Today we’d like to introduce you to Amandine Louis

Hi Amandine, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I always felt lost my entire life. As a child, they expect you to know exactly what you want and what you want to become. But how can you expect a 12-year-old child to know this when most adults don’t even know themselves? It was so difficult for me to go through life with no clue of who I was, what I liked, or what I wanted to become.

And in 2018, at barely 25 years old, those reflections were highlighted. To the point where my life was crumbling in front of my eyes and I had no clue what to do. nor where to go. I had just broken up a four-year relationship, which was everything I was identifying myself with. So outside of that relationship, I didn’t know who was. The only thing I knew was that photography has always been my passion since I was 12. Photography has always been the only consistent thing.

I then decided to launch myself as a professional photographer. I thought to myself, Why not? I was good at what I was doing, and I had nothing to lose. Unfortunately, France was not the perfect environment for me to be empowered in my dreams. In my own experience as a Frenchwoman, this country is not that empowering when people are trying to follow their dreams or to do things differently than the norm.

This is why I decided to immigrate to Canada. Canada is known as France’s big sister. Where everything is possible and all our dreams can come true. For the French, moving to Canada is our American dream.

Because of my immigration project, I had to put photography on hold for a little while. When you try to immigrate to another country, you have to start from zero and have a stable corporate job in order to get your papers. Then 2022 hit, and the pandemic was hard on me. This is when I realized that even if my journey in Canada was beautiful, it was not the one that I was meant to live. I went through a huge breakdown/breakthrough moment and realized that my life mission has always been photography and to empower people in their essence.

I then made a pact with myself: I would chase my dream no matter what. I will find myself. I will live an authentic, aligned life, and I will be happy. Life is too short for me to play around with my gifts and to not show up for myself. I will go on a journey to discover myself and make my dream possible. I was overwhelmed with the work at hand, but I just decided to make it happen and to build a better life for myself. I was also very scared and didn’t know where to start. But I decided to do it out of fear anyway. And to start by taking little, aligned action toward my goal. I just had to take one baby step, and the rest will follow. And the first one I took was to move to Mexico.

During that time, I’ve learned a lot about myself. And I grew a lot. This period in Mexico deeply shaped me, my long-term vision, and my business. It’s deepened my relationship with myself. I discovered myself. What I liked, I didn’t like. My values, my boundaries. How I wanted to be treated and how I wanted to live.
I lived in Playa Carmen for two years and a half, and I am so grateful for my time there because it also allowed me to create a steady foundation for the beautiful business that I have today. And I love the business I have created for myself. I am so proud of myself and my journey. If I had to do it all over again, the same way, I would do it without any hesitation.

I often get frustrated because I’m impatient and I want the end results now. But to be honest, the most beautiful thing about life is truly the journey that takes you where you want to go. And if I learned one thing, it is that everything comes in due time and that we have to be patient and gentle with ourselves. I know we live in a society where instant reward is the way to live, and people tell you that you can become a billionaire over night, but I do believe it’s not working that way. Big things take time, and you’re going to get where you want to get, but for this, you have to go through the journey.

Today, I live in Barcelona. After Mexico, I realized how much I was missing Europe, so I moved again. Things are not perfect, but I’m happy, and my business looks exactly the way I want it to. I still have plenty of things to build, plenty of things to learn, and plenty of things to live, but I’m not in a rush anymore. I am truly content with where I am, and I know that where I want to go will come in due time.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Entrepreneurship is never a smooth road. Regarding my obstacles, there were many.

First of all, after my breakthrough in Montreal, I decided to just do it and launch my business, but I had no plans and no savings. If I could do it all over again, maybe I would come up better prepared, with a step-by-step plan.

So I’d say finances have definitely been the most difficult obstacle. Luckily for me, I had my parents helping me out from time to time, but I still had to figure it out by myself.

The hardest thing was that I could never plan when I would have the next client or the next contract. It was hard. Because money kept coming, but I was living paycheck to paycheck, and some months it was not enough to eat. I was having enough to survive, but not to thrive, and I couldn’t invest back in my business.

I’d also say the lack of help. Photography can be a nasty business for photographers, the wedding industry can be tough, and people cross each other and are afraid of competition or are jealous. It’s also a supportive one if you find the right people. So I think I could not find the right people to help me out at that time.

Another difficulty that I’ve experienced has been the mental health/insecurities one. When you decide to get out of the norm and try something different for yourself, it can be challenging mentally. It’s hard to not fit in, and the journey is lonely. Many doubts and insecurity have risen, as has so much anxiety. I had so many days where I just wanted to give up. I was alone and supported at the same time.

Some days I had $1  left in my bank account. Some days I just wanted to go home to my parents and find the office job they wanted me to find.

One of the biggest challenges for me was believing I could make it happen. To believe in myself, in my art, in my talent. To keep believing in myself and in my dream. To have faith in myself that I will succeed. It’s difficult to keep believing when you don’t see it in reality but only in your mind. I had to train my brain over and over again, and it took me a lot of inner work, strength, and reframing my limited beliefs to get where I am now.

For me, inner work and business work closely together. Because the more I work on myself, the more I grow and the more I can expand my business, my vision, and my line of action. Every time I overcame a personal roadblock, it reflected on my business.

It’s been a lot to work on, but looking back, I will do it again. The journey can be tough, but at the end of the road, it is worth the hardships. Because the reward of getting to live out of your passion, your magic, your talent, and what’s making your heart beat, and getting paid for it, is priceless.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

The core of my business is Photography. I call what I do soul-essence photography.

More than photoshoots, it’s a celebration. Of people, their engagement, their love for each other, the beautiful family they created, their healing or simply themselves.

I hold a sacred space where everyone is free to express themselves, and are not going to be judged for it. Everyone can express their tasteful essence, and be seen and celebrated for it.
Society often tells us what to do or what to be, how to behave. For me, my business is about breaking those patterns and celebrating differences.

I want to show people, how beautiful they are, and empower them to be more and more authentic, more and more themselves, in a world where we are forced to blend with the majority to be accepted. And how safe they can be in the expression of themselves. The world would be so more dull without all the little things that make us who we are.

In addition to that, I also work with women and offer boudoir experiences. It saddens me to see beautiful women being insecure about their beautiful bodies. So in my experiences, I offer support, and I help them see their natural beauty, through my camera. I work with older women who deserve to still feel beautiful no matter their age, with moms who want to retake ownership of their bodies after their pregnancies, with women who had abortions, who were abused, and with women who struggle with their body image. Women are to be celebrated, women are beautiful, and whatever they went through, I am here to reflect this beauty right back at them. So they can take their power back and never forget how beautiful and powerful they are.

The thing I am most proud of is the space I am holding for my clients. To be able to hold that space, took a lot of hardships, inner work, and my own experiences. What my clients experienced, I can understand because I experienced life as well. I treat my clients in my space how I want to be treated as a person, and I think it makes all the difference. I am very proud of the fact that I managed to create a beautiful business based on my own life experience and that it can serve people. I think what makes it different is the level of transformation I can offer to women and the level of joy I bring to the table when my clients want to celebrate themselves or their love/family. I am as excited for them, as I would be for close friends. I am the best cheerleader of my clients.

Regarding my business itself, I think I am very proud to be the woman and business owner that I am today. I feel very aligned in all my business decisions, I trust myself, I listen to my intuition more and more, and my business reflects my essence. I am very much in love with my brand, and I built this all by myself.

What are your plans for the future?

Moving forward, I think I’d like to take my business further and make it sustainable for my lifestyle. Right now I had to take a second job to sustain myself. I think I’d like to take my photography business full-time and be able to make a stable living out of it.

I also have the dream to open my photography studio. I don’t know yet how to make it happen, but I know I have plenty of time to figure it out, and I will manifest it. Right now I am focusing on stability, and I am ready to settle somewhere and stop moving every three years or so.

Pricing:

• GOLD : 350$ – 60min – 15 photos
• Crystal: 450$ – 90min- 25 photos
• Preminum: 600$ – 120min – 40 photos

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amandinelouisphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandinelouis.photography/

Image Credits
all the pictures belong to me, @amandinelouisphotography