The story behind La Récré:
—a story that
wasn’t planned
If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be photographing thousands of children across Quebec…
I probably would have smiled at you, without really believing it.
Because, back then, La Récré didn’t even exist.
And school photography even less so.
Before La Récré: a journey that was far from straightforward
My name is Isabelle.
I’ve always been drawn to beauty, life, and creativity.
But my journey has never been a straight path.
• Fashion marketing
• Beauty treatments
• Then photography… almost by surprise
As is often the case, it all started with my children.
What began as a hobby gradually became:
• family photo sessions
• weddings
• corporate photography
• portraits
And above all… I learned to observe.
The little details.
The fleeting expressions.
That precise moment between two poses.
The school photo (and my big prejudice)
Honestly?
It just didn’t appeal to me at all.
In my mind, it was:
• fast
• standardized
• impersonal
A background.
A forced smile.
Next person.
It just wasn’t me.
The encounter that changed everything
One day, a school contacted me.
A Waldorf school, surrounded by nature.
They told me:
“Carte blanche.”
And then… everything changed.
I photographed the children outdoors.
I took my time.
I got them moving, laughing, breathing.
Genuine smiles.
Lively expressions.
Children… just as they are.
And I fell in love with the experience.
When everything starts moving faster (without a marketing plan)
The following year:
• 3 schools:
• then 5:
• then 10…
Always through word of mouth.
No advertising.
No set strategy.
Just one thing:
doing things differently.
What You Don't See Behind the Scenes of a School Photo Day
Back then, it was still called IsaB Photographie.
But behind every photo shoot, there was much more than meets the eye.
• checklists
• names
• QR codes
• follow-ups
• prints
• deliveries
A true invisible machine.
Building a business… between two ports
That’s when my life changed, too.
My partner had a heart attack at age 38.
It put everything into perspective.
His dream: to go sailing.
So we did it.
We bought a boat in France.
And for three years, we lived a different kind of life.
• school contracts in Quebec
• remote editing
• life between two ports
I built my business… while living a bit like a nomad.
And I never would have planned it that way.
When it becomes bigger than yourself
At one point, I realized something:
It was growing. A lot.
And I couldn’t handle it all on my own anymore.
A first friend joined me.
Then another.
And in 2021, Émilie arrived.
The Birth of La Récré
With Émilie, it became clear:
This project was no longer just “Isabelle.”
It needed an identity.
A vision.
La Récré was born.
A business.
A playground.
A new way of doing school photography.
Today
Today, we are:
• more than 60 schools
• nearly 24,000 children photographed each year
• a team of women across Quebec
But above all…
Still the same mission as when we started:
Taking the time.
Seeing the child.
Creating something authentic.
