Rabia is 12 years old, lives in Pakistan with her parents and four other siblings. You can find out a little more about Rabia by reading the text in the following images.

Consequently, we are always using each other as guinea pigs to try out new stuff on our off days. A good by-product of having to do this is that we can end up with some shots of ourselves that we would otherwise never take. Interestingly enough, we both fight to be behind the lens rather than in front of.

We took the following shots in this little corner in our building gym. This is what the corner actually looks like (sorry about the noise; iPhone picture):

Today, we also wanted to take a break from our regular wedding photography related blog posts and write on a more personal note, and help promote one of the programs we recently became involved with.

Over the last couple of years, among many other things that we have been blessed with, including family, friends, and career, we have seen our photography business grow from mere thoughts and whispers to a big part of our lives and a full fledged running operation. As an extremely miniscule token of our gratitude, we wanted to turn over some of our blessings to those who may not have the same opportunities in life that we do.

After some research, the program we decided to be involved with is called Plan Canada. Plan Canada has been around since 1937, is currently active in over 60 countries, and is all about building communities in the lesser fortunate parts of the world. Some of the things that were important to us were

- being able to communicate with the sponsored child(ren)
- being able to plan a visit and go meet our sponsored children in person and see how our contributions have made a difference in their lives
- being able to sponsor children in a country of our choice

Plan Canada met all these criteria and more. They advocate equal rights, promote and encourage education, enable children and their families to meet the basic necessities (clean water, free healthcare, etc.) and much more.

This holiday season, with so many families struggling to make their ends meet even here in North America, we encourage you to spread the love. Be it here or abroad. Make someone part of your family. Reach out and touch someone.

Pay it forward. It’s bound to come around.

Happy holidays everyone!

Thank you Ottawa for making me see through my self
Thank you Ottawa for introducing me to me
Thank you Ottawa for giving me freedom

I love you Ottawa! Happy Anniversary.

A couple of weeks later she was sitting in our living room, three of us plopped on our white IKEA couch, her hogging the remote control in one hand, a plate in the other, as we all ate something delicious Mehreen had cooked and watched “So You Think You Can Dance”. A little while later we shared our funny YouTube finds, the laptop hooked up to the TV laughing our asses off.

Then there was the time she decided to be our Ottawa tour guide; the time both of them dropped by to give Mehreen company after the accident; the time they came by on Mehreen’s birthday leaving their best friend’s wedding earlier; and of course the numerous times she’d run into us at weddings and yell and wave frantically upon our first sight, “DOST! HELLO DOST¹!”

We still don’t know why you like us Afroz. But, we like that you like us. And we like you too. A lot!

And Usman, we like you too, coz YOU’RE THE MANAGER! (sorry internet; inside joke – maybe another blog entry some other day – you’ll be hearing a lot more of these two).

Afroz and Usman are getting married this weekend in Ottawa. And we’ll be there as their friends, and their photographers. Gitty up!

1. Dost is Urdu for Friend.

“But I’d really prefer to park the car myself. Is that possible?”

“Most certainly sir! May I know which car you are driving?”.

An awkwardly long pause followed. Then I said it.

“Ummm Ford. Focus.”

The receptionist gave me a polite smile and I handed him the keys without any further hesitation or cause for embarassment.

You see, in my defense, I’d just had an accident, this was a rental car, and I was trying to protect it from wind itself if I could.

Aaaaanyways. We spent the rest of the weekend at, what we now call, the best hotel we’ve ever stayed at (including Hilton Cancun). The W Montreal. Everything from the service to the decor to the hospitality to the atmosphere of this hotel is worth every penny. Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

The Lobby

About the dark pictures, the whole hotel has a really club like feel to it, and this is how dark the actual room is.





The most relaxing rain shower ever!

With only an hour to go before reaching home, I had pulled up at a service station and given Meem the car like I had done so many times before on our biweekly drives to and from Toronto. I didn’t think much of it, went to sleep in the passenger seat and expected to be woken up by her voice when she’d be pulling up my parent’s garage. I had it partially right.

Somewhere around midnight, half an hour away from home, I heard Meem scream out my name prolonging the second vowel. I woke up before she had finished saying my name and I knew immediately why she was screaming. I intuitively turned towards her, my seat still reclining, seat belt still on, half trying to control the steering wheel, half trying to shield her from the impact, failing to figure out which way I should help her turn. I saw the car spin a full 360. I saw a truck drive right by. We then headed for the side curb and hit on Meem’s side. We heard metal rub with concrete. The car finally came to a stop. The whole thing lasted no more than two seconds.

After the impact, we sat their paused for a second, while I turned my head around frantically trying to figure out if there was going to be a second impact from another vehicle. I saw a few cars but we were far off the express lane. I then turned to Meem and asked her, “Are you ok?”. Her reply was, “I didn’t do it on purpose! I swear Asad!”. Then we saw smoke coming out of the dashboard from underneath the now deployed and deflated airbags. Meem couldn’t get out from her side. I turned around once more to watch out for any oncoming traffic, pushed open my door, and grabbed and pulled Meem out from my side. We walked back behind our car and held on to each other tight in the pouring rain. Meem seemed to be screaming each time she exhaled. I called 911 and then my brother.

An hour later we were standing at the collision centre with my brother.

A few hours later we were trying to sleep on a mattress in my brother’s old room in my parent’s house. My parents are moving. They have sold most of the furniture. Events from earlier that night played in my head. I could still hear Meem scream my name. I wondered what was playing in Meem’s head. She was driving and she saw at least twice as much as I did. Whatever it was, I wanted her to forget it.

Friday:

We were eating Gol Gappas at Masala Mehndi Masti with our family. We did not take for granted the fact that the accident could have ended a dozen other ways, each no better than the way it did. We cannot possibly thank The One, The Only enough.

Saturday:

We got up at six, took showers, and boldly got on the highway again for Ottawa. We had a wedding to shoot in the afternoon. We made it on time and the wedding went exceptionally well. Some prospective clients have asked us in the past, what would happen if we were to end up in an accident or getting killed before their wedding. (We are not making this up; we have been asked this exact question more times than you would think). We didn’t know how to answer it before. We do now. The answer is: if we get in an accident, we will make it to your wedding. If we die, we will not make it to your wedding. That’s that.

Later on Saturday we drove, again, this time to Montreal on a pre-planned wedding anniversary trip.

Sunday:

I got these pictures of Meem outside a bakery and ice cream shop pointing at a cookie monster muffin in Montreal.

How happy and relieved I am to see you well my love! In His words, “If I bring you to it, I will bring you through it!”. Peace, love and strength!

Friday: we had a date with our friend and future bride Fro to visit and scout the location for an engagement shoot she had picked. We will write more details about the location after her engagement shoot. She picked us up from our place and we drove towards Aylmer in her Civic. Fro grew up in Aylmer and has a sweet spot for it. After visiting the location, she took us on a drive. A very long and enjoyable drive. Mehreen sitting in the front passenger seat, took control of Fro’s ipod. She picked out all these english classic hits from the 80s and 90s and then switched gears with some Bollywood tunes. Fro and Mehreen sang and danced the whole time, with Fro often letting go off the steering wheel completely to do moves that required both hands (e.g. during “Where’s the party tonight!”). Asad sat in the back seat trying to keep up, but his genuine disability to dance, coupled with his five-second-memory and not knowing any of the words kept him out and quiet. At some point during the night, Fro transposed from our client & friend to our tour guide. She took us to spots in Ottawa we hadn’t discovered yet. Somewhere in between we had fries with lots of vinegar (Fro’s introduction), while Mehreen and Fro discussed marriages, married life in general and men, while Asad shifted uncomfortably on the bench. The night ended when Fro finally dropped us back home.

Saturday: The day started with an amazing breakfast of eggs, parathas and chai. By early afternoon we headed down to the church near Experimental Farm to cover Andrew and Marianna’s wedding. You can see their engagement shoot on our blog here. We got some amazing shots at the church. Their bridal shoot was scheduled for the Experimental Farm, but because of the rain we ended up doing some shots around the downtown area. Finally, we convened for their small and intimate reception at Lago’s on Dow’s Lake. At the wedding were also our friends and ex-clients Jawad and Bushra. The rest of the night was spent laughing, taking pictures, and Mehreen teaching the white guys how to do Bhangra! Don’t ask!

Sunday: Mehreen’s friends Sachin and Vibhuti came to town from Toronto so we spent most of the day with them. Some time in the morning it was discussed and decided that during the course of the day we will do their portrait shoot. Minutes later we were making wardrobe selections for them, which basically meant picking between the two shirts Sachin had brought and the three tops Vibhuti had. Needless to day, this was totally unplanned and last minute. First we ended up taking them to a park in Gatineau, where we spent about an hour or so. We then headed down to the Byward market because Vibhuti wanted to go. We took some more shots there, and had pastries at Le Moulin De Provence. Finally we took a long drive back to Les Galeries De Hull‎. Here we must give a big shout out to the best shawarma place in town! If you go to the galeries’ food court, there is this shawarma place there. The best and the freshest food ever, and the nicest people. Their potatoes with garlic sauce are a must-have! It’s almost embarassing because we take all our out of town visitors! They’ve met Asad’s parents, Mehreen’s mother and siblings, Asad’s sister, her husband and two kids, and today Sachin and Vibhuti. The lady at the counter is always happy to see us because, one, I think she finds it humourous that we bring every single out of towner to have a shawarma there, and two, because she is in love with Mehreen’s hair. The manager there also is a wonderful man, who wasn’t there today when we ordered, but he especially came out to meet us and brought us each some Baklawa later on! How nice is that? We’re always so happy to see each other, we’re idiots for not knowing them by names. We should totally ask them next time. So if you’re reading this, go and try their shawarma. Tell them you found out about them through the crazy couple who keeps bringing all their family, friends, neighbours and their dogs over. They’ll recognize us in no time!

Anyhoo … we can’t finish the post without pictures. So here are some pictures from Sach and Vib’s shoot today. Enjoy!

Our apologies, but these pictures have been removed for personal reasons

More information available at our Ottawa Engagement Photography website www.AliphAurMeem.com