There are more than 1000 professional photographers in Paris so finding the right one to capture your special moment, whether that’s your wedding or your dream trip – it can be hard. Nobody gets that more than Paris photographer Dagmara Bojenko. She has travelled the world, from Europe to Ecuador and the Polish-born Canadian brings a wealth of experience and empathy to her photography.
She came to Paris for the love of a Frenchman and when that didn’t work out as planned, found that she had fallen in love again – this time with the city of light. She sold everything she had, upped sticks from her hometown of Montreal and is now settled in Paris.
It’s “tough” sometimes, she says. Competition is fierce but fortunately everyone has their own style, their niche and she wakes up every morning feeling “super excited” about being able to help her clients capture a perfect moment in a photo.
Coming from Montreal, Dagmara spoke Canadian French already (as well as English, Spanish and Polish) and the conversion to French French has been relatively easy enabling her to make friends and importantly make discoveries. Ask her about photo locations in the city and she has hundreds of suggestions. Romantic – check. Quirky – check. Authentic – check. She spends lots of time scouting good locations, seeking photogenic streets, cute backdrops, real life scenes and places that may be a little more unusual.
Unique photography style
Dagmara loves spontaneity in photos and a little humour. She likes to understand her subject’s interests and what is desired from a photo of themselves. Groups love her fun attitude, and her subjects adore her ability to make the photos come alive. She likes classic but also likes to play with space, and takes time to talk to people, to put them at ease and to know what feels natural to them – which all helps to make a great shot.
“Imagine” she says “that you are on a beach, you can hear the sea lapping the sand, feel the hot sun and then you see an ice cream seller and the experience feels whole – now, open your eyes” and she snaps a photo. It works, people smile, they’re relaxed, they have a look on their face, the one that says this moment, right now, is perfect, and it’s captured forever.
She’s a laid back, sociable very easy to talk to person with lots of interests. “French cuisine” she says if you ask her one of her favourite things about Paris “I could eat all day!” Or “dance! I love hip hop”. But her true love is “Photography. When I work with someone, it’s about sharing a memory where we both open up and try new things…where you can be as cool as a cucumber or as silly as a rabbit”. And it shows in her work, quirky, beautiful, magical photos that are technically perfect but that also have a little je ne sais quoi and a soupcon of Paris style…
You can listen to an interview on French radio (in English) with Dagmara to find out more about her and her life in Paris.
