I was asked on behalf of UNC to come and cover a guest speaker they would have in Chapel Hill.  Little did I know, the guest speaker was non other than Dr. Muhammad Yunus!

This was such an extreme  honor, my words can’t even express it.  Dr. Yunus not only won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, but he’s also from my native country of Bangladesh!  How awesome is that?  He pretty much single handedly introduced the concept of micro-financing with Grameen bank in Bangladesh, and revolutionized the country because of it.  If you don’t know much about what he did or why he got the much deserving award, I suggest you find out a bit more information here… it’s very interesting.   Although I was mostly focused on getting these pictures, I also very much enjoyed his lecture.  His brilliant ways of combining both business and humanitarian efforts are just remarkable.  His ideas is simply not to waste anything, because someone can always find use for it.  I remember one part I found particularly interesting was his relationship with Danon yogurt company.  Danon approached him to see how may be able to help him.  His response was, make an affordable yogurt for poor people, that anyone can buy.  However, this yogurt must have all the vitamins and minerals that children are lacking in the poorest part.  This way the yogurt can be given to all children, and it will not only feed them, but pretty much give them the suppliments they desperately need.  When Danon agreed, he said there’s still one problem… the cups are made out of plastic.  You should make the cups edible as well, so it’s not just being wasted.  On top of that, that edible cup should also contain vitamins and nutrients since it’s being eaten 🙂  This concept of helping people, conducting business, and not wasting anything is just amazing to me.

This was a very informative shoot, and I thoroughly enjoyed being there.  If you ever get a chance to hear this man speak, be sure you’re there.  I also suggest you read his book: creating a world without poverty.  It may very well change your outlook on life and what you can do for the needy.

So… here are the pictures:

This guy waited at the door throughout the whole speech, and then right when they’re giving him the award, literally jumps in front of everyone, block their view, and takes pictures like a paparazzi.  The most unprofessional photographer I’ve ever seen.

I wanted a quick picture with the man, but no one knew how to use my camera in there 🙁  <– that’s how sad I was because this picture wasn’t focused

Sooo… I got a new camera earlier this month.  To explain more about it, I thought I try something new and post a video.  I must warn you though… I look pretty horrible in the video (no, really… I look pretty bad), and I think I say “you know” at least 600 times throughout.  Not to mention the still capture on the video is me in the middle of me speaking.  Gahhh.  It’s my first video… so give me a break will ya?

Wanna give a special thanks to my buddy Sam “the Sauce” Hassass who showed me how to snag one of these when they were almost impossible to find. Check out his blog, dude’s literally the most creative  wedding photographer on the planet.

My New Camera from Sahid Limon on Vimeo.

For some reason vimeo only allows 500MB files, so I had to downgrade the video a bit.  Ironically, this video was also 900 MB long because it was twice as long as the first one I tried to record.

Happy Valentines Day to all you lovebirds.

This is a Nikkah ceremony/Couples session for Zafar and Saima.  This was officially my first shoot of the year… shot on 1/1/09.  Unlike traditional Western weddings, the Nikkah is a special ceremony that is practiced in the Islamic faith.  During this ceremony, the couple basically agree to marry, and sign the proper documents.  After this ceremony, the couple is legally married.  However, as culture would have it, the marriage is not official until you throw a big celebration/party for friends and family… so that’s still to come.

They wanted to make the nikkah ceremony personal and more family involved, so they kept it nice and simple.  Afterwards, we headed to an awesome location to do their couples session.  Saima looked absolutely gorgeous, and Zafar looked like… well, Zafar (just joking man, you looked good too) 😀

I had such a great time working with them both. Check out the images below, and feel free to leave any comments 🙂

These are the Couples session pics…

My favorite shot from the set!  This was lit only by the light above her.

Zafar didn’t have his ring on him… so I just ended up taking Saima’s ring shots.

My 2nd favorite shot 😀

So I’m up on the seat trying to demonstrate the pose… and this is what happens…