Château de Vullierens family photos

As part of her baby’s first-year photo shoot collection, Maryna had booked me for a 6-8 month photo shoot for her baby girl. Because she to share their life in Switzerland with family back home in South Africa, Maryna chose lots of interesting locations for the family’s photo shoots. For this session, where little Ava was just beginning to sit up and stand unaided, we decided to meet at the Château de Vullierens near Morges during the iris festival.

The aim of the shoot was to capture beautiful images of the family interacting together. Equally important were some more classical family group shots and some portraits of Ava. Of course, these are all things that I aim to capture within a family photo shoot. I also love to capture the natural interactions between parents and their children. Consequently, I set up situations where these moments can happen spontaneously.

Irises and woods as your photo backdrop

We met up in the rainy car park of the Château de Vullierens, just before it opened. Of course, I had been furiously checking the weather beforehand and was confident that the clouds were going to clear. As we had already done three shoots together before, the family were relaxed and happy to take my suggestions. With this in mind, we chose to start the shoot in the woods, as Maryna wanted to combine the forest location with the colourful flowers.

We walked down the alley of trees, looking for interesting colours and places to come back to. In particular, I like to chat with mums about the colour schemes that might work with their outfits or—in the case of shoots for canvases or framed prints—home décor. In beech forest, the leaves were just starting to open and were that perfect fresh green colour. Earlier in the month, Maryna had noticed some hammocks in the woods and we decided to start with some family photos sitting there together.

Given that children of this age can have short attention spans, I like to work quickly and then move on to a new location or activity. So, we headed out to the alley of trees where the sun was just beginning to peek through the trees. After a few aided standing pictures we decided to investigate the vines and the view from the hill. Although it was still a little overcast, the light was perfect for portraits. Especially at this young age, it is nice not to have to shoot in full sunlight as babies eyes can get tired by the sun very quickly.

On the hill were some stunning purple irises that complemented Maryna and Ava perfectly. Still working quickly to keep Ava entertained and in a good mood, we took some mother and daughter shots. With only a brief distraction into some bright pink rhododendrons, we then found the ideal spot for seated photos, just as the sun came out.

Make the most of the spring flowers

Spring can come upon us very quickly as the snows start to melt. Subsequently, I advise my clients to plan for a spring shoot as early as April and then we can adapt our timings as and when the flowers appear. Maryna was well organised and had already noted when the irises would be out at the Château de Vuillerens—generally May to mid-June.

If you love tulips, then the Morges Tulip Festival is on between the beginning of April and end of May. The Montreux Riveria is beautiful at any time of year but I especially love it when the spring flowers are coupled with snow-capped mountains in April. From the middle of June, it is to the mountains that you should go. Here you will find meadows of alpine flowers, ever-changing as you climb higher.

For newborn and baby’s first year photography in Switzerland I offer a wide range of different photography collections. With a choice of albums, canvases, prints, cards downloadable high-resolution files there is a personal way of you to remember these special moment. If you would like to book a baby photo shoot, please get in touch for collection pricing and availability.