exciting announcements
March 3, 2010 | Filed Under photography | 21 Comments
so i have a couple of exciting bits of news to share with you all… the first is a little old; i’ve been sitting on it for the blog, although i did tweet about it a while back! but, in january i received an award from one of the national wedding service websites i am associated with, WeddingWire, an endeavor that links brides and vendors to facilitate wedding planning across the country.
from their press release about the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards:
The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.
Ayesha Ahmad Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.
the other news is more recent – just this week i received my long-awaited acceptance email to the fantastic Wedding Photojournalist Association, an organization that celebrates and upholds the standard of true photojournalism in wedding photography – capturing moments, emotions and stories as they unfold during the event, without direction or interference. every wedding has a place for posed shots, formal or informal, but for me the thrill, challenge and beauty lie in the truth of the day itself – the honor that i’ve been chosen to capture it, the responsibility of capturing it purely. so i’m absolutely thrilled to be accepted into WPJA, and – as a sometimes-writing-journalist, still – proud to call myself a wedding photojournalist.
from WPJA’s press release:
[WPJA is] an International, membership-based organization representing professional photographers skilled in the documentation of weddings and events in a candid, unobtrusive style. As a WPJA member, Ayesha Ahmad joins the ranks of some of the most talented wedding photojournalists in the world as judged by their technical, creative and visual aptitude.
Ayesha Ahmad will be held to strict membership standards regarding image quality and content, technical and creative technique, website and marketing professionalism, business ethics and communication. In turn, she gains prestigious affiliation with one of the industry’s top professional organizations. Ayesha Ahmad can further gain admittance into quarterly competitions, where her work will be judged by some of the world’s most respected and accomplished award-winning photojournalists.
so, here are the little badges you’ll see going up on my site soon! i’m so excited about these – if you know me at all, you know how much of my heart is in this business, and i can’t help but be thankful for the opportunity to work toward joining so many others whose work i admire and am inspired by.
AND, because no post is complete without a photograph… and this is all about moments… here’s one of my favorite father-daughter moments from sarah and eddie’s wedding last year 
happy anniversary, saad and mahroo!
February 28, 2010 | Filed Under friends | 1 Comment
may the laughs keep coming and may Allah bless you with countless more years of joy, strength, and blessed prosperity!
engagement shoot: nafeez & jessica
February 26, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
nafeez and jessica are getting married!! in october this year. in gettysburg!! so, in honor of that, we had been planning to shoot some pretty historic-type pictures – more to come on that later – but since that didn’t work out, we settled on a historic location – the beautiful landon house in frederick, md., where anyone with a penchant for civil war history – or just a love of beautiful historic homes – can set up a memorable wedding experience.
be that as it may, we had to make our photo shoot memorable by having to plunge through the foot or so of snow still remaining on the ground there – not to mention the squelching mud left over in the plowed patches. the great thing about engagement shoots is that they give the photographer a chance to get to know the couple a little bit as a photographer, and i had a blast getting to know nafeez and jessica! after seeing how intrepid jessica was about tackling the snow in flats without socks, i’m sure the wedding day will be as smooth as silk! seriously, though – or not – nafeez and jessica, i loved seeing the way you two laughed together, and i can’t wait to meet the rest of your families and work with you both again! congratulations again, and see you very soon
wintry portraits
February 9, 2010 | Filed Under portraits | 22 Comments
i had an unexpected chance to meet these three lovely sisters today in gaithersburg, in the kentlands area, and take their pictures on the one day of gorgeous sunlight, just-above-freezing weather, and just-barely-passable road conditions that could have made a portrait session possible. yesterday, no roads, tomorrow, more snow – but today? beautiful! thanks so much for contacting me, ladies; it was my pleasure to work with you, and hopefully you’ll get to see the rest of the shoot very soon!
