Most of the sessions I post here are pretty special and significant.  However, what I’m about to post today is something so special and wonderful, that it’s kinda over the top.  From a scale of 1-10, this is a straight 11 on the “aww” factor.

Ashish is one of my boys from the good ‘ol college days.  I met him at NCSU through one of my good friends LT, who’s awesome engagement session is posted here by the way.  Ashish called me up a while back and told me he was finally ready to propose to his girlfriend Neema. When he asked me to photograph the event, I was honored and thrilled at the same time.  I’ve never actually witnessed an actual proposal personally.  Is it like what you see in the movies?  Does the girl always get emotional?  What if the guy starts crying too?  I was excited to actually see a real proposal, not to mention take notes for the time I have to do the same.  Problem was, this was going to be a surprise, so I would have to photograph them without Neema finding out.  Seems easy, but I assure you, people with big camera and lenses stick out very quickly.  On top of that, Ashish wanted to do it during day light, at the lawn in UNC, which doesn’t have things to hide behind.  However, like every photoshoot, the challenge was happily accepted.  Ashish and I planned to meet a few days before the big day, just to plan it out and make sure things go according to plan.  Like weddings, there would only be one shot at this, but on top of that, there’s the added pressure of not being detected.  We did a trial run a few days before, things went smoothly, so the plan was a Go for that weekend.  So how did it all pan out?  How did he propose to her?  Did she say Yes?  Scroll down and find out 🙂

I was worried Neema would see me

Lucky for me, at that EXACT moment, a whole wedding party was right around the corner

So when Neema did notice me, I just turned and took photos of the random bride & groom

This was the distraction point to stall things for a bit, so my assistant could run to the next area.

Ashish: “Hey, I think I recognize that song.  Is he playing John Legend?”

Ashish starts singing Stay with You by John Legend

“Oh I’ll stay with you through the ups and the downs. Oh I’ll stay with you when no one else is around”

This was it….

YES!

That’s the expression of pure happiness

I was still being a bit covert, so this is a bit blurry, but I love the moment

This is the point where Ashish realized he pulled it off perfectly

Congratulations Ashish & Neema!

Bonus

To pull of something this special, planning is a must.  All you fellas, take a lesson from Ashish.

Andrew on the Guitar

Special thanks to Azeem for helping me out.

I’ve been away for a while, but like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, I’m coming back with a Vengeance. This session I’m about to share is EPIC in all it’s essence. I don’t usually say that here, but trust me, this shoot was on another level.

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… I attended a little university called East Carolina. Back then, like every other South Asian kid, I was studying pre-med so that one day I could be an awesome doctor and save someone’s life. This was before I knew what an exhausting and boring process trying to be a doctor is, and how much more fun photography is instead (trust me, photography is WAYYY more fun). Anywho, if you do pre-med and actually want to succeed, you will spend a vast majority of your time in the library studying. If you’re brown (South Asian descent) and studying in the same place, chances are, you are eventually going to make friends with the other brown kids studying the same thing. Long story short, this was how I first met with Aarti Patel back in undergrad. Aarti was this tiny little thing that would always be in the library, studying her butt off. I’m not exaggerating here, like 8/10 times, she would be in the library studying. Aarti wanted to hang out with us because A) we were really cool, and B) a group can collectively get more work done and study better. I just wanted to hang out with Aarti because she was smart and knew what she was doing, and also to copy her homework from time to time 😀

Aarti in the library our Sophmore year

Senior post graduation dinner, looking stuntastic as usual

As the years went, my roommates and I as well as Aarti and her friend Puja, would always be in the library studying. We all became study buddies and found ourselves in that dreadful library a little too often.  So much so, that our group would do crazy nerdy things together, like pull 2 all nighters in a row for our genetics and organic finals, and then do it again a day later for physics and anatomy, or play hide & go seek in the areas of the library that would be closed after hours, or make 2 am runs to Krispy Kreme so we could all stuff our face with the lightest warm pillows of fried dough during the “Hot now” period. Yeah, we were all major nerds, but we still rocked it out. It was hard to leave such a good group of friends after we graduated, but everyone had to move on. I moved on to do photography, while pretty much everyone else from the group went into the medical world. None of us are very good at keeping touch, but Aarti and I still caught up from time to time, and hung out once in a while. She told me a few years back in NY that when the time came for her to get married, she wanted no one else to cover her day but me.

I didn’t think much of it when Aarti told me she wanted me to be her photographer for her wedding, but she called me up a few months back and told me that she had met her man, got engaged, and she was ready to book me for her upcoming wedding. I was not only stoked that one of my study buddies was finally getting married, but also for the fact that she kept her word, and that I would be covering her special day. The thing was, both Aarti and her fiance Kedar could only make it down to NC for one weekend, so if we did an engagement session, we would have one day to do it. On top of that twist, Aarti lives near the mountains in Asheville, which is a good three and a half hours away from where I stay.  This was not the most convenient time for me, but if they were gonna be here for one day, then darn it, I was gonna make it happen.  I drove through a crazy thunderstorm, made it to Asheville, and we had an extended E-session that practically lasted the whole day.  I didn’t know any of the places and nothing was really planned.  We just kind went and winged it.  Along the way, I found a red barn, some tall grasses, and beautiful mountains in the background.  I was like a kid in a candy store with such awesome backdrops and environments to shoot in.  Both Aarti & Kedar were troopers and kept up the whole time, regardless of driving nearly 10 hours the day before to make it down to Asheville.

This session was so cool, that I decided posting images would make you scroll a LOT.  So instead, I decided to make a slideshow for all of you to enjoy.  So without further ado, here’s Aarti & Kedar’s E-session 🙂

A few of the awesome photos incase you can’t wait for the slideshow to load

My brides can climb trees.  What can yours do?

Yes, I made them climb on top of the hay stacks. So worth it.

One of my favorites

Congratulations Aarti & Kedar. See you at the wedding!

Bonus mini shoot the morning after!

Probably my favorite shot

Thanks to Aamir for coming out and helping me with the shoot.

Not too long ago I got a call from Carla about a birthday party for her daughter Sara. Now normally I don’t shoot a lot of birthday parties, but this was Sara’s first one, so it’s very special to Carla. When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised at how the birthday party had a super cool bumblebee theme. Everywhere you looked, there was some form of a bees. It was very cute. I got some nice shots of Sara, the family, the decor, the cake, and had a chance to eat some of the delicious food. Without further ado, I present you the pics: