Couple session at the Salins de Hyères, before the wedding at Château des Anglades
A few days before getting married at Château des Anglades, Danni and Connor followed me down to the Salins beach in Hyères for a couple session, feet in the sand. She's British, he's Australian. They chose Provence to say yes, and this evening by the water was their way of catching their breath before the big day.
The Salins de Hyères is that strip of land wedged between the lagoon and the sea, on the road out to the Giens peninsula. Low dunes, chestnut fences holding the sand in place, dry grasses that catch fire against the light as the sun drops. It was mid-June and the light was still hard when we arrived. We let it come down.
A no-fuss session, barefoot
I had nothing complicated planned. Danni in a short blue-floral dress, Connor in a striped shirt, sandals in hand pretty quickly. We walked, they laughed, I stayed a step back. It's the kind of session I like best: I give three cues and let the rest happen.
What I'm after in a couple session isn't the perfect pose. It's the second right after, when they forget the camera and all that's left is the way they look at each other.
The water's edge at golden hour
We came down to the wet sand once the light finally softened. The bay of Giens was calm, two or three boats moored in the distance, the water still warm. They walked into the surf without a thought for their clothes, and that's when the session really started.
The late backlight on this coast gives warm, slightly hazy images, far from the postcard blue. It's exactly what I love about the Var coastline, and why I often suggest couples finish a session with their feet in the water.
Why do a couple session before the wedding
For two people who travelled from the other side of the world, the session does something simple: it teaches them to be photographed together, without the pressure of the wedding day. We settle in, laugh off the missed poses, and by the wedding the lens is no longer a stranger. I go into more detail in my article on how to prepare your engagement session.
A few days later, we met again among the vines for their wedding at Château des Anglades, a wine estate just a few kilometres away. The session and the reportage answer each other: same light, same couple, the same wish to tell things simply.
Planning a wedding on the coast? I photograph regularly in Hyères and the Var, from the Giens peninsula to the estates around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. A session before the big day, on the beach or elsewhere, slips easily into a wedding weekend.
