Ian Labennett is my friend. Correction, Ian Labennett is one of my best friends. I met the guy back in college, and we’ve been very close friends ever since. Our passion for all things videogames, movies, black comedians, lack of sports knowledge, outdoor Man trips, creative arts, and general goofing-offness led to a great friendship that will last a lifetime to come. Ian had told me earlier this year that this was the year he would get married. Next thing I know, he was engaged to one of my other friends named Hagar… literally 3 months after our discussion. I was not only super happy for him, but I was ecstatic for the beautiful relationship they would soon form. Though I didn’t know Hagar as well, I still knew that she was a wonderful girl, and it made perfect sense for them to be a couple. The chemistry between Ian and Hagar is just incredible. Spending 5 minutes with them together will make you realize that they not only compliment each other perfectly, but can spend the rest of their lives being their goofy selves… and be perfectly happy together. Nothing in this world makes me happier than seeing the people I care about be truly happy. I believe with Hagar, Ian has finally found his true happiness.

Oh man, I got all sentimental there… let’s get back to the topic of this post. Below you will find some images from an E-session we did on a very hot and humid day. By the end of this session, we were all drenched… so it’s a good thing we got some nice shots early on. I personally think these are some of the best images I have gotten to date, so I’m very excited to share them with everyone. I think it’s pretty apparent how natural these two are with each other once you see some of these shots. After the E-session, there are also a few images of the actual Katab Kitab ceremony. The Katab Kitab is an Egyptian ceremony where the couple signs the marriage contract, and is legally married under the Islamic laws. The Katab Kitab’s are usually a small ceremony, so it’s not usually very large scale or extravagant as the actual wedding (which will take place later in the year). Anyway, without further ado, here are the images:

E-Session

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It’s always nice to get recommendations from friends and family.  Shatil, a good friend of mine, had told his buddy Dev about my photography service… and just like that, I was booked for their wedding reception in Raleigh.  Both Dev and Jiya are in medical school, so their schedules are quite hectic.  Although we had a wedding related ceremony on this particular day, Dev had asked if we can do a couples session in Chapel Hill a few hours prior to it.  Dev and Jiya both attended UNC, and that’s also where they met and fell in love.  Though time was not on our side, I still obliged, and we proceeded to do a super quick couples session.  This session was definitely a record breaker for me.  We managed to do the whole session in under 30 minutes, and then rush back to North Raleigh for the other programs and events (which will be blogged about in the near future).  Although the session was quick, the weather was great, the lighting was spectacular, and we still managed to get some awesome pictures.    So hope you enjoy the set.

I had the distinct pleasure of photographing the Engagement ceremony for Hanna & Zeyad.  Infact, if you look below this post, you can read a bit more about  it , and see some of the images from our awesome time at the event.  We had a blast, and got some pretty cool pictures throughout the night.  Both Hanna & Zeyad had such a good time working with me at their party, that they wanted to hire me again for their E-Session.  They were going to have their dream wedding in Egypt, so that would be a bit out of my territory to cover 🙂  If I wasn’t already booked on that date though, I would have seriously considered it!  Since the main festivities would be held in Egypt, we decided to do a very fun and casual E-session.  Since we didn’t get a lot of outdoor shots at the ceremony, I wanted to do this session exclusively outdoors.  The location of choice was (Chapel Hill campus since Hanna was attending Pharmacy school there) as well as some other locations around town.  Now I have to say, this particular session is one of my all time favorites to this day.  Not only did I have an amazing looking couple, but they were super nice and cooperative about the whole thing.  Anything I suggested, they were up for it.  When it comes to getting truly amazing photographs, the cooperation from both the couple is a vital part of the overall process.  Hanna and Zeyad were truly awesome about their session throughout the day.  I also had Matt come by and assist me in whatever way I needed.  Though it’s mostly slave work when being an assistant, Matt had a great time and enjoyed it the whole time.  We had a great time walking around and getting these images, and I personally think that I got some of my very best images from this session alone.  If all that wasn’t great enough, the couple also treated us to an awesome brunch at a classy restaurant for all of our hard work.  Therefore, this was one of my all time favorite E-sessions to this date 🙂

So enough of me talking… please enjoy some of the images from the session.  There were so many good ones, that by the end, I ended up choosing close to 40 pictures.   Feel free to leave any comments if you like the work, as I always enjoy reading them.  Thanks!

One of my absolute Favorite shots that I have ever taken

A tribute to one of my favorite movies of all time, Back to the future

Special Thanks to Matt for coming and helping me out on this shoot.