Newborn Photographer
For the moms of Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield, Dorval, Dollard-des-Ormeaux and everywhere in between, who take all the pictures and are in almost none of them.
I come to you. Your living room at nap time, the lakeshore at Cap-Saint-Jacques twenty minutes before sunset, the backyard where your toddler already knows where everything is. No studio, no posing chart, no two hour production. Sixty minutes, and you get to be in the photos.
Why a West Island session is a little different
The West Island has something most of Montreal does not: space, water, and light that keeps going long after the downtown parks have gone flat.
It also has a particular kind of family. You are probably a fifteen minute drive from three different waterfronts and you have still never had a proper photo taken at any of them. Your kids are at soccer in Beaconsfield on Saturday and swimming in DDO on Sunday. Getting everyone in coordinated outfits into a car headed downtown at golden hour is not going to happen, and it should not have to.
So I drive out. That is the whole idea.
What a session with me actually looks like
You will not be told to put your chin down and your hand on your hip.
I give a lot of direction, it just sounds more like "I think mommy needs some tickles" than "turn fifteen degrees left." Then I step back and photograph what happens next. Your kids get to be exactly as busy as they are at home. The good frames come from the in-between moments, when you have forgotten I am there and you are actually looking at each other.
If you are pregnant, this matters even more. Most maternity photos are of a bump. I would rather photograph the woman carrying it. This isn't a posed portrait session. It's a love letter to the season you're in right now.
What's included
• About 60 minutes together, up to 2 hours for newborn sessions
• 80+ edited high-resolution images, not a curated ten
• An optional 30 minute planning call before the session
• A questionnaire, plus my wardrobe and location guides
• Your own private online gallery with a print shop
• Galleries delivered in two to three weeks
$625 for a motherhood, family or maternity session. $925 for a newborn session, which runs up to two hours and comes back with 80 to 100 images.
A $250 retainer holds your date and the balance is due by the day of your session.
There are also two packages. The Becoming, $1,350, is your maternity and newborn sessions together, 160+ images in total. The Growing Year, $1,025, is two shorter sessions six months apart, because six months does not sound like much until you put the two galleries side by side.
West Island locations I love
Cap-Saint-Jacques, Pierrefonds-Roxboro
Three hundred and thirty hectares, a real beach, an ecological farm, and the best sunset on the island. It is where Jocelyne's family ended up after we talked through the options, and the light over the water that evening did most of my work for me. Parking is paid and the park is open 7am to 10pm year round.
Beaconsfield
The lakeshore here is quieter than anywhere comparable downtown, which matters more than it sounds. Nobody is watching you, so nobody is performing.
Dorval
Waterfront, old trees, and a five minute drive from most of the West Island. Good for the family that wants outdoor photos without a whole expedition.
Dollard-des-Ormeaux
Big open parkland and room for kids who need to run before they will sit still. I plan for the running.
Just outside the West Island
I am out this way often, so if you are a little further west I am almost certainly already coming past you. I regularly photograph families in L'Île-Perrot, Saint-Lazare, Lachine and LaSalle, and there is no travel fee for any of them.the store). Win win.
Or your own home
Most of my favourite sessions happen indoors, in one corner of one room with good light.
"My house is too messy" is the objection I hear most and it has never once been true. I photograph the corner with the best window. The laundry pile is not in the frame. Clear the surfaces in one room, open the curtains, make the bed, and leave the toys exactly where they are. They are part of the story.
Motherhood sessions in the West Island
This one is just you and them. No coordinating outfits for five people, no wrangling a partner who hates having his photo taken. Feeding, holding, the way she grabs your face with both hands.
If you are nursing, this is a safe place for that, and it belongs in the photos if you want it to.
More about motherhood sessions →
Family sessions in the West Island
Unposed, child-led, and built around the fact that your kids are not going to sit still. That is fine. The photos you will cry over in ten years are the in-between ones anyway.
Outdoors at one of the spots above, or at home. Both work, and I will help you pick.
Maternity sessions in the West Island
Most maternity photos are of a bump. I would rather photograph the woman carrying it.
Book between 28 and 34 weeks: you are clearly pregnant and you still have the energy to walk somewhere beautiful and stand up in it. Partners and older kids are welcome, and so is doing it entirely on your own.
More about maternity sessions →
Newborn sessions in the West Island
Most newborn photographers will tell you the window is five to fourteen days, because that is when babies sleep most deeply. I would rather photograph a mother who feels like herself than a baby who curls up neatly.
So I come any time in your baby's first five weeks, whenever you are ready. At your house, up to two hours, working around the feeding and the napping rather than against them.
$925, and 80 to 100 images. Book while you are pregnant and we will pencil in a window around your due date.
FAQ
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es, and there is no travel fee. I photograph families across Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield, Dorval, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Baie-D'Urfé, Pierrefonds and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, plus L'Île-Perrot, Saint-Lazare, Lachine and LaSalle just outside it.
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At least 80, fully edited and high resolution, in a private online gallery with a print shop. Most photographers in this market deliver between 10 and 25.
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Two weeks. I do all the editing myself, which is slower than outsourcing it and is the reason the gallery looks like my work.
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Either at your home or outdoors. Cap-Saint-Jacques is my favourite spot on this side of the island, and the Beaconsfield and Dorval waterfronts are both quieter alternatives. If you are not sure, we choose together on the planning call.
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They will not, and that is genuinely fine. I do not try to control a four year old, I photograph what happens instead. Bring the snacks, let them run, and let me do the rest.
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Something you can sit on the floor in. One soft neutral as your base, one colour you actually love, no loud logos or tight patterns. I send a full wardrobe guide once you book.
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Between 28 and 36 weeks. You are clearly pregnant and you still have the energy to walk to a good spot and stand up in it.
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Book while you are pregnant and we will pencil in a window around your due date. Then take your time. Most newborn photographers hold you to a five to fourteen day window because that is when babies sleep deeply enough to pose. I photograph any time in your baby's first five weeks, whenever you have healed and feel like yourself again.
From a West Island family
“Being new to the area, we didn't have much knowledge of locations and she was very helpful in discussing all of the options and finding the one that suited us best. We ended up deciding on Cap-Saint-Jacques, which was the perfect backdrop with the most stunning sunset.”
“It felt more like a playful outing with our girls than a photoshoot. No pressure to pose, and yet the images we received were incredible!”
5.0 from 50 reviews on Google. Read them all →
Limited dates each season
I take a small number of families each month, because I edit every gallery myself and that is what keeps the two to three week turnaround honest. West Island dates in particular tend to go early in the season, since I group them so I am not crossing the island twice in a week.
Be in the photos
Sixty minutes somewhere in the West Island, 80+ images, and your kids get proof that you were there.
Not ready to book? Ask me anything