Paris: Private Photo Shoot at Eiffel Tower & Iconic Spots

4.94

(130 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll admit, I was nervous about looking awkward in front of the camera. But as soon as we met our photographer—Olivier, with his easy smile and slightly frayed scarf—I relaxed. We started near the Eiffel Tower, but not right under it; he led us to this angle by Bir-Hakeim bridge where the ironwork frames you just so. There was a breeze that morning, and I remember the smell of fresh bread drifting over from somewhere behind us. Olivier kept chatting about old movies filmed here, which made me forget I was even posing.

We wandered through the 7th arrondissement toward Pont Alexandre III, pausing wherever the light did something interesting—on a metro staircase, at a café table still sticky from someone’s espresso. At one point he asked me to laugh “like you’re remembering something stupid,” and I actually did. He caught it—me half-laughing, half-embarrassed—which ended up being my favorite photo of the whole shoot. It didn’t feel staged at all.

The best part? Olivier let us pick where to go next (we chose Palais Royal for those black-and-white columns). He’d point out little details—a street artist sketching quietly, or how the sunlight hit the Louvre’s glass pyramid in late morning. We hopped on the metro together (tickets weren’t included but it felt like part of the adventure), and he snapped some shots while we joked about our terrible French accents. There was no rush; he seemed to genuinely enjoy showing off his city through his lens.

A couple days later he sent hundreds of photos—way more than I expected—and let us choose our favorites for retouching. Some were classic Paris postcard stuff, but others were just…us, caught mid-conversation or squinting into the sun by the river. I still think about that view over the Seine when I see those pictures on my fridge door now.