Léonard Antonin

Léonard Antonin is a photographer in Yverdon-les-Bains who works across French-speaking Switzerland and, as his homepage puts it, elsewhere too. He photographs weddings, couples, families and portraits, and restaurants and hotels. His wedding page opens with a simple promise: your wedding, as it was actually lived. He guides the couple when it helps; after that, they enjoy their day and he takes care of the pictures. Weddings start at CHF 1,900, with a private gallery included. His homepage describes the aim across all his work as precise images that do not take away what makes people and places feel alive, and presents his three fields, weddings, portraits and hospitality, as one and the same attention to people, gestures and places.

How he sees a wedding

Antonin is explicit that he is not trying to produce a wedding more perfect than the one that actually took place. In his words on the wedding page: "Je regarde la personne qui attend derrière une porte, les mains pendant la cérémonie, les enfants qui disparaissent sous une table et les liens que vous n'avez pas besoin de m'expliquer deux fois." He watches the person waiting behind a door, the hands during the ceremony, the children disappearing under a table, and the bonds a couple does not need to explain to him twice.

Before the day, he and the couple take time to talk about the important people, the rhythm of the day and what worries them. After that, he writes, the couple can be elsewhere, and that is precisely his job. The page sums up his working mode in three short phrases: waiting, watching, anticipating; portrait, light, presence; and a reminder that images can also leave the screen.

Before, during, after

His process is set out in three steps. Before: they talk about the people, the places, the worries and what the couple really expects from the pictures. During: "Je dirige quand cela aide. Je me fais discret dès que la journée trouve son propre rythme." He directs when it helps and becomes discreet as soon as the day finds its own rhythm. After: he selects, edits and delivers the photographs, and can also take care of the album, the paper or the frame.

The homepage describes the same idea as precise accompaniment: couples do not have to plan everything. They prepare what needs preparing, he makes the useful decisions on the spot, and then he handles the selection, the files and the prints, so the couple stays free to live what is happening. The wedding page adds that the gallery is designed so couples do not have to become experts in files, albums or printing.

A full wedding story

The site features a complete reportage of Joana and Fabien's wedding, which ran from the Château de Crissier to the Château de Monnaz. He presents it as a way to understand the rhythm of a whole day rather than only its most obvious images. Their review, linked to Google, reads: "Il a su capturer chaque instant avec une sensibilité et un talent incroyables. Les photos sont magnifiques et racontent parfaitement notre journée." (He recorded every moment with incredible sensitivity and talent; the photos are beautiful and tell our day perfectly.)

Albums and prints

Antonin makes a real case for printed pictures. His homepage argues: "Le numérique se consulte vite, puis disparaît dans un dossier. Un album oblige à ralentir." Digital files are looked at quickly and then vanish into a folder; an album makes you slow down. Like the albums of your parents, he writes, it gets leafed through, lent and rediscovered years later. He helps couples choose what deserves a place at home and then handles the paper, format and finish. For weddings, he can prepare an album or prints with a framing workshop in Lausanne, with the format decided together according to the images and the space they will take.

Prices

The wedding page gives a clear starting point: weddings begin at CHF 1,900. Before the couple commits, his proposal sets out the duration, the images delivered, travel and any printed items. The private gallery is included; album, prints and framing are on request. The homepage explains the reasoning behind publishing a starting figure: it lets couples see quickly whether it makes sense to go further, and the proposal then details what is included. For comparison, his gastronomy and hotel commissions start at CHF 790.

Getting in touch

Couples do not need a finished brief. A date, a place and a few lines about what they are preparing are enough to start, and he replies personally about his availability and the next steps. The contact form asks for a name, email, the type of project, the date or period and a description; his email is antonin@leonardphoto.ch. The site also has FAQ and rates pages. On the wedding page, the first step is labeled simply as checking the date: send the date and the place, and he answers personally.

Other work

Much of his work is in gastronomy and hospitality: he writes that he photographs a restaurant, not just its menu, including the team, the dining room and the light. Collaborations named on the homepage include W Verbier, The Chedi, Gault&Millau, Top Chef on M6, QoQa and Châteauvieux, and a Café du Manoir review from St-Prex calls him a discreet person who blends into the setting. He also sells fine art works, including a three-picture series called L'Ordre des Tables.

What the site does not answer

The wedding page does not say how many hours or images the CHF 1,900 starting point covers; those details come in the proposal. It does not give delivery times or album prices, which are on request. The site is written entirely in French and does not say whether he works in English, so couples from abroad should ask in their first message.

Who he suits

Antonin suits couples marrying in French-speaking Switzerland who want a record of the day as it happened, with light guidance rather than a staged shoot, and who value help turning the pictures into an album or prints. The published starting price makes early planning easier. The caveats are the French-only site and the need to wait for his proposal to know exactly what a given budget buys.