aamina & ibrahim: aqiqa
January 29, 2012 | Filed Under baby, friends | Leave a Comment
sara and i go about ten years back, to when we were both students at college park. we still live close by each other, but after marriage and first kids, have found it harder to keep in touch face-to-face. so it was a crazy surprise when she facebook chatted me one day late last summer (2011) and each of us suddenly found out the other was pregnant – both due in november!
however, sara was actually expecting twins! as twins often do, they came a little early – aamina and ibrahim, welcomed home by their insanely adorable two-year-old sister mariam. by the time the twins’ aqiqah (traditional islamic head-shaving ceremony) was planned for january, i was so excited to have recovered enough from my own childbirth to be able to photograph the event. in fact, the aqiqah was the first night i had taken zayd out of the home to someone’s house for an evening – and he didn’t cry once! at three months, the twins already had such distinct personalities – hope these come through in the pictures!
so – hooray for babies, and for picking up the camera professionally again seven weeks postpartum :)
all the reasons i’m a wedding photographer…
December 19, 2011 | Filed Under baby, family photos, personal | 21 Comments
…all come down to this. meet my newest, born at 4:19 a.m. sunday, november 6, 2011. born just before dawn on a time-change sunday morning, just like his brother five years ago. born a week and a half early, before i could finish all my editing work for the year! born on the day muslims around the world celebrated eid al-adha, the festival of sacrifice, as over two million pilgrims completed the annual hajj pilgrimage in saudi arabia. we have two eids every year, and give gifts to each other on those days, just like christmas. i can’t help feeling blessed to think that god gave me this gift on eid day… not just baby zayd, but the new brotherhood with my firstborn, musa. there is nothing more beautiful in this world to me.
i do also want to say thank you to all of my 2011 clients who waited patiently for their pictures throughout my crazy last trimester and after the birth! i am of course taking a little break from shooting, but should be back in business early in the new year – so yes, i’m taking 2012 bookings :)
in case you’re interested… the first few pics are from the hospital/ride home; i did a little shoot with both boys when zayd was six days old. at about two weeks we shaved his head – an islamic tradition for newborns – and those images were not taken by me but by my wonderful friend ayaka, who happened to spend the night when i went into labor and stayed home with musa while we went to the hospital; the later images are from around the one and one-and-a-half month marks.
little pumpkin: baby and family portraits
November 16, 2011 | Filed Under baby, portraits | 8 Comments
for my last official photography commission of 2011, i had the pleasure of working with amna, the sister of one of my brides from last year, and her beautiful family. i absolutely fell in love at first sight with baby ayah… she smiled when she first saw me and i was hooked!! amna and amer wanted some shots in a pumpkin patch, so we met up at clark’s elioak farm to take advantage of a gorgeous, sunny fall afternoon among the pumpkins and fanciful sculptures there. amna and amer were incredibly patient with their 9-months-pregnant photographer – thank you guys so much for that, and for your patience in waiting for these pictures since my own baby decided to show up a little bit earlier than expected!! it was such a pleasure to see you guys again and i hope you enjoy the pictures!
baby elyas
March 16, 2010 | Filed Under baby | 2 Comments
elyas’ mom was the first of all my childhood friends still living close to me to start having kids, seven years ago; as of march 2, she is now the mother of three beautiful, blessed and happy boys, mashallah. elyas was a bit of a surprise – up until delivery, all sonograms and testing had led them to believe they were having a girl! i think elyas just wanted to keep his parents guessing :)
so i got to visit my friend’s house when he was just four days old, and was amazed to see how alert he already was. most of all, though, i adored how much he smiled in his sleep! in islamic tradition, infants smiling in their sleep indicate the presence of angels – babies, after all, are closer to God than the rest of us! can’t wait to visit elyas again, with or without camera :)
