On a quiet morning
in Verdun.
The Morels asked for one frame they’d actually hang. We ended up with an apartment full of them.
Sasha, Marc, Lxc3xa9a (4), Thxc3xa9o (7)
Their kitchen · Verdun, Montréal
90 minutes · Saturday, 9 AM
15 retouched, 2 wall prints
Coffee first.
Camera later.
Sasha called in August. She’d been carrying the idea of a real family portrait for two years and kept losing it to swim lessons, work calls, and one stomach flu. “I just want one good picture before Théo loses the front tooth,” she wrote.
We met on a Saturday at their place — small, second-floor, west light through the kitchen. I brought one camera and one extra roll of film. The kids had been promised pancakes after.
We didn’t pose once.
We just made coffee, and Ian followed us around.
— Sasha Morel
Forty minutes in, Léa decided she was done. Not crying-done — fully, arms-folded, four-year-old done. Sasha looked apologetic. I put the camera down, sat on the floor, and asked Léa what her favourite cereal was. Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The shoot resumed nine minutes later.
The frame on the next page is from about ninety seconds after that — Léa back on her dad’s lap, still annoyed but no longer at me. That’s the one Sasha hung above the bookshelf.
Three months later.
Théo’s tooth came out two weeks after.
The Morels framed three. The big one above the bookshelf, a small black-and-white of Théo on the fridge, and one of just Sasha and Marc that I almost didn’t deliver because it felt private. She told me later it’s her favourite.
They booked again for next October. We’ll see what Léa thinks of the camera by then.
One quiet morning. One frame to keep.
Family + couples sessions, by appointment.