The very final installment in the Pakistani Princess series. More on the flickr page.
A great shoot to usher in 2010. I've got pictures from weddings and the Ghanaian embassy functions. Speaking of which, I need to be heading over to the embassy now! Till next post...thanks for following.

Ahem, these are a few days overdue, but I'm sure it is worth the wait! Thanks again Nida for an awesome shoot...felt like every costume change allowed for a different pose, and yet a gorgeous model nevertheless.

Different cultures fascinate me. I first met Nida in high school and we became really good friends; so much so she'd sneak into my 7th period class almost every day senior year. Years later we are all grown up, and yet we're still very much the same personalities.
It was a privilege to have her come into the studio and adorn some of her beautiful Pakistani clothing. This is the first of a three part installment and each series[color] captures a candid set of expressions.

Debbie came by the studio last week. I learnt an important lesson: that personality carries through any picture and what may separate someone who has a camera and a photographer is the ability to glean expressions from your subject. Debbie is extremely camera shy. The first umpteenth shots were of her covering her face entirely. After cracking jokes, ahem very corny jokes, I was able to convince the high school junior that its ok to smile at the camera.

I had the angels come to the studio for a marketing campaign I'm working on for the month of February, en par with a revamped website. We (ahem, more them than I) hand-made a hair band with petals from Micheal's and a glue gun; then I let them loose for one of my funnest photo sessions.
For now I am their favorite photographer ever! Along with best brother, hehehe. And that makes me happy, very happy.

This is, most certainly, one of the first pictures I ever took with the D80. It is difficult to imagine that a year has quickly come by since. I'm looking forward to developing as a photographer and a better human being; maybe next time I'll be able to tell Santa to pick up his 'belly' before I press my shutter...

More of the Victoria shoot. I forgot we did the evening dress-something-to-drink shoot as well...

I've been playing around with the idea of getting a website for a while now and finally settled for a decent photoblog template till I figure out how to work with flash. I'm working on a marketing scheme to promote itake photos est. 1985.

This was a fun shoot with Victoria, a friend from UF. After the shoot we concluded that even though our paths crossed briefly while I was in Gainesville, we should have made an effort to meet up more often! Now in grad school at UF, I naturally, wish her all the best.

This picture reminded me of Eric Benet's video 'You're the only one' with his daughter, India. To all the responsible dads out there who treat their daughters like princesses.

So I don't get to see too many people of African American descent with green eyes. This young lady was an exception. Post the event I wondered why I didn't ask her for number?
O yea, she's like maybe 16...no bueno!

Every day doesn't bring the same amount of joy, and for some reason our painful memories may outlast happy ones. In some instances however, despite those dreadful times a smile can be contagious, and a healthy habit. I didn't feel like smiling today until I saw this picture I took from a wedding: hopefully it makes you smile as well.

I never was a sneaker head and from what my homeboys Wali and Eian tell me, I probably could not have afforded to. This was a fun shoot, yes in the woods somewhere. More stuff from the collabo with Edson Andre.

As I was editing pictures from a wedding I recently covered in Gainesville, I realized that I was proving my previous theory on kids being best dressed at these events, right. Who could pass on sharing such a pretty smile with the world? I know I couldn't.

My boy Edson Andre and I go way back as he was there before the inception of this blog or itake photos est. 1985. A link to his website is on the right of this blog and when I went to Gainesville last weekend, I had the opportunity to make good on the promise to do a collabo photo shoot project with him. Of course his new strobe lights and equipment made me even more anxious to do so. This picture is one of the many products of the project. A special thanks to all the models who responded to the casting call.

This is one of those pictures that I was even more pleased to see after the event. I remember noticing her shutter go off as I pressed mine, but I didn't have any idea that I'd captured the 'before and during' shot. I noticed the pictures after I transfered the album from my SD card and thought "O snap!"

When my good friend, Rae, asked for a photo shoot I already knew what the blog title would be! I was almost as excited about the posting as I was for the shoot. It was definitely one of the more memorable bonding experiences I've had with Rae...and we've had quite a few. Hopefully my pictures do her justice as to what a wonderful, gorgeous human being she really is.

To all the bests out there. The friends who keep it real, push you to exceed your limit and carry you when you fall. Listen when you go on a rant, or inspire you even in silence. Drake put it best.

Shayla Ellis, a student at UF, caught my eye at the Comedy Show during Black History Month Celebrations at UF. It was a sincere smile and even though she couldn't see it, I smiled back at her behind the lens. This is also one of the first pictures I edited using picnik.com a photo editing site that is a god-send, it allowed me to truly focus in on her smile. I have more pictures of this event as well here.
Yes I was a busy bee during the month of February!