And We'll Never Be Royals

One of the reasons I love photography so much is because it mixes work with pleasure perfectly!  

Last weekend I attended my friend Annabelle's baby shower, and besides having lots of fun (and binging on delicious Persian food) I also took some photos with my new camera.  Thanks, Annabelle, for opening your home once again, and for sharing your lovely friends and family with me!  I can't wait to meet Tristan soon!

Technical notes: I used my Sigma Macro lens as I had a momentary trouble mounting my 50mm Nikkor and I panicked a little... but it performed excellently even in the low light indoor settings.  This also necessitated the use of flash, and I really really need to get me a speedlight sometime soon (and learn to use it - I'm exclusively a natural light photographer and indoor events get me in a lot of trouble).

Nikon D7100, minimally processed to sharpen and convert to .jpg, otherwise mostly SOOC.  With the exception of the black and white images, for which I used VSCO for Lightroom.

P.S. This crown-shaped cake was simply heavenly!

Great Expectations

Last weekend I had the chance to shoot my very first maternity session with the lovely Annabelle, her husband, and her wonderful family.  Annabelle is expecting her first child this July and I wanted to give her something unique - the gift of the memory.  My only advice to moms-to-be is this: ENJOY the moment, enjoy the quiet and the alone time and the fact that you can still wear and have nice things, and pretty much do whatever you want.  Soon this will come to an end...but the good news is that it's only going to be temporary.  

And whenever something ends, another thing begins!  I can't wait to meet Tristan Edward, this little prince who is already so loved.

As for the shoot itself, it was quite the fun.  Especially the sight of one pregnant woman photographing another at the local park (I am a month behind Annabelle)!  My most favorite shot must be the very last portrait in the series, and the only thing I regret is that the bubble images didn't quite come out as I wanted - the background was too busy I guess.  The first images are from Annabelle's home, where they are anticipating Nowrūz - the Persian New Year with a beautiful traditional table setting - the Haft Sîn.  

I enjoyed the tea and the sweets very much, Annabelle, and most of all the awesome company.  Looking forward to the Baby Shower!

Like these? Call to book a maternity photoshoot...before I enter the third trimester myself and become too big and clumsy to hold a camera! :)))

Oh, Baby.

While I am still to explore the maternity photographic genre, I took a great pleasure in taking pregnant self-portraits throughout the past 8 months.  You see only five because I kind of skipped most of the first trimester, and I believe I also skipped month 7, during which I took many Instagrams of my belly instead.

Here's the result.  You might notice the utter technical unpretentiousness, and the similarities in the setting.  What I did was I simply climbed on my bed, turned to expose my left profile, pointed the camera towards the mirror across the bed, and shot a few times till I got the right focusing.  Not very elaborate, uh?  It was loads of fun, though, and did the job for posterity well enough!

A Natural Progression

Meet my friend Anne, her husband JP, and their adorable son Kieran (who grew from a baby bump to a BIG baby bump to a real baby in front of my very eyes).  He will be celebrating his first St. Partick's Day this weekend, so stay tuned for more images of this  handsome Irish lad.