01
Geneva and Lausanne give you a completely different rhythm from Zermatt or Grindelwald.
The mountains are still part of the wider landscape, but the session is not controlled by high-altitude transport. We can work with waterfront, architecture, streets and vineyards, and move the order more easily if the light or weather changes.
Geneva has the more international city atmosphere: lakefront promenades, formal architecture and St Pierre Cathedral. Lausanne is more topographic, with hills and views across Lake Geneva. Lavaux is the natural final section when the evening light reaches the vineyard terraces.
02
Lake Geneva — a quiet start before we moved into the city
We began by the lake while the pace was still simple. Water gives you open space and a clean horizon, which is useful before the gallery becomes more architectural. Autumn colour around the shoreline added warmth, and the swans became part of the scene without us needing to invent a complicated setup.
Starting this way also gave Iris and Mike time to settle into being photographed. I prefer not to begin a pre-wedding with the most formal location of the day. The first section should give the couple room to move, talk and forget about the camera.
03
The vintage carousel — smaller, playful photographs between the wide views
A carousel changes the scale of the story. Instead of another lake panorama, we get movement, colour and something recognisably human. Iris and Mike could laugh, move and interact with the space rather than hold a formal pose.
These transitions matter in a long gallery. If every Switzerland photograph is a couple placed in the middle of a huge landscape, the mountains and lake eventually become repetitive. Details and playful sections give the larger images more impact when we return to them.
04
St Pierre Cathedral — interior light and the view over Geneva
St Pierre gave us the architectural counterpoint to the lake. Inside, the light is controlled and the scale becomes more intimate. After that, going higher gives the wider city view and reconnects the gallery with the geography of Geneva.
This kind of location needs time. A cathedral is not useful if we rush in, make one frame and rush out again. It is better to photograph fewer major stops and actually use the building, the stairs, the view and the change of light.
05
Back to the lake, then Lavaux for the last light
We returned to Lake Geneva for another short water section before moving towards Lavaux. Repeating a landscape can work when the light, distance and energy are different. The second lake section felt less like an introduction and more like part of the story Iris and Mike had settled into by then.
Lavaux was the natural ending. The terraces sit above the lake, so the landscape opens up again but with vineyard lines in the foreground. As the sun dropped, the colour became warmer and the last photographs felt clearly different from the cooler lake and city sections earlier in the day.
What I remember from Iris & Mike’s day
06
The little interruptions made this session better.
The swans are the obvious example. We did not arrange them and we certainly could not direct them, but once they started moving around Iris and Mike I kept shooting instead of trying to clean the scene up. Later the carousel did the same thing in a different way: it gave them something to do, so the photographs stopped being about where to put hands and feet.
St Pierre Cathedral was the opposite. It needed patience. The interior was quieter and more controlled, and then we climbed the tower for the city view. That change of pace is exactly why I like a route with several types of place. A whole day of lake photographs would have been beautiful but repetitive; a whole day of architecture would have lost the Swiss landscape.
Lavaux was the section I wanted to save for the end. Vineyards are much better when the sun is lower, and after the city and lake the terraces gave the gallery a final change of scale. By then Iris and Mike had also stopped thinking about the camera, which is usually when the simplest portraits become the strongest ones.
If I planned the same route again
07
Start gently
Lakefront first. It gives a couple space to walk and talk before the more formal architecture.
Use the city as contrast.
Carousel and cathedral photographs stop the gallery becoming a sequence of similar lake panoramas.
Finish above the lake.
Lavaux needs the later light. I would rather arrive there with time to spare than add one more Geneva stop and rush the vineyard section.
Lake without lift logistics.
You still get a large Swiss landscape, but the day is much easier to reorder than a high Alpine route.
Architecture.
Cathedral interiors and city streets give the gallery structure between open-water photographs.
Lavaux at sunset.
The vineyards create a strong final visual change while keeping Lake Geneva in the background.
Geneva · Lausanne · Lavaux
Planning a Lake Geneva pre-wedding?.
Send your dates, where you are staying and whether you want the session to lean more towards city, lake or vineyards.
