AK-Shoots

+++New Blog+++

2009-07-31T16:14:00.001-07:00

I’m excited to start my new & improved official wedding blog. I welcome you to accompany me in my photographic journey in cyberspace.

You can bookmark and follow the new blog here: http://blog.aksandhu.com/

The Wise One

2009-07-25T17:30:00.001-07:00

I’ve been meaning to blog about my last trip to India for a while… but then life got in the way!
Today, i just felt like doing something to make me feel good n feel warm… pictures help me more than humans and luckily today of all days, I stumbled upon a few gems. Growing up, I felt cheated being an only child. I felt i was doomed to a life of loneliness amongst cousins who always had ‘real’-siblings to stick with… I also never got a chance to get close to any of my grandparents but in the last two years I was blessed to have the opportunity to spend some time with my sole-surviving-grandfather – my ‘nannaa’ (my mother’s father).
With almost a century of experience under his belt, the man is like an encyclopedia. As a man in uniform, he lived most of his young-adult life away from his family. God took his wife in his mid-30s and left him with 6-kids to raise, the youngest being around 5. Even in a family of 7, i can’t imagine how lonely he must have felt at that time. He stuck to his faith and focused on the important things. He devoted the rest of his life to his oldest-daughter who also lost a spouse and spent a lonely life.
As life took its toll, it was faith that gave ‘em strength.
Nannaa’s life is a lesson I will always learn from and he is someone I’ll always be thankful for.

Leyla & Eyyub | Wedding

2009-07-22T18:30:00.001-07:00

When Eyyub first broke the news of his wedding to his NYC-iHouse friends, (I can speak on behalf of all of us that) we were definitely a little surprised!
Don’t get me wrong, Eyyub is an awesome guy but among us, we certainly didn’t think he’d be the first to tie the holy-knot! We were really happy for him and we were all SUPPER STOKED to have this once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit a place called Azerbaijan.
Leyla & Eyyub were both born in Azerbaijan. When we first ‘met’ Leyla on facebook, we thought she was drop-dead-gorgeous and as you can see in the photos, they both definitely look like a match made in Heaven! When we finally met Leyla in the “windy city” of Baku, we were sure that her and Eyyub were going to be the most BEAUTIFUL looking couple in the country! NO JOKE!!!

Eyyub, thank you for being such an amazing friend… you took time out days before your wedding to show us your beautiful motherland and that is something none of us will ever forget. I'm incredibly blessed to be your friend and to have been the one to capture some of your most beautiful life moments. Your friends and family are incredibly-amazing… the language barrier didn’t affect us cause they definitely all mastered in the language of love that came straight from their heart and touched ours. Special thanks to your father for giving us the world’s best toasts before every meal (thank God Frank was there to always drink to ‘em)!
The week we spent in Azerbaijan will definitely be a highlight in each of our lives. Hope you and Leyla are loving life as husband and wife!

The highly awaited wedding-pics of Leyla & Eyyub are finally done! But I always feel like i can do more, especially with Leyla & Eyyub. ALL their pics were soo beautiful that I just want to edit each and every one of the few thousand photos i took. I’ll start with a few below, catch the rest on my website – AKsandhu.com

This was the view from our apartment in Baku… simply splendid!!!

Raymen & Aman | Engaged

2009-07-20T09:38:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I was invited to shoot my friend’s wedding in Azerbaijan (eastern Europe) and I thanked the heavens for such an amazing opportunity – to capture the special day of two beautiful souls (I’m STILL editing those photos and I’ve promised myself I will get it done soon). As luck would have it, the heavens shinned on me again and delayed my detour in India for a few weeks… and during that time I was blessed again – I got to photograph Raymen & Aman!

Roshni-Shinning…

2009-07-19T23:02:00.001-07:00

So this past weekend I met Roshni again…
I met this dynamic and vibrant young girl a few years ago at a mutual-friend’s b’day dinner and we hit it off right away sharing our loveee for two of the best cities in the world, Da-BOM***-city (Bombay) and of course NYC! We totally planned to hangout after that, watch hindi-flicks and eat chaat, etc., etc., but God just didn’t cross our paths for a while. fb helped us stay connected as a few years went by and Roshni and I both went on to explore our worlds…
Roshni became this hot-new-journalist who launched her very own magazine and I had opted for my passion for photography!

Then one day, I got an email from her… “Hey, saw your photography site - it looks amazinggg!! So I need to take some professional pictures of myself ... And of course, random ones I take at parties wont do.”

I was STOKED!!! We set up a day to meet up at her apartment to shoot. I endedup taking my most reliable assistant along, my mother. So as Roshni and I shot around her apartment and courtyard, our mothers bonded over a cup of chai and talked about (typical*) potential suitors for their daughters! The entertaining conversations went by way too fast and pretty soon, we were done. As nervous as I was with the lack-of professional lighting and dim indoors and Roshni’s gift to blinking in almost every other photo, we actually did good and had a BLAST doing it!
By the end of the shoot, we discovered another thing we had in common -- cool, young & hip moms!

I was blessed to have the opportunity to photograph this newly-formed-Journalist Bombshell – Check out RoshniMagazine(dot)com and be sure to drop by Roshni's blog and treat yourself to some fabulous interviews.

Rosh, I have no doubt that your gonna continue to rock the magazine and go on to do some amazing things in the industry… Stay sweet and don’t forget to call me to shoot your first print cover!

JD-Chillin… c/o 2009!

2009-07-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

God help me! Soo much bloggin to catchUP on…
This shoot was stressful…
*tryin to be on time, *tryin to get everything, *tryin to look good, *tryin not to sweat, *tryin to get every1-in, *tryin to capture the moments…
and *TRYIN not to curse?!?!?!?!!
sshhhh………… that wz close Jaz, glad we chilled out b4 u got shipped off to D-school!

Boyz, Boyz, Boyz!!!

2009-07-18T00:31:00.001-07:00

As I was updating the pretty grls yesterday, i couldn’t resist getting to the 3-boyz I spent time with over 4th of July weekend! GOD BLESS their mother and grandmother who have the toughest job of raising all three of them (…along with their father and pet-Matty)!!!

Sugar n’ Spice…

2009-07-17T15:53:00.001-07:00

This is one of a few “late”-blogs… my travels got me waay behind on bloggin so i’m catching uP.

a few months ago, I experienced the job of photographing two of the most beautiful baby-girls i've ever seen!
~Harry&Happy's beautiful Meena... and Jasleen&Vishal's gorgeous Rania~

While Vishal (who is the best husband in the world) cooked us lunch, Rania & Jasleen modeled soo well for the camera...

As for Meena,
I was lucky enuff to document her journey into the world before she arrived…

We set-up this shoot by the sliding door in their kitchen and although i was a nervous wreck during this shoot, I think we were all fairly happy with the end result…
Thanks to Happy for being sooo pregnant and being soo patient…
Thanks to Neno for being the best assistant ever,
and of course, a special thanks to Harry for following directions sooo well :)

. . . And then. . .she tip-toed into our lives . . .

Phewww…

2009-07-16T20:28:00.001-07:00

Seems neverending… shooting, editing, more editing, designing, marketing, etc., etc., etc…
and this is ONLY a “rough-draft” of the promo!!! …Can i plzz get more hours in a day!?!?!?

Moo-re Choices…

2009-07-15T18:04:00.001-07:00

Heard great things about MOO… hopefully, they’ll do me good!

Templates… choices, choices!!!

2009-07-14T16:18:00.001-07:00

HOTTT day, Killer Circuit-class, good lunch, now back to work!!!
Q of the day, are choices a blessing or a curse???

Designed iT!

2009-07-14T09:40:00.001-07:00

Had a semi-productive day… designed a few logos…
Thx to Abz, think i’v decided which one to go with…

!!!GET Serious!!!

2009-07-13T10:15:00.001-07:00

WakeUp AK, get Motivated, get SERIOUS…
shoot, edit, blog, design, logo, website, PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE!!!

Its time to get SERIOUS, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. . .

♥Wedding Bells♥ {iHeartfaces.com}

2009-06-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

I ♥ iHeartFaces =)

I recently exited the world of 'corporate slavery' and got inspired (by the likes of J*) to follow my dreams of being a photographer... and here I am...
in my efforts to become a better blogger and a more serious photographer, I decided to submit a photo for my 1st photo-contest. {wish me luck!!!}

I captured this priceless moment as Leyla & Eyyub felt the chills from the cold wind blowing the water from the fountain onto them. . .

I was blessed to have had the opportunity to fly-out to shoot my friend's wedding in the "windy city" of Baku, Azerbaijan.
Most of my friends and family had never even heard of the place but it is a beautiful little country on the shores of the Caspian Sea... and it is by far,
the most hospitable place with the most friendly and loving people I have ever visited in my time here on earth.
Being a Punjabi (Indian) myself, I thought Punjabi hospitality was as good as it gets but I admit that the Azeris can out-do us anyday!
It was an honor to capture Eyyub and Leyla's special day.
I promise I'll edit and update their wedding on my blog veryyy soon!

"Be sure to head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!"

i ♥ faces

and now, in the spirit of “Just For Fun” here is a photo from Leyla & Eyyub’s reception…
Eyyub’s nephew, Ismail didn’t speak a word of english, but enjoyed the entire event on the “American-Table” with us…
just another friendly and loving Azeri making a few American friends!

Boyz

2009-02-24T17:34:00.001-08:00

I had the pleasure of shooting the beautiful Bhatia-Family this past weekend... I realized that boyz r soo much work but yet soo much fun ;)

Baby-Mommies

2009-02-18T22:07:00.001-08:00

Jasleen with her gorgeous baby Rania and Happy with her beautiful baby Meena... it was such JOY to photograph you ladies!

Fruits of Love

2009-02-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

The past two weekends were the most fun I've had with my new camera. Babies are just soo precious...

Happy Valentines Day :)

2009-02-14T23:16:00.000-08:00