Project 365 @ one week

Today i have successfully and a little painstakingly, (due to little N's injury) completed my first week of Project 365. and here it is in a nutshell.

We bought our Nikon D40 in December 2008 for a Spanish holiday that we were off to. Bad idea! Never buy a new camera that too a DSLR that you’ve never used, right before a 2 week long vacation. Bad,bad,bad!

That is not to say we didn’t take pictures. Oh we took pictures. We took over a 1000 pictures that have not been sorted out to this day. But unfortunately only a handful turned out fairly decent. The rest make for a blurry stack of memories resting somewhere in F’s external hard drive.

Upon our return from a blurry and nauseous vacation we found out I was pregnant with little N, thus the nausea. Our silent disappointment at viewing what we were expecting to be a great work of art, (after all it was a a Nikon D40) we both made a silent resolution to never forget our point and shoot ever and to better acquaint ourselves to the Nikon. This of course was in preparation of little N’s arrival. The following 9 months, instead of reading baby books for parents F religiously read the manual so he could take better pictures and by the time N arrived he was officially the self-appointed photographer of the family.

Then mat leave happened, F got busy at work and we lost our family photographer to the corporatee world. It was time for me to take charge. And i finally picked up the camera and it was magic. And since then it has been impossible to put it down. Of course, all of last year has been about little N., Catching his every move, his expressions and all his firsts. This was reinforced by my free lance work with Art Strollers, as their PR consultant and event photographer, during my mat leave where I was surrounded with babies at all times.

But now finally after a year of trial and error, lessons from friends, short workshops and reading the manual thanks to Chez i can say the journey has begun. Project 365 is a great project for any self taught, self starter. It is a great exercise in practice makes perfect and forces you to read the manual, experiment with the camera every day, come up with creative shots and not to mention, creates a sense of commitment. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past one week and heres to hoping the remaining 359 days are just as nicheilious!

fractured and casted

Bokeh maybe

After a great week of small accomplishments, a crazy haircut and a weekend full of celebrations, fun and laughter, we entered this week with a fracture and a cast. Little N, injured his leg while playing ball (soccer player in the making as F likes to say), followed by half the night at the urgent care and all of today at the emergency. And finally after a series of heart wrenching cries and streams of tears, belted x-rays, darkrooms and huge machines later, my brave little N ended up with a cast.

Surprisingly, what gave us courage was this little injured creature himself who managed to throw a smile in our direction, almost as if consoling these panic stricken adults, his parents.

There is something so very fascinating about children. They, unlike us adults forget and move on. They are free from holding grudges. They are fearless and strong. They are free spirited and full of life. It is no wonder they heal faster than us adults (that’s my theory at least).

Here is wishing my little N a speedy recovery and stronger legs and a lot many soccer games to his heart’s content.

a Nikon D300 experiment

On a different note some o f the stuff to look forward to this week:

• Greys anatomy starting Thursday, Sept 24
• Discovery of Dave Finkelstein. Music that is all about Somewhere still waiting
• Coco avant Chanel with Audrey Tautou, my absolute favorite actress playing the legendary fashion icon Coco
• And the discovery of a Bokeh-holic in me, thanks to Chez who led me to Aspidistra and the Bokeh love
• and a lot many prayers needed for little N!
  

celebrations

I have always been big on celebrating customs and traditions. But somehow this year we celebrated with more fervor, more eagerness and a lot more love. Maybe it has something to do with little N’s arrival.

Maybe it has something to do with us being home but so far from home, so far from the people we love, so far from the family and friends we have grown up with.

And maybe that’s why it is a blessing to have F’s family here. And maybe that’s why it is a blessing to have friends who are like family, to have family who are like friends, to share bonds with, to make memories with and to celebrate with.


Happy weekending to every one and very happy Eid celebrations to all our friends and family around the world.

Therapeutic defiance

When i was expecting little N, people would come to our place and tell us how we will never be able to maintain the aesthetics of our house once we had a baby. But we had little N and yes it was challenging, we had to make adjustments and teach him how to adjust with our lifestyle. There were and are moments of frustrations. But all in all i think we have both made adjustments along with some sacrifices and i think it’s safe to say that we have reached a congenial understanding of each other. He knows and understands his limits and boundaries (at least we think he does) and we respect his space and let him grow.

This post however is not a confessional out pour of a design mom. It is however about a small challenge i put myself up to, who knows to even spite the above mentioned, self appointed advisory committee. I just recently sent some not so nice pictures of my space to one of my favorite websites, Apartment Therapy and much to my surprise got published. The exciting part was that we got featured but i have to say regretfully that I wish I had sent some more fun pictures and ones that were better photographed. It also felt good to be featured cause little N is an integral part of this house and it kind of felt like an achievement and a kick to all the negativity that people fill you with when you are expecting a baby.

So here we are in our home exactly at 1.5 of Nyleness and still living our lives the way we imagined it to be or even better than we expected. Since expectations were scarred, i took it up as a challenge to prove people wrong. Having a baby is not a life ending experience. It maybe a life altering experience but one that teaches you to grow and learn as you go. True, life is not as we knew it to be when it was just 2. But the number 3 seems to be working out just fine. And our home is organically growing with us, one layer after another. Hope you enjoy our nichelious abode.

lesson 1: picture of the day

Project 365: 09.16.09

So i have officially enrolled myself in chez spuds fabulous camera club starting with her first lesson and the toughest of all i would think: READ THE MANUAL!
this followed by the grand opening of my Flickr account and of course one photo everyday. Practice, practice and more practice.

My photo each day will be posted on flickr, under Project 365. I will be committed and i will get through the next 365 days with one picture everyday. There i said it and now i WILL make it work!!

Wish me luck and join me on this journey. The more the merrier!

i got wordled

busy day leads to lazy browsing evening, drowsy eyes, brain dead, hopes for a good night sleep and then you get wordled

try it and enjoy it!
have a good night

weekend wanderings:cheap thrills

a garage sale in the neighborhood
a red tool box
hard cover books
pen & ink sketch: mother & child

all of the above $5 (cdn)

there is a sweet pleasure in acquiring treasures that are beautiful and cheap
hope you had a colorful and inexpensive weekend.

Red punctuation

When life throws a punctuation at you

And nature follows suit.

Don’t just drive by.

Break the rules, turn around and catch it before its too late...
before the light is gone...

and you are left with nothingness.


a sunset caught just in time.
may we all catch our sunsets in time. have a happy, sunny weekend!

blog campers/photojunkies

yayyy to technology and yayyy to hyperlinks!! i came across this super cool website Redvelvetart, through jam. For some reason (i wonder why, maybe you can guess)the blog campers came to mind and i had to share. For the blog campers and wannabe photographers like myself.

09.09.09: Writing is the new praying

picture taken at the Artisan show at the Distillery
Hey Apathy! comics and art by Mike Parsons

Bumping into moments of perfect clarity has been the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in days. Her inspiring blog, her creativity and love for her Nikons are extremely addictive and have revived the dying blogger in me. On this auspicious date i have taken up her challenge of “writing is the new praying and decided

• I will look at the glass half full not half empty

• I will be more positive each day and not let myself sink even if it means to fight the inner demons. I WILL put up a fight! (Someone mentioned delayed postpartum. A year too late. I will not allow that)

• I will blog regularly. Writing i have come to realize helps me fight my anxieties and fears

• I will experiment with my Nikon and challenge myself further each day

• I will find beauty in the ordinary

• I will make the most of the remaining summer days

• I will get back to my sketching

• I will enjoy the very few moments of silence I get and take the time out to put my feet up and just breathe (when little N naps)

• I will watch the sunset and the birds take flight more often

• I will delete and i mean completely delete the unnecessary people in my life. People who mean nothing and never will. People who try to play with your head and shake you up. People who think they can say anything about your life, your mothering skills etc and think they can get away with it. I don’t have time for them and i will not make time for them. Deletion will be my way of confrontation

• I will make it a point to see and cherish what i have.

• I will be positively restless

• I will be optimistic even if im the Last Optimist on earth

I have written my something special. Special because I see these as vows to the self.

“so on this day, why not write something really special? who knows, it just might manifest in the world around you. it's certainly worth a try.”
-moments of perfect clarity

weekend wanderings

After a tiring week we decided to end the Labor Day weekend by indulging in simple pleasures like

Watching artists at work at the Artisans crafts show in our neighborhood




See what we see everyday a little differently
play with my Nikon D40 till the battery died on us
Bask in the sun
Sip coffee
Watch the sunset
Stay still and enjoy the peace and quiet of a long week ending...

Bookshelf whimsy: Tankard

At 1.3, i can reassure you that mommy hood has been a fun ride with its boohoos and bonks (our new favorite words), its challenges and its joys, its tantrums and its occasional grumpiness. I have to admit i sometimes am intentional maybe over intentional and deliberate with the way i spend time with N. I have a love for books and so does F and we have made an extra effort to inculcate this in N. Reading hours are frequent but not routine or timed and i try to get as creative with my narrative skills as possible. And of course a fun and colorful book always helps.

With all the newness of Mommy hood, i have discovered many things about myself including an absolute passion for children’s books. And I don’t mean the Walt Disney reads. But authors like Sharon Pierce McCullough (Bun Bun the middle one) , Julie Mergerb and Suzanne Bober ( A Magical day with Matisse) and Meeqail Maqsood (Bohat Bhokay Keeray) have opened up a window of creative imagination for little N and myself.

But an exceptional find that has blown me away is my absolute favorite, Jeremy Tankard. His work is fresh, urban, radical and avant garde. His illustrations and graphics are different in a very basic, simple way. The storyline is enjoyable to read out aloud and just as fun for me as it is for N. There is a perfect balance of type, design, color and illustration, the distinction between foreground and background perfectly played. Each page is like a painting, the kind i would like to see hanging in N’s room.

We love the tantrums thrown by grumpy bird, the simplicity of the advice the colorful friends are ready with, the gentle ambiguity and the placelessness of the landscapes, whether it’s a jungle, a farmhouse or cityscape and the hungry Edwin who decides to take matters in his own hands in Me Hungry.

Jermey, keep up the good work, keep writing and keep illustrating. We have the entire collection and are super excited about the sneak peek that we got of the dragonfly.



“Come on,” said Bird, who had forgotten all about being grumpy. “let’s fly back to my nest for a snack.” And they did.
-Grumpy Bird

Enjoy reading this collection!

Summer freshness

Last evening I spent doing what I love doing the most: Cooking, feeding and entertaining. I love cooking. I find it to be very therapeutic and relaxing. And I cook in big quantities. So there’s always a lot of food and only two stomachs to feed. This takes me to my second passion feeding and entertaining. I love having people over, cooking a big meal and making sure all my guests have eaten to their stomachs content.

Yes, I am one of those annoying hostesses who will not eat when every ones eating. I will hover making sure their plate is always full. I will float in and out of the kitchen refilling and reheating. I will not let anyone into my kitchen to help before the meal is served. I will set the table myself, because it’s already pre-set in my head. I will expect help in cleaning up. I will serve dessert even if it’s not home made. I will serve tea with cinnamons and cardamoms because I love the smell it produces (I’ve never had tea myself). I will laugh and talk profusely because I love to see my guests smiling. And I will expect them to shower me with compliments. And this round of applaud will surely win them their next invitation.

So last night was a night of politics, world and the future. It was when little N kept everyone revitalized on a weeknight. It was a night of laughter and memories, prayers and togetherness. A night of open windows and soft winds. A night of celebrating sunny days and long summer nights. A night of summer freshness with the smell of fall around the corner.

Hope everyone had a good night

object of my affection

In the Architects and designers section of Architectural Digest I came across this very inspiring piece discussing “what is one accessory, piece of furniture or design element in your home you cannot live without?”

It got me thinking of the object of my affection in my home, that one piece that is so very dear to me. The accessory that I cannot live without, the one design element that makes my home very close to home (my homeland). And it brought me to this group of sepia prints that hold sentimental value for me.





The three images, from left to right anti-clockwise are of three different cities of Pakistan, Peshawar (Qissa Kahani Bazaar, transl: story-telling bazaar), Karachi (Tollington Market) and Lahore (Badshahi Mosque) photographed towards the end of the nineteenth century. The fourth piece is a post card in the most beautiful Arabic calligraphy of the Ayat-ul-Kursi (verses from the Quran).

One would question why these particular pieces. Well for one, the three photographs were originally part of a calendar that someone had heartlessly thrown in the garbage at my architecture school back home. Now I’m no garbage digger, but as I saw the grandeur and serenity of the Badshahi Mosque magically captured by an unnamed photographer through his camera lens and stored forever in this image, I could not help myself. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 7 years ago when I had pulled it out of the trash I had no idea what I would do with these images or how I would use them. But here they are 7 years later framed and cherished. The objects of my affection, a constant reminder of home, seamlessly bridging the gap of nostalgia, shedding light on childhood memories. My companions during the day and inspiration at night fall.

As for the postcard, it is part of my father’s wide range of postcard collection, that I unquestionably inherited (my siblings dare not put up a fight). Seeing these pieces everyday make me positively reminiscent and make my house a home.

I hope you enjoyed my object of affection. What is yours? Please do share

a changed perspective

There is something in the warmth of the morning light peeping through the curtains, the sparkle in the eye at the break of a smile, the beauty of a wrinkle around the eyes, the age of a brick through its color, the smell of coffee through the steam it produces, the rusting bench sitting at the corner of the street.

I’m seeing all this and so much more since i befriended a Nikon D40. A new journey has begun. A journey of unraveling the simple joys of life, capturing moments, faces, emotions, spaces, cities. Learning and seeing. Clicking and observing and clicking some more.

I wish to master this art some day. I wish to speak through my lens. I wish to communicate all that i cannot through words. I wish to share the world through my eyes, as I see it. I wish, I wish, I wish...the wishlist is endless. But till then here(pictures in this blog) are some wishes that I’ve captured. I hope you enjoy them!

this Girl

This girl is deep orange-red and blue seas. She is crashing waves and the smell of rain. She is green leaves, earth and wood. She is lightness and laughter and all things so.

She is autumn not winter. She is daisies not roses.

She is streetcars and subways. She is breakfast and Sundays.

She is patios on a sunny afternoon and jazz with the girls at night. She is dancing not yoga. She is friends and joy.

She is antique markets and beauty that catches her eye. She is stones and silver not diamonds and gold. She is breathing and alive not dead and cold.

This girl is winding roads and spider webs. She is silence and screams, contradictions and dreams.

She is lost and yet found. She is surrounded and yet alone.

She is urban and chic. She is brick lanes and coffee beans.

She is oil paints not watercolour. She is camera lens and detail lover.

She is cooking not baking. She is entertaining and swimming.

She is textures and maps. Doesn’t forgive and forgets.

She is books and bookshelves. She is Wizard of OZ and Alice in wonderland. She is Nin and Frida, she is Hepburn and Amelie.

She is moments and memories. She is nostalgic and naive. She is impulsive and creative. She is chaotic and wild.

She is making mistakes. She is trial and error. She is a mother and married to her high school lover.

She is trekking through the self, she is discovering on the way. She is black and white with no shades of grey. She is living and learning, clicking and noticing, she is fashion and design, she is architecture and all things fine. She’s searching for balance and looking to pause. She is happy she found sweet indigo life. She feels inspired and revived. This girl is everything me!!

Who are you?