Sunflower

"Where ever life plants you, bloom with grace".

Hi.

Yessss, I'm back again so soon. 

Today's post is all about my sunflower prop. After binge watching a ton of MangoStreetLab and Jessica (thanks for reigniting the spark), I closed my laptop and went shopping for props. I've always wanted to use sunflowers for portraits and I've finally done it!!! 

This quick session was inspired by an IG competition where participants are meant to interpret the word "twin" through their visuals. I wanted to use the literal meaning of twin in my photos but theres obviously only one of me, hence the double exposure. With double exposure, I can create the illusion of duality. So I fired up my fuji xt20 because it has an inbuilt feature that allows you to create double exposure. 

(I'm all for using the easy way to create my vision)

 It was a little bit challenging maintaining the same pose but with a lot of trial and error, I finally got some decent results. I shot indoors with a 16-50mm lens at f4.0 1/50 and ISO3200.

 Naturally like the natural light chaser I am, I ended up moving outside to get the last bit of sunlight for the day and some clear blue sky. While outside I played around with a mirror and did a couple more shots. My settings were around f4.5 1/250 and ISO250.

Sunglass ad?

This took waaaay to many trials but I finally achieved what I want.

That's all for today (I need a better closing line). 

Thank you! Like comment or share. 

Aisha

xx

pink Wednesday

Hiii,

In the spirit of my new found purpose, I've started taking baby steps towards creating more and complaining less. My niece turned 6 recently and I was given a pink balloon. Halfway through an episode of LHHH I decided to chase the last bit of sunlight for some self portraits. 

Usually when I do self portraits, I use my canon 600D with a 50mm 1.8 but I opted for my fuji xt20 with a 16-50mm f3.5 lens. I've been trying to get used to my fujifilm and at first it was challenging for me because change is hard. I went as far as panicking for wasting money on it. After much breathing and playing around with it, I started getting used to it and enjoying the camera. I love that it is light compared to my canon and it has power for such a small camera. One advantage I can say my canon has over the fuji is the movable LCD screen. It allows me view myself live and frame my shots better whereas the fuji LCD screen can only be slightly tilted to face up. It was very challenging for me cause I was pretty much blind and guessing the frame.

This image I love so much but its a clear example of how I struggled to get the frame right. My body is chopped off in all the wrong places and it would have looked a lot better with more arms and a little neck. 

Another problem I had was having to rely on the in built timer of the fuji. It's not so bad cause I used to that a lot before I got a trigger. I haven't tried it yet but I think my canon trigger isn't compatible with the fuji. It was definitely time consuming constantly checking after every shot to make sure the framing was right. The first few tries was very off putting but after a while I got used to it and started getting into the shoot. 

With these set of images, I wanted to have the clear blue sky and a pop of pink. My main prop was the balloon. I shot for about 20 minutes give or take. I used my 16-50mm and had the camera setting at 1/125 with aperture f20.

I look so big but I love it.

I forgot to add that you'll need a tripod or something stable to mount your camera on. Even though this was a spontaneous shoot, always always plan so you know exactly what you want to do. Chances are you'll encounter some challenges but trust me, challenges are good.

Your thoughts are welcome. 

Thank you!

Aisha.

A September to remember

I've been trying to figure out what direction to take my blog for a while now. I feel like my reason for starting this blog has long expired and is currently transforming into something else. The blog pretty much is a reflection of what's going on with me. If I'm on here that means I'm out there taking pictures but my silence usually means I'm working on personal things and chances are my camera is covered in dust. How do you create without getting too personal? 

For a while I tried doing everything at once and it just wasn't flowing the way I wanted it to. I feel like a lot of the time unconsciously I am affected by what I see others putting out. I'm constantly comparing my work to others and criticizing my work and my ability to create. Now "people" like to just say Aisha and her oyinbo problems but it is what it is. I guess for me I was trying a little too hard to have a perfect IG feed. I was also way too focused on the numbers rather than the content I was putting out. So I took a step back to breathe and refocus. 

Sooooo with that said, hiiiii what's good? 

If you follow me on instagram then you'd know I've been around and just breathing. I'm back to taking self portraits, adding color to my life and working on a project which I've decided to call "home". Inspired by a recent body of work I saw. I'm going to be taking a series of photographs of what home means to me. I'm excited about it and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all in due time. 

What else have I done this year?  

I've taken an interest in leatherwork and I'm very excited for what is coming up next for me. If you don't already follow me on my IG, you can follow me here ARclicks to keep up with my photography and here Aicha to keep up with my leatherwork.

I made it to hajj this year and WOW, Alhamdulillah. One of the hardest things I've had to do mentally and physically but whatever it took from me it gave back spiritually and I'm so grateful for it. I obviously wanted to document it but it is hajj and I knew I wouldn't even have the time nor the energy to do so. I've shared a couple of images I took with my phone on my instagram page and if you haven't seen them already, Check it out.

That's all I have to say for now. I'll see you soon.

With love,

Aisha.