Winter time is probably my favorite time to shoot in Paris. For starters, sunrise and the best light for photos is so late that you can comfortable sleep in and start your photoshoot at 9am and still catch that perfect soft morning light. Bonus, this light continues pretty much throughout the day and if you pick a location that's not tourist heavy then you don't even need sunrise. Sunsets are around 5pm, which is also very convenient because you can plan to do daytime photos going into sunset and finish off with night and flash photos and have that all done in time for dinner!
I've been working as a Paris photographer for over 10 years now and done hundreds of shoots in winter and they always are the ones I remember the most because although cold, it is also quite fun to create memories together warming up taking your coats off between the shots, then running to a cafe for a hot chocolate, or a glass of wine for the more adventurous ;) My suggestion for families with smaller kids is to go for a 30 minute mini session and always have an option to extend if needed.
For this family photoshoot, for example, we managed the whole of 2 hours, but I'm just showing you a few of my favorite portraits - we started off at Avenue de Camoens for the lovely view of the Eiffel Tower. This location is gr4eat for families with smaller kids as there is no traffic and it's safer to let them roam around. In the recent years it's become rather popular for photoshoots, so you can expect to wait a little to get a nice spot for photos, but it's totally worth it. Afterwards we walked over to a nearby cafe to warm up and have some breakfast. There are several cafes by Trocadero plaza which allow photoshoots (not all of them do), so ask your Paris photographer to plan one that is photo friendly.
Our final location was the Louvre courtyards and corridor where we traveled to by taxi. Uber has become notoriously unreliable in Paris in the past couple of years, so I would highly recommend that you install G7 taxi app on your phone before visiting - it works just like Uber and prices are similar, but it's actual official taxi and they don't drop off your order on a whim! Any taxi will take up to 3 people, so for larger families plus your photographer you'd need to get a van option that's also available in the app. Other transportation options are metro, Bolt, FreeNow. The Louvre location is my absolute favorite for family photo sessions, in fact we've just done our own family portraits in December and we chose the Louvre as a backdrop. Even on a windy day the walls cut off most of the wind, there are no cars, so it's safe for kids to walk on their own and the views are just so iconic and beautiful.
