Last year, on the first week of October, Laath and I went on our very first trip together. It was a bit unexpected and was so early in our relationship. I was still working with The Conservation Fund and was to drive down to Atlanta and spend 4 whole days shooting some greenway shots for their partners in Georgia at their national parks, and stay in a 4 star hotel. It just so happened that the dates coincided with Laath’s Fall break, so we took off together.
I remember the little things… Like, how impressed he was with my Queen albums he found in my music library and how we sang our lungs out to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the whole way there over and over again. How we’d get Taco Bell for dinner and eat it on the fancy patio with fire-pits and feel out of place. Or how we bought 2 bottles of bubbles and blew bubbles the whole night until it got too chilly outside. The constant search to find the very best haunted house adventure in the city, and boy did we find it! And of course, the every day gawking at our amazing California king size bed!
But, I think the most fun we had was when my work day was up and we just enjoyed the parks together. Laath had his camera with him and we took so many silly photos of each other for laughs, and until just last week I thought those images were lost. But now they are found, so I thought it would be fun to post some of our personal images of that time.
None of these photos were taken professionally, and no major editing has been done to them.
I cherish the memories of this trip more than you can imagine. It was such a great time, and we learned so much about each other. And all that we learned was good. We returned to NC happy, and ready for more adventures to come. And come they did.
A few weekends ago I traveled to Myrtle Beach where I met with the Sager family who were celebrating their father’s 90th birthday.
I was asked to shoot portraits of the family and a few shots of their father/grandfather Skype calling his 95 year old sister in another State. They were such a friendly crowd I was sad to leave when the weekend was up…
The birthday boy with his lovely lady, Nan.
One of the brothers/uncles and his wife.
The Sager family that I know. I have worked with Mikki for over a year at The Conservation Fund, and I shot engagement photos for their daughter, Alyson, in September.
The oldest child/sister/aunt with the birthday boy!
The Skype call.
The whole gang! Father with his children, grandchildren, and everyone!
And finally the last son/brother/uncle to arrive for photos with his wife and children.
The whole family was really excited about doing a pyramid form!
I’m a bit late on posting this, but here’s a fall engagement shoot of Tina and Daniel!
I’ve known Daniel for years, and we even went to the same schools, so when I met his fiancé and was asked to shoot their engagement I was thrilled!
Daniel and Tina, I wish you the very best of luck and all the happiness in the world.
I woke up on Tuesday morning thinking it’d be a neat idea to document my only day off of the week. So I took my camera with me wherever I went, and even shared it with some friends.
Below is a pretty good idea of what most of my Tuesdays and date nights look like.
Thanks for checking it out!
A few weeks ago I had the honor of photographing Matt and Alyson. They came all the way from Colorado to visit Alyson’s parents on Labor Day weekend and I was the lucky photographer!
Just last weekend my little brother had his first bodybuilding competition in Greensboro, NC and in September he will be competing in his second in Winston-Salem! This was a very interesting experience for me. I had never been to a show like that and I wasn’t even very interested. But living with Bijan and watching him work out, diet, and repeat, for weeks on end has given me a different view on this sport. I now hold tremendous respect for it. Nothing is accomplished without dedication and much hard work and the same goes for these athletes.
Bijan worked so hard. He only trained for about 2.5 months and decided to compete. He was sure he wouldn’t come out disappointed. He was ready.
I am extremely proud to say he came out with his head high and with a Medal!
Below are some photos I took of our long day (10am-9pm) at the show.
A special thanks to Laath for shooting a few shots of us together. You’re support alone was the best gift to us.
Bijan waking me up in the morning to drop him off at the coliseum.
Getting his hair ready!
(Photo by Laath)
(Photo by Laath)
(Photo by Laath)
(Photo by Laath)
On our way to drop him off!
(Photo by Laath)
Wishing him the best of luck.
(Photo by Laath)
The morning pre-judging.
Go #65!
Checking out the crowd.
He joined us in the audience to see the rest of the performances.
Bijan with William Powell of Fitness Zone. He so kindly trained Bijan pro bono.
Focused on Bijan’s performance.
The novice short group.
The last year’s winners.
Bijan’s 90 seconds of solo performance.
The top 5!
On stage with his medal!
With Jesse Suggs!
I couldn’t be more proud! I love you Bijan!
And last, but not least: Us and Laath! Thank you, Laath!
I’ve been trying to work on some portraiture lately and after playing around with a 50mm 1.8 f I think I’m really enjoying it!
Also, my sissy, Mahnaz, has been helping me out with some commercial style editing since I work mostly in documentary style.
Here is my first attempt at some [commercial] Photoshop retouching, tell me what you think!
My brother is here from Iran and he’s here to stay. He was away from the States for 17 years and this is it. This is a big change, I know because I did it too. I have no idea what’s going through his mind. As today was day 1, I took him around town and we ran what felt like a million errands. He was excited and nervous about so many things. I would say he’s still a bit confused and misses Iran more that I ever did…
After a long day of running around, meeting a couple family members, and stuffing on good ol’ American cheeseburgers he went out to the patio and started up his hookah. He looked like he was deep in thought so I brought out my camera thinking he’d tell me to put it away but he didn’t care… So I took a few more.
Everyone, Bijan Benjamin Abbassi is back home.
Bijan read poetry to me. It was beautiful. I had missed old Persian literature.
On to the next poem.
Proud Iranian.
On July 25th I had the opportunity to spend some time with Morty (Morten) Gaskill, Ocracoke’s youngest commercial fisherman. He was 8 years old when he first got his commercial fishing license and he is now 17.
Morty was supposed to show me around Ocracoke island while I took shots of resting areas, traffic congestion, tourists on bikes, No Trespassing signs, and shots in that nature.
But it rained. It rained almost all day and there weren’t many people on bikes or in cars, so I asked if he could take me on his boat and show me how he fished. He was happy to be on his boat and away doing what he loved to do, plus he later told me that he was getting a head start on his next day of work. It was a win-win situation and neither one of us had to wait around for the rain to stop.
Below are a few portraits of Morty in his boat. I enjoyed his company greatly, and I hope you enjoy the photographs.
Tell me what you think!
Morty beside his Wall of Fame.
Sheepshead fish we found in an abandoned net.
The front and back of his fishing boat.
Crabs. He threw it back in the water because it wasn’t full enough.
This fish was some sort of pest. We threw him back in the water too.
Relaxing on the boat. Enjoying the quiet.
Taking in the last few minutes before it was time to go.
Meet Miss Molly!
Molly is a miniature Dachshund. She’s such a cutie, and sleeping on top of the couch is her favorite thing to do. Today I had the privilege to shoot with a Canon 5D and Molly just happened to be the first model available. We had a few minutes of fun and below are a couple of the results.
Tell me what you think? Isn’t she adorable?
