A note from Katie

In 2013, I left NYC behind for the cobblestone streets of Paris and a frenchman. I arrived at CDG with a camera,  two checked bags, and years of experience as a professional family photographer. 
The reason for my move? Love and adventure.

Within a year I learned French, fell in love with Paris, and started my Paris family photography business. A few years after that I married that same French guy who I came over for. 10 years in Paris, a happy marriage, and two kids later, here we are. A busy, creative life, full of good French wine and joy.

In 2020 we almost lost everything, including me. Simultaneously the world shut down, I was told I had stage 4 cancer, and my dad was also diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

 The world came through, I lived, my dad died.

It was everything you could imagine: mostly awful, filled with gratitude for surviving, yet feeling the deep deep unfairness of it all. What got me through? Well, modern medicine and luck first off. But also, my family.

I know what is most important in life: time and memories with the ones you love. Laying in bed, too weak to even walk to another room or push my 1 year old’s stroller down the block, I kept begging the universe for more time. Please PLEASE just give me more time: Time to heal, to live, time for my daughter to remember her mom if the chemo didn’t work. I remember from my bed hearing her little feet running around the house pointing to our family portraits with her tiny voice repeating “Mama, Papa, Siena” “Mama, Papa, Siena”. That was her home: us. The three of us together. 

This is why we do portraits. It’s important to have portraits and art with your loved ones or solo in places that you love.. It’s important to have them hanging in your home, enjoying them every day, for your kids to see. They're not just pictures on the wall; they're windows to your past, present, and future, a way to relive the simple joys and grand celebrations that define a life.

In 2021 after chemo and months of recovery ended I gave myself 2 options:

1. Quit. Close down shop.

Or

2. Build a team. I couldn’t/can’t physically do it alone. Doesn’t a dream just get bigger when it’s shared?

So I started building. It’s been so, so much work.

Building for yourself is easy (hey I did it for years for our amazing paris photography clients!), but building something for others to grow with is so much more complex. And always, always with the client centered in it all.

So here we are, the dream getting bigger together, giving YOU, my adventurous loving friend, the ultimate Paris portrait session experience created from a decade of experience serving thousands of families and solo clients in Paris, and the deep knowing that celebrating your life is important. 

Our Paris Photography team:

1.  Does the work of planning a fun, natural Paris photo session (or mini session!) in the most iconic Paris locations to photograph. 

2.  Will give you the family, couple, and solo portraits of your dreams. We are the only photographer in Paris who does a same day turnaround to show you your portraits in a breathtaking cinematic experience right in the heart of central Paris. (This is where you’ll then order your favorites for artwork, albums, and get the photos you ordered to share on social media)

3. Creates art to celebrate your life: A life full. A life that risks joy amidst the challenges and reckonings we all face. A life that says “yes” more than “no” and that sees the deep beauty and importance of time and how we use it. 

This is why we do what we do.

It's not just a profession; it’s a passion and a purpose. We're here to help you capture the beauty of your everyday life and the extraordinary moments that make it truly exceptional. 

We would love to celebrate you. Contact us via our contact page or via email at hello@katiedonnellyphotography.com

Love from Paris,

Katie, Owner and Creative Director of Katie Donnelly Photography

The KDP dream Team (And your New Paris photographer BFFs):

Our website is a mix of all of our work! Each photographer is personally trained by me (Katie) and we all work at the tip top highest quality. Each week we meet to team brainstorm on every single session to be sure that every client gets their dream portraits, and our best work. You’ll absolutely LOVE whomever you work with!