Joëlle Voutat

Joëlle Voutat is a professional photographer in Delémont, in the Swiss Jura, who works under the name Imagin'Elle Photographie and signs parts of her site as Joëlle Taddei, founder and photographer. She has worked with women, couples, families and businesses for more than 12 years. Her main specialty is pregnancy and newborn photography, and she also offers wedding sessions, portraits of women and corporate reportages. For weddings she travels well beyond her home canton, across Switzerland and into Europe.

Where she works

Her homepage sets out the geography plainly. She travels throughout the canton of Jura and to Bienne, Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Vaud and Valais for her regular sessions, and for weddings and business projects she also travels throughout Switzerland and Europe. For a couple marrying in the Jura, she is local; for one marrying elsewhere in the country, she is explicit that weddings are the kind of work she travels for. The site does not state what travel costs.

Her role on the wedding day

The wedding page is headed "Ta photographe de mariage, ta complice du jour J", which casts her as the bride's accomplice on the big day as much as her photographer. On the homepage, the wedding teaser gives her reason in one line: because the photos of your wedding will soon be your only memories of it. The wedding page itself is written directly to the bride, in the informal French "tu", and it reads more like a promise of company than a service description. On the day, she writes, the bride wants to laugh, feel, cry (with joy), feel beautiful and free, and be fully herself. She is there, and not just to take photos: she is there to help the bride breathe when emotion overflows, to straighten the dress, to slip her a tissue at the right moment, to laugh with the maid of honor, and to record every detail without the bride having to think about it.

She describes herself as a gentle, kind presence, "celle qui voit tout sans jamais déranger" (the one who sees everything without ever disturbing), a part of the party like a lifelong friend, but with a camera and a sharp eye. It is a useful picture of what to expect: someone close to the bride through the day, rather than a distant observer at the edge of the room.

Her approach

In her own summary the approach is authentic, natural and lively. She does not freeze poses; she tells the couple's story, in light, in emotion and in truth. The page ends with a two-part invitation: if you want images that move and laugh and stir you every time you look at them, and if you want to feel supported, understood and celebrated, then write to her.

Her about page explains where that comes from. She calls herself a woman deeply touched by true stories, lived in silence or in noise, in tears or in laughter, but always with the heart. Her camera, she writes, is only a tool; what matters is the bond and the trust that let her photograph the invisible, which she lists as a fleeting emotion, a shared tenderness, a spark of soul. What does she photograph? In her words, "L'humain. L'authentique. Le vivant." (The human. The authentic. The living.) Her greatest strength, she says, is putting people at ease and making a shoot simple, natural and meaningful: she guides gently so that people can be themselves, and she is there to laugh, reassure and encourage. Whatever brings people to her, a birth, a wedding or simply the wish to feel confident in their own image again, she promises an experience that is true, sensitive and deeply human. Her homepage describes the pictures she aims for as sincere, luminous and full of emotion, and closes with an open invitation to tell her about the project, the idea or the dream.

Booking, payment and extras

The wedding page lists the practical terms. For interest or a booking request, couples should first contact her by email. Every package can be adapted to the couple's needs and the schedule of the day. A payment arrangement can be found, but the full amount must be paid by the time the photos are handed over. A photo album of the day can be ordered on request.

She also offers something unusual: on request she will set up an online kitty so family and friends can contribute an amount of their choice toward a future photo session, as a gift. The site has a gift voucher page and a questions and answers page, and she points couples who still have questions there first, then to the contact page. Her about page also mentions an appearance on the television program Avis de passage.

Beyond weddings

The session menu shows how much of her work centers on family milestones: pregnancy, birth reportage, newborn sessions (0 to 1 month), baby and child, breastfeeding, a first-birthday smash cake session, family, femininity portraits, couple sessions and corporate work. The couple session is presented as a way to share a gentle moment with a partner and keep it in pictures, which a couple could use before the wedding.

What the site does not settle

The wedding page publishes no prices and no package contents: nothing on hours of coverage, the number of images, delivery time or whether a second photographer is available. Those have to come by email. The whole site is in French, written in a warm, informal voice, and it does not say whether she works in English. For an English-speaking couple, that is the first question to ask, and it matters more here than with most photographers, since her whole offer rests on being a close, reassuring presence through the day.

Who she suits

Voutat suits couples, and brides in particular, who want a warm, close companion on the day and natural, unposed pictures, especially for weddings in the Jura, around Bienne and Neuchâtel, or elsewhere in French-speaking Switzerland. Couples who plan to start a family may also like the continuity of a photographer whose specialty is pregnancy and newborn work. The caveats for couples from abroad are the French-only site, the absence of published prices and the need to ask by email about coverage and delivery before booking.