Am I back?

I feel shy typing this mainly because it's been a hot minute and I don't even know where to start or whether to be cliche and say "I am reinventing myself and this version of AR clicks is coming from the mature mind of Aisha 2.0." 

Silly right? I know.

Hiiiiiiiii!

Somewhere in between covid and figuring my life out, I forgot how to pause and enjoy the simple things in life like a cup of tea on a quiet Sunday morning, a solo date at the cinema on a random Tuesday afternoon, trying out a random activity just because I'd never done it and was curious about what it would be like.  

You may or may not be wondering what happened to AR Clicks, and you may or may not be curious to find out why. Either way, I'm going to attempt to dig deep and find that whimsical, somewhat naive part of myself and tell you some of what has been happening since 2020.

For those who are new here, my name is Aisha, and like many young adults, I needed a creative outlet to share bits of my life and, mainly, my photography journey. So, I took to the internet and started my Instagram page and somehow that led to this blog being created in 2013. Since its creation, I have shared bits of my photography journey and random life stories with not much direction. Honestly, I don't know what the aim of the blog was but I very much enjoyed writing my thoughts and posting it, even if only a handful of people read it. Now the OG's know I have never been that consistent with the blog *side eye*, I like to think of my blogging as "seasonal". But whenever inspiration hit, I'd come on here and ramble or just write something short and disappear for months. To me it was always about having fun, being myself while talking about my life and sharing photographs. 

With that said, my hiatus was unintentional, covid happened then I got into public service and my work basically took over my life. The little free time I had, I wanted to spend it with family and friends. I went from taking 50 plus photos every week to 30, then 20, then 10, and now it's a miracle if I get two good images per month. (I am obviously exaggerating, but you get the gist). Slowly (and I am not sure when) my cameras found their home in a bag in the corner of my wardrobe, collecting dust and somewhere along the way, my curiosity shifted and I stopped noticing the little details of a wide range of things that I used to look out for. My photography instead took a slight turn and I found myself mainly capturing the little moments with my loved ones using my phone camera.  

However, I am not here to narrate a sappy sad story because a lot of other good things have happened.

For starters I have come a long way from intern no experience Aisha to an HR professional doing small small big girl things. Honestly I lowkey underestimate my achievements mainly because of the work environment, I sometimes forget to celebrate my wins. But yeah big girrrrl! I also got married about 2 years ago, which has made me do a lot of growing up (shoutout to my mansss). Then I got promoted at work and since then I have slowly started moving in a certain direction with my career. 

Side note: I am not so sure why we were so eager to grow up. 

That aside, the one thing I have established after T-pain dealt with me *phew* is that I need to revive my creative outlet, which is why we are here today. 

AR clicks has always be dear to me and I owe it to myself to bring it back, but this time with a little more direction (as per mature big babes). I have realized that I don't like it when I apply pressure on myself to create, particularly now that we live in a world where everything seems to be about the views, numbers and what's trending, I want to be able to create meaningful work and share words that people connect and relate to. 

Although I haven't ironed out the details of Aisha 2.0, I know I want to bring back the things I love so my work life can be less consuming because God knows I have slowly started removing my emotions from my workplace and treating everything as just work and nothing personal. And LET ME TELL YOU BAYBEEEEEEE, I am at peace and my anxiety levels have dropped a lot since adopting that mentality. 

Anyway enough with the negative Betty, you might not see her anytime soon. The plan is in motion and insha Allah, I look forward to bringing you along as I figure this version of AR clicks out.

Bye for now.

 This version of AR clicks is coming from the mature mind of 

Aisha 2.0

xx

P.s I got butterflies when I decided it was time to come back to AR clicks. 

I went vegan for a week and...

I've just realized it's been a month since I wrote this and left it in my draft. I honestly thought my days of procrastination were over but here we are... procrastinating, again.

Anyway, I'm just going to hit publish. Everything below was written on the 25th of September, 2020. Happy reading!!

Helloooooo,

It's been a week since I started my little diet. I went in thinking I'd lose about a kg but by day 3 I'd lost 0.8kg. 

To say I was shocked was an understatement. I literally went on the scale 4 times just to be sure. 

I tried my best to take pictures but on most days I was way too hungry to focus so I took two or 3 pictures at most and dived in. 

All pictures were taken with my phone.

Everyday, I check in and write a little something. Kinda like a diary. Therefore everything you are about to read from the next paragraph was written prior to today.

Let's dive in.

Day 1.

I miss milk. I'm typing this on Thursday 17th September, 2020 at 12:03pm while I have my first cup of coffee for the day. I knew this was going to be the hardest bit because I doubt there's any milk substitute better than cow milk but we move. At least now I know its black tea or coffee for the next few days. 

My final thoughts on day 1 is that it’s not so bad but I still don’t understand why anyone would choose a vegan lifestyle. The food was really tasty and yes I had only that portion of rice and a lot of fruits and half a bowl of salad. My energy didn’t drop at all so that’s a plus. 

Because I'm bad at measurements, here is a visual of how much I used. I hope that helps a little.

I used 3 of these for the recipe.

Mushroom, garlic & onions.

Day 2

Again, I miss milk. I’m having a cup of tea and I’m about to make a smoothie with almond milk, frozen raspberry, banana a teaspoon of ginger and honey. The recipe says to add a spoon of coconut oil but I don’t have that. 

I DROPPED MY SMOOTHIE! WHAT IS GOING ON?

Calmed myself dow and made another cup of smoothie. Halfway through, I realize honey is technically not vegan but after the morning I had... I'm excusing it!

Final thoughts of day 2, started off rough but after the plate of pasta everything was right again.

Day 3

I didn’t have any tea today because wth! It was a good day. My body is getting used to it and I’m not missing or craving chicken so progress. I’ve convinced myself that I’m in some European country and I can’t find halal food lol. I have to say I love mushrooms and tofu. It’s super tasty and the texture is amazing. I also made my meals spicy and tried to add as much flavor as possible. All in all it was a very good day. My energy level was up although I was sleepy throughout. I think that was caused by lack of caffeine.

I forgot to take pictures of my mushroom soup cause I was HUNGRY!! I will still share the recipe anyway.

For the potatoes, I would suggest adding some type of sauce on the side because I felt like I needed a sauce while I was eating the potatoes.

Day 4.

My scale is lying to me cause there’s no way I lost 0.8kg in 3 days. WHAAAAT???? Lol for some people it doesn’t seem like a lot but to me that’s a lot to lose in such a short period. Anyway let me not get too excited. Let’s wait till the end of the week. My tea with almond milk doesn’t taste bad at all today. About to put in a workout then make lunch. 

Today on the menu is jollooooof! I’ve been making tiny changes to the menu so instead of just veggies, I’m going to add some plantain in the mix because why not.

For dinner I was meant to have stir fry but felt like eating some plantain so I added that to the menu.

I feel like today's menu is pretty easy and straight forward so I won't be sharing the recipe.

 

Day 5.

When I wrote the menu, I knew it would be subject to change but I needed some kind of guide and it has helped a lot. Today's meal was super tasty. I'm no longer craving chicken or milk so I guess eventually like all things new, your body gets used to it.

I'm enjoying myself and honestly the hardest part is deciding when to start a diet. Unfortunately I couldn't try out the onion soup cause I ended up going out so I settled for left over masa with yaji.

Let me just say I outdid myself with the cous cous.

Day 6.

I’m not one to blow my horns but yoooo that falafel sandwich was IT! It was so tasty, I absolutely loved it. Anyway here’s a link to the recipe I used Falafel recipe . I ended up eating more than I should today and I'm so full. I don't know how I'm going to sleep. 

It was a good day. I've stopped having bad days although I keep eyeing the chocolate in my side drawer. Tomorrow is my last day and I'm curious to see if there will be further weight loss or not. 

Day 7.

I finally got to the end!!! I MADE IT!! Alhamdulillah. It started out rough but it ended on a great note.

My final thoughts are I'll definitely do it again. I enjoyed myself and ended up losing 1.3kg which is not bad considering I had low expectations. 

Since I've tried it, I'm more understanding of vegans. I personally wouldn't want to stop eating meat forever but I've decided to cut down on my consumption. From now on, its healthier options for me. 

Next stop, I'm looking for diets that will help improve skin appearance. Any suggestions? Would love to hear from you. Send me a message on here or IG if you'd love to ask me more questions.

Aisha

xx

P.S I'm very happy that I can finally have tea with real milk. 

What's on the menu?

Writing this menu was by far one of the hardest things I've had to do this week. Half way through, I had to ask myself if I was actually ready to do this and the answer bounced from yes to maybe and back. Alhamdulillah I'm done done done with my menu.

Before I dive in, I'm in no way a nutritionist so follow this at your own risk. 

Don't say Aisha said, ba ruwana!!!

There is a typo but honestly, I can't be bothered to fix it. 

The hardest thing was figuring out what to eat. I'm so used to not having to plan my meals cause I eat whatever is available. But with this I needed to plan ahead so I can get my grocery in time. I tried to think of how to make Nigerian soups without meat and it just wasn't working. My cousin suggested using beans but I'd rather wait and stick to the oyinbo stuff. Starting from Thursday 17th September, I will not eat any meat or its by products. This is the first time ever that I'm trying this and I won't lie, I'm a little worried but I can do it. I don't think I will notice much change but we'll see what happens at the end of the week. 

Now, I'd like y'all to know that I'm still doing intermittent fasting which is 16-8. Basically what that means is I only eat solid food for 8 hours in a day. That is why I don't have much variety for breakfast because I don't eat breakfast everyday. My breakfast is usually tea or coffee with something from the bakery or yogurt but since I can't eat any of that, I will just stick to tea/coffee with almond milk. 

*insert photo of almond milk*

To replace meat in terms of texture and flavor, I got a lot of fresh mushrooms, tofu and chickpea. Since lunch will be my heaviest meal, I've added carbs to that cause I get moody when my sugar drops lol. I need my energy. I already keep my dinner light. This is going to be a lot lighter than usual. 

Some of what I'll be using to get the taste/texture of meat.

That's it. See you on the other side!!

xx

What has Aisha been doing in 2020?

2020 is a weird year cause this time last year I was eating my way through life without a care in the world.

Like a lot of people, I walked into the new year full of energy to the sounds of my favorite guy Bruno and my sisters by my side. Fireworks, cheers and a long night of fun exhaustion. 

Few weeks later, I ended up in Nigeria to celebrate with one of my oldest friend as she tied the knot. I wasn't too worried about ms rona because I mean they said it was just the flu. We lived through ebola and Lassa, so how bad could it really be? Long story short, that was the beginning of a nerve wrecking few weeks as anxiety and paranoia peaked. Alhamdulillah regardless. 

Being a home body, I wasn't at all worried about the lockdown at first. I watched people have tiny meltdowns and as a form of reassurance told myself it would only last a few weeks. Here we are 6 months later, life slowly returning but not quite there. I think about 2 months into the lockdown, I decided to set 2 goals for myself that I wanted to achieve regardless of what was going on outside. 

To achieve what I wanted, I had to get my mind right. I decided it was finally time to stop wishing and dreaming and actually make things happen. My 1st goal was to still make money but now I had to figure out how I could make money from the comfort of my father's house. My 2nd goal was to finally introduce myself to a healthier lifestyle and shed off the weight I'd gained since moving to AD. 

I said 2020 was going to be my year in sha Allah and I meant it therefore I'm taking baby steps and measures into figuring out how to get that pay out.

First I had to figure out what was next for AR clicks. I tried wedding photography and didn't like it, I did events as well and I soon realized those weren't for me. So this year I've been focusing on a lot of self portraits and documentary style photography. It's more up my alley and I thoroughly enjoy doing that. Obviously I have been super quiet on ig and extremely quiet on here and its not deliberate. I'm working on myself by learning and improving my skills. I'm hoping I will soon be comfortable enough to jump right back into it. Until then enjoy my IG stories of absolute randomness.

The one thing I was going to focus on this year was my baby AICHA. I got the idea to start a brand when I was doing my NYSC in 2017 but it never kicked off because procrastination. During the lockdown I was able to complete a business plan and come up with branding, designs and everything in between. However, production will have to wait a little while.

Next on the money train came from the encouragement of my older sister. I wasn't exactly sure it was the business for me but she pretty much said "if anyone is looking for a personal shopper, I'm referring you." So in other words, get your sh*t together Aisha lol. 

Teamed up with my sister to revamp her online store and we renamed it Little Souq. We are pretty much a shop and ship business so check us out, hit us up and show some support in anyway you can. It is 100% an excellent learning experience for future jobs and businesses.

On to the next goal!!!

 

I've always been on the heavier side. All my life my weight has fluctuated. I'd like to think subconsciously I made the decision to get healthy when I turned 25 (no joke my knee started hurting the day I turned 25). However, I didn't start the work until 26. So my first goal was to take my workouts a little more seriously than I was taking them and in the process obviously lose weight and get stronger. I wasn't about to be a 26 year old with a weak ass knee (GOD FORBID). 

I started working out on October 1st 2019. I started with simple basic exercise for 30 minutes a day. So walking on the treadmill/attempting to run, HIIT workouts etc. Even though I was getting stronger, I hadn't lost any weight. In April 2020, I stumbled on intermittent fasting and that was a game changer. It doesn't stop me from eating what I want but it limits the number of hours I eat and subconsciously thought me portion control. I increased my workouts to 1 hour a day and with a combination of workouts and intermittent fasting, I was able to loose 6kg from April to September. I've never felt this healthy and strong. Which is why I started entertaining the thought of giving up meat for a bit. 

I LOVE CHICKEN! I've never thought of a day I'd give it up.

Honestly, I found it weird when people said they were vegan. I mean why? But here we are, September 2020 and after much consideration, I've decided to try it out for a week. I don't have a particular reason for wanting to go vegan. I thought it was to lose weight but after my mum asked, I soon realized that wasn't the reason. I just wanted to try it and see if I could survive. After all its always good to cut down or at least eat meat in moderation. If I end up losing weight then that's an added bonus for me. 

Now the first thing I had to do was figure out what exactly I could and couldn't eat. I already had an idea but I wanted to be sure. Basically a vegan has a strict diet of plant based foods only. This means apart from not eating animal flesh, a vegan also doesn't eat animal by products. So we are talking butter, eggs, yoghurt, ice cream, milk etc. From what I've read, there are vegan options but I'm not about to stress myself looking around for these products since my diet is for a short period and the only thing I will miss is milk (because tea!) and yoghurt but I have almond milk so I'm good. 

With that said, let's move to the positive bit. I thought it would be fun to share my journey with whoever ends up reading my post. At the end of the week, I will be sharing my meals, whether or not I lost weight, how my energy was affected, if there are visible changes to my skin and everything in between. So I'm excited and scared at the same time but if there's anything I've learnt this year is if I set my mind to it, I will eventually achieve it. 

I'm currently working on a menu and my mum has decided to join me on this journey. We will be starting on 17th or 18th of September and I should have a post up by 25/26th. 

That's pretty much all I wanted to say. This is unlike my other posts cause its just words and no pictures. I unfortunately lost my pictures from 2013 - 2018 so I can't even do a throwback. It will be different next time.

Thank you for reading and I wish you all a blessed week. See you on the other side.

With love,

Aisha.

My go to editing tools.

Hello,

Hope you're being safe and staying at home? Like everyone else, I cannot wait until normal life resumes. One would think that my normal life is different from my quarantine life. It's been a rocky start with 2020 but in shaa Allah things are about to turn around for the better. I have to keep my optimism high.

With that said, today I'm going to talk about some editing tools that I use to touch up my photographs. Generally, I do little to no tweaking with my photos. I'm always looking for the fastest way to edit because if I spend too much time on my computer it starts to misbehave. On the other hand, when I use my phone I just want to be done so I can resume playing my games. Priorities guys, priorities! So without further ado, here are the 3 apps I use.

1. VSCO

My baby! The apple of my eye, the L in my lazy, the c in my creative etc. Although I'm not a fan of their premium feature, I still love it. Back then I could easily buy my presets and use whenever. However, now I need a monthly subscription to get the full range of presets. That doesn't stop me from loving the app. Just so we are clear, I do not pay for the premium because call it what you want, if I'm not making regular income from my photos then I'm not paying a dime for an editing app.

Vsco is my go to cause its on my phone and I'm always with my phone. I usually use it to edit all photos including portraits that don't require skin retouching. I have about 24 presets. The app allows me to make adjustments, tweak exposure, contrast etc. I like to add a little grain to my photos. I especially love the grain feature for my self portraits.

The app is user friendly and has a clean look. With Vsco it takes me roughly about 10 minutes to do what I need to do on multiple pictures. Which is why I highly recommend it.

A few pictures I've edited on VSCO.

2. Lightroom

This is the first software I ever paid for. This was way back when it was a 1 time buy and not monthly subscriptions (if you can't already tell, I don't like monthly subscriptions). I still haven't unlocked Lightroom's full potential because I pretty much do the same thing I do on vsco with Lightroom. However, Lightroom gives me more options to work with. For instance, when I want to do a light skin touch up. I can blur out blemishes/spots and create an even skin. I can play around with colors and so on. I use Lightroom for more serious work and editing client's work. I can put my watermark with Lightroom as well.

Lightroom edit

3. Photoshop

The big daddy. My biggest fear once upon a time. Photoshop offers soooo much range from creating art to distorting reality and so on. I use photoshop for skin retouching. It gives the absolute best result. Imagine my excitement the first time I used it and saw my end product. 

Super proud moment.

Skin retouching using photoshop

What I'll say and what you may have heard before, always try and get it as perfect as you can on camera. These apps are only here to help enhance whatever you create.

Well I hope that was interesting or at least helpful.

Until next time, 

Aisha 

Your introvert photographer who creates but finds it hard to share.

xx

Self portraits & struggles

I got into this self portrait business way before I even knew what it was called. I was new to social media and I really wanted my profile picture to bang. This was probably back in 2007/2008. I remember the struggle to take pictures with a point and shoot, getting the right angle and light to get a clear image. Looking back the quality was obviously trash but I made trash art lol. Anyway I've evolved from my 12 pixel or less (can't remember) days and I'm grateful.

Once upon a time it was routine to take pictures of myself at least once a week but somewhere along the line I wasn't feeling it. I haven't been on here in a long time (standard) but of recent I've barely been active on my IG.

After what felt like an eternity I took my camera out and decided I wanted to take pictures of myself cause why not. I have way too much free time, might as well practice taking portraits.

Now usually I know everything is easy and I get the job done with a few tries but I struggled a little this time around.

Struggle 1

My camera went off mid shot (low battery).
I was using a fujifilm xt20 and the nice thing about taking self portraits with it, is that there's less hassle trying to get the camera to focus. I set my timer at 10 seconds, sat on a bench with white walls as my background and the only source of light was coming from a window.
I shot RAW images of course with a 16-50mm kit lens. I maintained ISO 2500 & 1/125sec. I pretty much played around with the zoom depending on what shot I was going for which meant my f stop was adjusted occasionally. The most annoying part about shooting with my fuji would probably be the need to have enough light for sharper images other than that she's a beauty and I can't wait to try out other lens.

Struggle 2

After I lost the power on my fuji, I decided to carry on cause I was in the zone. Whipped out my canon 650D and that's when I met up with struggle number 2. Considering it'd been a while since I used it, my trigger's battery had run out which meant I had to have my hand on the shutter release, get it to focus then sit and pose while the timer counts down. Now this means that there was a high chance at least half the pictures would end up blurred. Wahala! My solution to that was taking close up images only.
I have to say I'd almost forgotten how amazing images are on a canon. I used my 50mm 1.8 lens and pretty much had one hand on the shutter release while posing with the other hand or balancing myself. Shutter speed was at 1/80 sec and obviously f1.8 but here I played around with the ISO.

Goshi Masha Allah

I should have probably mentioned it in the beginning but if it wasn't obvious, my camera was mounted on a tripod.

All in all, it feels like a nice reintroduction to photography. The thing I like most about having limited equipments is that it forces your creativity to come out a little. Do what you must as long as you get your shot! Make sure you have an idea of what you want your final image to look like and start from there.

To recap; I used natural light from one window, a tripod, fujifilm xt20 16-50mm and canon 650d 50mm, white walls, make up by me (yes I had make up on, shoutout to fenty beauty) and lastly photoshop for a little bit of skin retouching and Lightroom for a few adjustments.

Link to the tutorial I followed if you'd like to try out skin retouching.
Tutorial 1 & Tutorial 2


Thanks for reading. Happy to answer questions and hear some tips and your experiences with shooting self portraits or portraits.

Aisha
xx

When life hits you

Hi there!

Haven't seen you in a while. I dove into the world and I let it eat me up lol. Hopefully it doesn't spit me out. Over the past year, I've made some adjustments even though not all of them have lead to me being productivity but that is adulting I guess!

What have I been up to in 2019? Well I got a job and even though it's temporary and I'm enjoying it on most days, its got me wanting more than just a desk job. My job has so far boosted my confidence and encouraged me to do, think, be better and focus on improving my craft.

 I dunno exactly what this post is about tbh lol. I just really felt the urge to make one. 

I'm excited for my next project and I look forward to sharing it with you all. 

Thank you for reading and I'll see you soon.

Love

Aisha

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.

2018... yay!

Here we are, about 2 years later with the same problem.
I was hyped and listening to Beyonce typing out my blog post. I was enjoying myself and I decided to open with "sat here noding to yonce as I type this blog post. I should start every blog post with Beyonce in the background".

2 days later and I'm sat here not listening to Beyonce because my laptop doesn't let me enjoy myself. If I had a choice I'd throw it across the room and watch it shatter. FYI it froze about 10 times while I typed this very short paragraph. But like my dad would say "Allah ya so ba ke kike freezing ba" (translation, Thank God you are not the one freezing).

It's so bad that I try as much as possible to avoid using lightroom. All the patience and tolerance I learnt during NYSC has gone down the drain and therefore I rely on my phone, the only device that matters.

Let me add that apple has concluded that the only way they can help me is if I purchase one of their many expensive newer laptops. Yeah... of course, why oh why didn't I even think of that solution?

Anyway enough of my angry rant lol.

Hiiiiiiii

Happy New Year! Safe to say the first 2 months were somewhat of a blur. Happy to be back! I've basically been living my best life, Alhamdulillah. Started the year surrounded by family which of course was amazing.
I was at an island off the coast of Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago and if we are being honest, I was kinda hoping the boat would leave me behind. 

Lunch time

I've resorted back to my old ways of procrastinating and I've been putting off making a post or even thinking of what next to capture and share. I mean my slow laptop contributed to my hiatus but that's just me making excuses. If anyone has a way out for me, I'll appreciate the help (only if you've tried it and it worked).
This post basically highlights what I've been capturing since the year started. Some are already on my Instagram page. Follow me if you don't already arclicks_. I have been working with my fujifilm xt20 this year and I'm liking it so far. I’m still trying to get the hang of it but the truth is I may need another intensive course on photography. Truth is, you never actually stop learning.

Sheikh Zayed mosque

Sheikh Zayed mosque

Global village

I attended index and sikka art fair the other day. Even though index was fun, I unfortunately couldn’t make it to sikka before sunset. Now sure I got to experience sikka but I have a fear of shooting at night. I tend to panic when I can't find natural light but I managed to make it work for some pictures.

At tikka art fair

At sikka art fair

Anyway enjoy the pictures. I wasn't joking about the suggestions to overcome procrastination. Leave your suggestions in the comment section below.
APPRECIATE IT!

P.S If you live in the UAE and you've read all the way to this part, please hit me up. I'm down for shoots and collaborations.

Thank youuuuu!

Aisha
xx

a day in the desert

Hiiiii.

Somewhere along the line I lost track of time and haven't been here in about 6 months.  Long story short I finished NYSC in one piece and took a trip back to a country I love. 

I've been thinking of what to post for a while and I'm happy that I'm coming back with a little knowledge to share with you all. Whenever you hear about UAE, you think of the skyscrapers, fast cars and luxurious living. On Sunday the 17th, I got to see a different side of the UAE. Sure I've been to the desert and I've seen camels and gotten a taste of their culture but this trip felt a bit different. 

Etihad towers, Abu Dhabi. Image taken with an iPhone and edited with vsco.

Somewhere in Abu Dhabi. Image taken with an iPhone and edited with vsco.

At the start of the tour, we had the opportunity to visit Shams 1 solar power station. Shams 1 power station is located in western Abu Dhabi and is 6km from the town Madinat Zayed. The power plant produces about 100 megawatts daily and can power about 200000 homes. Energy produced from this power plant is transferred to the national grid and distributed for consumption. It was a beautiful site I must say. Here's a link to their website if you'd like to know more about the project.

 Shams power plant 

The next stop was the Al Dhafra festival. Al Dhafra festival is inspired by the Emirati culture and heritage. The festival is held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Court Commander of the UAE Armed  Forces. 

The Al Dhafra festival is an annual festival that aims to bring together generations and is dedicated to protecting environmental and historical heritage and the culture of the Emirati citizens. I've seen camels roam around northern Nigeria but I've never really paid attention to the importance of camels. The festival sheds light on the roles of camels in the culture and heritage of the UAE. 

Camels that made the first round of the beauty competition. Image shot with an iPhone and edited with vsco.

Image shot with my camera (50mm) and edited with vsco.

There is a wide range of activities and events to attend while at the festival. One of the main events is Camel Mazayna (camel beauty contest). People travel from the GCC countries to participate in this competition and camels are judged based on how long their necks are, size of their eyes, length of their legs and so on. Competition is open to pure breeds only and this year there are about 1500 competitors with 15000 camels competing for 38 million dirhams in prizes.

We got the opportunity to see the camels up close and pet them. Our guide mentioned that a particular camel was worth about 2 million dirhams while her father was worth about 15 million dirhams. It was unbelievable and I might go adopt a stray camel lol.

Image shot with my camera (50mm) and edited with vsco.

Fun fact, the street that leads to the festival which BTW is located in the middle of the desert is called "millions street". Why? Cause a lot of millions are exchanged. 

Other activities include camel auctions, the traditional market, dates competition, poetry, photography (shoutout to all the amazing photographers), folk music, Faclon competition, Arabian Saluki beauty and traditional race championship and many more traditional activities.

Image shot with my camera (50mm) and edited with vsco.

Qasr AlSarab hotel. Image shot with my camera (50mm) and edited with vsco.

Image shot with my camera and edited with vsco. 

Qasr AlSarab hotel. Image shot with my camera (50mm).

View from Qasr AlSarab hotel. Image shot with iPhone and edited with vsco.

Next on our list was a visit to Qasr Alsarab hotel (inserts heart eyes). Now if you know me, you'll know I enjoy peace and quiet so naturally I fell immediately in love with this location. It is situated in the middle of the desert and it is about an hour and half to 2 hours drive from the city of Abu Dhabi. 

We did a variety of activities. Sand bashing was first on the list and that was super fun. I love views so when we stopped for pictures I was in awe. Next was archery and I thought point and shoot, right? WRONG! However, I managed to hit the target once so yay! Did some bike riding before heading to the falcon show and the saluki show. One of the falcons flew away, apparently falcons are not loyal. 

In the middle of the desert about 25km from Saudi Arabia. Image shot with my camera (50mm).

Also middle of the desert about 25km from Saudi Arabia. Image shot with my camera (50mm).

Taking a break from the activities to capture camels at rest. Image shot with my camera (50mm).

Image shot with iPhone and edited with vsco.

Image shot with my camera (50mm).

A cup of Arabian coffee while watching the falcon show. Image shot with my camera (50mm).

We had dinner and ended the night star gazing. 

Qasr Alsarab is a place I'm definitely heading back to in shaa Allah. Also just realized I didn't take enough pictures of the resort. I was too busy feeding my eyes and storing it in my memory 

Thank you for reading and I'm off to enjoy the rest of the year. Hopefully I'll be back before the year runs out. 

Happy Holidays!!

With love

Aisha

xx