I find myself here again..end of another eventful year.

One thing I want to do is apologise.

I am sorry I haven’t been as active on my blog or social media. Truth is I lost myself this year. I lost my energy, my passion, my zest; I allowed outside factors to effect me. I allowed matters in my personal life effect one of the things that brings me so much joy and fulfillment. Having traveled so much last year, I had crashed and burned, I thought I needed time out, some ‘me’ time. I focused on my health and fitness and for a while it did me good. I admit I took a break and in the process Ive come to realise in doing so I lost a piece of myself, because photography was one of the few things in life that gave me life.

A fellow photographer and friend questioned that and asked “is it? or is it that you can project your energy, colour and vividness in them, and so it reflects the happiest aspects of who you are.” That brought a smile to me..I guess that’s true. I had the honour of shooting an amazing wedding in kenya at the start of this year, I look back at those images and I cant help but smile. I see the couples faces, and brings back the warm memories of the funny banter we had throughout the whole trip. I look at the people I met, not just the wonderful attendee’s at the wedding but the others along the journey. I missed that. I missed the interaction with people. As I was questioning my abilities and life in general, my friend went on to tell me ” I was really drawn to your blog, and the interactions with brides, like a friend. That personal connection, you should project that more, they are not your clients they are your friends..I don’t see many who have that interpersonal skill, that’s Rima Darwash” – Thank you. You have no idea how much your words lifted me.

One thing I realise is I have found clarity. I know what brings me happiness, they are not my clients, they are my friends. I love what I do and it brings me immense pleasure and satisfaction that my friends see that reflected in their wedding photos. Here are only a few of the amazing memories shared with those friends. I wish you all a healthy, happy and peaceful 2015! Thank you all for your ongoing support and love x

Arti knew exactly what she wanted the very minute I spoke to her on the phone; “A shoot in autumn in Paris!” I knew this is my kinda bride! I love it how the couples who are booking me ‘get’ me and my vision. We are on the same wavelength. Immediately I envisaged  a Parisian chic styling for the shoot, simple and elegant and drew up a moodboard with inspiration of autumnal colours and visual concepts. I had’nt had the opportunity to meet the couple before hand so like you do..we arranged to meet in Paris ..daaarrrling.

I had taken a fellow photographer friend to assist me on the shoot, especially for the night time portion, I always need an extra pair of hands on shoot to help with lighting. Due to unforseen circumstances my lighting assistant couldnt be there on the night we were set to shoot. One thing I have learned and developed my skill in shooting weddings over the years is to expect the unexpected. I had to think on my feet. We couldnt re schedual the shoot, we only had that one night in Paris… and there was no way I could let my lovely couple down..they looked like they were dressed for a red carpert event, super stylish! In the end I scrapped my flashes an extra bulky lighting equpment and utilised what most people had in their pockets…an i phone! So if you look closely to the iamges taken at night infront of the Eiffel Tower you’ll see it was lit using 3 iphones..who needs fancy equipment hey?

This shoot was also featured on the popular wedding blogsite My Asian Wed!