attending weddings as a guest
July 2, 2009 | Filed Under family photos, friends | Leave a Comment
last weekend i got a chance to attend the wedding of another girl i knew growing up - the oldest of three daughters of one fabulous woman who has always been an inspiration to me, in my home community of raleigh, NC. i am not always in the loop with the raleigh community, and especially with the younger generation now graduating from college and moving on with their lives, it blows me away to see how they are taking the helms of their own lives and accomplishing amazing things in pursuit of their own dreams, like nadia and her sisters. nadia married a young man whose involvement in the washington, d.c.-area muslim community brought many other familiar faces to this wedding; even my husband realized he knew the groom’s family from long ago.
so i had a wonderful time, seeing old and new friends, and faces i couldn’t put a name to but i’ve known for years, at this wedding held at a simply beautiful waterfront venue on the chesapeake bay.
of course… that was only in the moments in between running around after two three-year-olds, my son and my nephew, who really had a fabulous time themselves, i’m sure! (i should add that my husband did a terrific job of watching him most of the time so that i could chat a little with my friends…)
so - just clarifying that i did NOT shoot this wedding, but i did take my camera along (and if i can find the link to the official photographer’s site i will post it here!) - just to capture a little bit of what i could get while being a guest and a mama and an aunt at a wedding!
AND, before i forget - i wanted to let you all know my blog was featured on a fantastic site, blogs of photogs, several days ago. thanks so much, mary! this site features plenty of talent in photography as well as links to related business, like wedding vendors and graphic designers, etc. be sure to check it out!
my son, enjoying the breeze from the open window on the drive to the venue:
the fantastically gorgeous bride, nadia, making her entrance with her husband!
my brother, sis-in-law and nephew as the couple walked in:
the kids, sitting down for the few minutes at the beginning when they did sit down:
i put on the long lens for a few minutes to get some shots at the beginning, while this young boy was reciting qur’an - traditional at the start of any major muslim event:
aaaand… they were off in search of adventure, or at least some strawberries and grapes…
i followed them down to the gazebo where they looked out at the water for a bit:
i couldn’t resist processing this shot like this… they looked so don’t-mess-with-us cool 
but i also loved this image of the two of them looking out to sea… er, bay…
so then my husband took over and i went back to the wedding activities. here, the groom is shaking hands with his teacher, the extraordinary calligrapher mohamed zakariya, after receiving a handmade gift from him.
groom’s brother, speaking…
two of my lovely friends, who came up from NC to stay with us for the wedding (do you like how i fixed the hijab issue, hana?? ) :
this one’s just for you, taiyyaba! one of my best friends’ parents, who have known me since childhood:
so then nadia and aasil came around to mingle with their guests, and we oohed and aahed over her dress and jewelry…
and finally, i got a friend to take a shot of me (left) with my beautiful sister-in-law, who i am thrilled to share is expecting my second nephew or niece in about six months, God willing! yay for babies!
after that we went into the reception tent for lunch, and things rapidly degenerated as my unnapped son’s mood went downhill, so the camera stayed in the bag and i’m not really sure what went on in terms of wedding festivities… but such is parenthood’s blessing!
a visit with the NC grandparents
June 18, 2009 | Filed Under family photos, nature | 2 Comments
so, i haven’t had any shoots for a while, but i did take my camera to raleigh in may and june when we went down for weddings and baby showers and whatnot. so of course i have some pictures of my son and nephew to share… it’s taken me a while to get my act together for a blog post, but here are some images from the personal side of our trips down to NC! the first few shots are from a quick walk in our neighborhood down to silver lake right by our neighborhood, where a resident swan came to see us.
also, i messed up my watermark file and while it would have been simple to recreate it, i thought i would try something a little different…
here, my son fell asleep during a day-long cooking extravaganza i conducted with two friends - pictures of THAT to come in a future post!
and here’s a little series showing the progress of a fight between my son and nephew over the blue car-carrier truck… with my brother completely knocked out on the couch the whole time…
the rest of these images are from pullen park in raleigh… the carousel, the little paddleboat ride, train, etc…
this one’s not technically a very good shot, but i just love the moment too much not to share it:
an extraordinary baby shower
June 9, 2009 | Filed Under events, friends | 3 Comments
so, maryam and modassir are family friends; modassir was slugging relentlessly through law school and working full-time while my brother and i were gallivanting undergraduates, all together at UNC Chapel Hill in the early 90s, and maryam joined our north carolina community from far, cold michigan about 10 years ago (i hope that’s right maryam!). anyway! at long last, this couple - always a beautiful example to those around them of a loving, happy marriage - is expecting a midsummer addition to their family, and their generous circle of friends threw one GLAM baby shower on june 6th. maryam herself is known for organizing fantastic parties, and so her friends decided to give back to her in similar fashion: the result was a red-carpet extravaganza with the close-knit feel of a “chill” evening at a friend’s house. the organizers and guests poured their hearts into making it an amazing night, and when i was asked to take the pictures, i wanted to capture not only the emotion of the evening, but all the details of the labor of love - pun intended! - maryam and modassir’s friends put forth.
if i’m on your facebook, you’ve probably already seen all of these images, but i chose a few of my favorites to share here in larger format!
mwana’s wedding slideshow
June 5, 2009 | Filed Under wedding posts | 4 Comments
so this is a little late, but i had intended to post a slideshow of more images from mwana’s wedding on april 25, at historic oakland in columbia, md. finally have gotten around to it… sorry mwana enjoy! please click on the appropriate button to start playing the slideshow; you can roll over the top to get the thumbnail scroller, or move the mouse away from the top to hide the thumbnails and just watch the slideshow.