Beauty is Truth » portraits

salina: one year old

beautyis — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:27:46 +0000

i had the pleasure of meeting little salina and her family a few weeks ago to take some portraits at one of my favorite spots, brookside gardens in wheaton, maryland. i’m all about babies these days, myself, with my newest hitting six months this weekend (!!!) so i had a blast watching this sweet baby girl exploring the beautiful gardens and interacting with people and plants in her own curious way. thanks so much to salina and her family for giving me the opportunity to capture these memories for you!

rashad & sana: cherry blossom portraits

beautyis — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:59:39 +0000

i didn’t think it was possible to photograph a more adorably in-love couple than rashad and sana at their walima last june, until i photographed rashad and sana several months later – that is, a few weeks ago, under the cherry blossoms in D.C. on a beautiful sunday afternoon. these two are so incredibly photogenic already, it’s just icing on my photographer’s cake to be able to capture a bit of the love that’s so radiant between them – especially in afternoon light like this!
rashad and sana, thanks again for the idea of switching from the gardens to D.C., for all the great posing ideas, and for struggling through all the traffic and walking so far to meet me out there. i think it was worth it! :)

2011: year in review

beautyis — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:42:28 +0000

so everything takes me a while with the whole new baby and two kids instead of one thing… here, two weeks into the new year, is a selection of my favorite images from wedding and portrait sessions through 2011. at the very end down below, there’s an image my second shooter amber wilkie took of me (five and a half months preggo and looking a hot mess after eight hours of shooting) with some of my most awesome clients – osman and lubna, at their walima in july in DC. and the very last image, i just blogged prior to this – but it might be my most favorite image from all of 2011 :) thanks SO much to my family, all my clients and my amazing second shooters for taking this journey with me last year – can’t wait to get started on 2012!!

little pumpkin: baby and family portraits

beautyis — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:14:55 +0000

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!

wajiha and awais: a dc love story

beautyis — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:19:04 +0000

we met at the gate to chinatown, and wajiha and awais were filled with stories about how each one had lived down the street that-a-way at one point, or used to study in that location. it was such a pleasure to do my first urban couple’s session with two people who knew this part of the city so well – and had such a clear emotional connection to the places we walked. plus – they are so much fun! and – stylish, gorgeous, smart… the list goes on. wajiha and awais, i had such a great time meeting you guys and photographing you too :) so here they are – chinatown, the national portrait gallery, and the streets in between…

rachel and reed: portrait session

beautyis — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:53:19 +0000

about a month after their wedding, rachel and reed joined me in all their wedding finery back at their lovely, rustic wedding venue, the lodge at little seneca creek, to take some bridal and couple portraits with more leisurely time. we traipsed back behind the lodge and across the long lawn to the woods – it was more “them”, rachel assured me, and it was quite “me” as well. the early afternoon light and autumn air were simply lovely – as was rachel, of course! here’s a few of the shots we took there. rachel and reed, thanks so much for meeting me out there again – for getting dolled up again – and for trusting me, again, to take your pictures :)

family portraits: great falls, va

beautyis — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:12:43 +0000

mehreen first contacted me last winter about doing some family portraits after i had shot her cousin’s wedding a few months before; with the cold weather and her little boy, the idea of outdoor portraits didn’t work out at the time. but we managed to get it together for this fall and i was delighted that mehreen liked the idea of shooting at great falls park in virginia – one of my all-time favorite haunts, a place i used to hike alone as a student when i first came to maryland over ten years ago. the colors were just starting to come out last weekend but the light and the falls were as lovely as ever – and mehreen’s adorable little boy had a blast watching the falls and the kayakers, pushing his stroller over the gravel walkways, and running rampant over the leaf-strewn grass.
thank you guys so much for meeting me out there and trusting me to photograph your beautiful family! i hope you enjoy these photos as much as i enjoyed visiting the park with you and capturing them :)

nabila & navid: portraits

beautyis — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:12:36 +0000

nabila and navid got married over memorial day weekend in baltimore; we met up a few weeks later, once their wedding festivities had finally calmed down, to take some portraits at the ever-beautiful brookside gardens in wheaton, md. nabila and navid both looked so regal in their red, gold and cream-colored wedding finery set against the garden’s summer greens – and so in love! it was such a pleasure to work with them again, and this time without all the wedding stress. thank you both once again! :)

malak & abdessalaam: wedding portraits

beautyis — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:03:04 +0000

malak’s mother contacted me about taking some bridal portraits of her daughter and son-in-law on their wedding day… and we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening to celebrate and take these portraits! in fact i kind of fell in love with malak when she asked me to shoot into the setting sun :) i don’t get to do outdoor evening-time portraits very often and the light was absolutely a photographer’s dream. it helped that we were located at the beautiful frying pan farm park in herndon, virginia, and of course even more to have such a gorgeous couple!
malak wears a hijab (islamic headscarf) so although we took most of the portraits and images of her without the headscarf, i am only sharing here some of the images she took with her hijab on. thank you malek, abdessalaam and fadwa for the opportunity to meet and work with you all!

the stepaniks: family portraits

beautyis — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:15:27 +0000

vince and carrie are my absolutely wonderful across-the-street neighbors; they moved in not long after we did, and we were thrilled to be joined by another young family in our quiet neighborhood. ethan is about a year younger than musa, but the two have always gotten along fantastically – what’s not to get along about, when they both have backyards they can run to, trucks to play with, lawnmowers to push, bikes and scooters to ride? little evan is just over a year old but so eager to follow his big brother around. the boys are just so exuberant and happy – it was such a pleasure to do a fall family shoot with them. we picked a gorgeous, late-fall afternoon, the light was perfect, and we chose centennial park in columbia, a place that’s always breathtaking in the fall with its towering woods reflected in a placid boating and fishing lake, and a paved running trail winding all around – not to mention a great playground.
here are a few of my favorites from the afternoon and evening!