C’est la rentrée! – our back-to-school portraits – Photography by Flavia Fontana Giusti

C'est la rentrée! - our back-to-school portraits

Every once and a while I share some personal family images that feel important.

Every year I photograph my kids as they step outside the door and head towards their bus stop on the first day of school, but somehow I’ve kept them unpublished.

No more.

These are this year’s back-to-school (sleepy) portraits of Emilio and Adriano.

Adriano started Kindergarten this year, so his first day was a day earlier that his brother

We decided to let Emilio take it easy, sleep it out, and for our baby bear’s soft start we skipped the bus.

For these I used my Canon Elan7 loaded with a remnant of Kodak Ektar 100 from this summer, and my Diana Mini loaded with what I think must have been Kodak Colorplus 200, but I’m honestly not sure, and it might have been expired, anyways it was a roll from our vacations I wanted to finish…

front porch mandatory portrait

pickup & end of first day celebratory ice cream

On Emilio's first day (Adriano's second), I took the real portraits

And they’re a vibe.

For these I used my Pentax 645 loaded with Kodak Gold 200 (the best).

And of course the bus stop

and the fire hydrant on the way, which is sort of a tradition of ours, we’ve been doing this for three years…

I also finished the last frames of that Kodak Ektar 100 in my Canon Elan7:

Forgive me for I am French after all: “c’est la rentrée!”

A final word.

As most of you know, I am a children photographer in Madison, WI, and I photograph families, milestones portraits and school portraits. So if you’re in need of a photographer, or if you’d like better options for your kids’ picture-day portraits, get in touch with me and spread the love!

BONUS - before I close this post, here's a few images from past years...

2023 – Emilio enters 1st Grade, on Kodak Ultramax 400 and Ilford HP5+

2022 – Emilio enters Kindergarten, on expired Kodak Ultramax800 (with flash and a slow shutter for good measure) + a few extras with Adriano who did not have school but was jetlag awake…

And these too, found on a bit of new Fujifilm 200 that went through my Kodak Retina IIIc – they were labeled first day of school in my archives, but the different outfits suggest it might actually more be the second or third day:

2021 – The one image from Emilio’s first day in 4K – which was a soft start to school in general – with the Holga 120GCFN on Kodak Tri-X 400