Happy New Years! 2012 has been a great year for me. Not only has it allowed me to see and explore many new people and places, but it has also been the busiest year so far in my career. I had the privilege of covering events all over the states, from my local hometown in the east coast, all the way to sunny California in the west. I know I’m a few weeks behind everyone else, but I just wanted to share a few of my favorite photos from 2012. There were a lot of photos to go through, but these are my personal favorites from the bunch, so I hope you enjoy them. 2013 will be a better year, and have newer, more bold images… so stay tuned for all the fun and excitement!
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.
Happy 2012 everyone. I can’t believe it’s been almost a full year since I last posted, but a lot has happen within that time. Rather than boring you with all the details, I’ll just say that more posts will be coming on the blog, and it will get a major upgrade pretty soon. You can expect the usual posts about weddings, engagements, and parties, but I will also try to add some more personal posts, to give you a little insight into my world. So stay tuned, lots of changes will follow, I promise. Now, onwards to a new post!
Karmel is a friend of mine from the good old undergrad college days. Back then, I use to come to Raleigh on the weekends to visit my folks, and I ended up hanging out with all the NCSU kids in the evenings. We both had a lot of mutual friends, and hung out every now and then at your usual college hang out spots with all our friends. The thing about Karmel that impressed me was that she was not only very beautiful and had an exotic look, but she was also super smart. She was studying to be an engineer and a very competitive engineering school. Also, she’s very kind. I remember when I was first starting out back in the days, I asked her if she could be a model for me for some test shots, and she happily obliged and helped me out. Karmel, I apologize for how crappy those photos were, but I’m glad you were able to help me out nevertheless. Not too long ago, Karmel contacted me and told me she was getting engaged, and wanted me to photograph her Katb el Kitab, which much similar to a nikkah is just a Islamic marriage signing. Now normally I don’t photograph friends weddings and events, but given the fact that she helped me when I started out, I decided to photograph the event. I got a chance to meet her fiance Sharif at the party, and he’s not only a very charismatic guy, but within the first 5 minutes, you realize that he’s full of energy and just loves to have fun. The ceremony part only lasted a few minutes, but the rest of the night was spent doing what most Middle Easterns do best… dancing their tails off. We managed to sneak out for a very brief moment and get a few shots of them alone, but most of the fun was on the dance floor. Without out further ado, I present you the photos.
