I Went To London Fashion Week! (kind of) | Zafira
Hey!
So, if you’ve been keeping up with my Instagram this past week you will know that I went to London Fashion Week! Well, I didn’t exactly go. It was more of a stand outside the event spaces in the rain and hope some well dressed people go in and out so you can take some pretty pictures of their outfits kinda thing.
Even though I was stood in the rain for two days, the entire experience was so incredibly good. I loved seeing everyone all dressed up and the range of people that were there. It was definitely an experience that I’d remember forever.
I took a lot of photographs so feel free to have a little browse :)
Thanks for checking these out, I’ll be posting my film shots in my February on Film sometime in the next few days so make sure you follow me over on my socials to know when it’s up!
Exploring London: National Gallery & Tate Britain | Zafira
Hi!
So I'm sort of back and settled into somewhat of a routine after what feels like the most eventful summer of my life which means it's time to show some pretty pics I took whilst I was out and about!
If you follow me over on my Instagram or even if you read my previous blog post, you would know I spent quite a lengthy time in London. Although my exploration days were quite limited due to having a lot of family to visit, I still made the most it and got to see nearly everything on my list.
We begin my little adventure over at the National Gallery and it was such a beautiful place to begin. I love art. I always have but unfortunately my skills within the artistic field aren't quite on Monet's level. Anyway, the National Gallery is the perfect place for an art-lover like myself and it's so stunning to walk around and spend hours admiring the paintings on the wall.
I love galleries and museums that have that sort of elegant, Palace of Versailles kind of vibe it's makes me fall in love with place instantly. The Victoria and Albert Museum (also in London) has the best 'Palace of Versailles' kind of interior and it's my all time fave place.
This pink-ish coloured dress reminds me so much of the latest Collina Strada collection.
I've always wanted something like this painted on my ceiling.
This painting stood out to me so much because my family village in Bangladesh looks the spitting image of this. It's so weird, especially because this painting is of somewhere in America in late 1800s.
She just looks like she's living her best in life in some sort of Dolce & Gabbana gown. This is exactly what I want to be doing in about 10 years.
Absolutely beautiful.
This is just outside the National Gallery.
I then headed off the Tate Britain which was just as wonderful as the National Gallery. I was in awe of the place as once again, it had that 'Palace of Versailles' kind of vibe but it also had a strange modern and minimalistic twist. It was weirdly cool. I guess it's quite hard to explain but once you look through my photographs you'll understand. As soon as you walk in you're hit with a bright, white, minimal environment but as you start walking through the place it transforms into an old and elegant place.
The most creepiest painting I've ever seen. I was immediately drawn in by this. Maybe it was the way they had lit the painting but it's so so so nightmarish. I think I had a good look at for about 2 minutes and decided to swiftly move away because I know I'd have some sort of unpleasant nightmare about it.
This is one of favourite paintings ever! I can't remember where I saw this first but I've been in love with it for years. This is 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose' by John Singer-Sargent. It's beautiful. I even bought it in tote bag form.
I wish I had enough patience and skill to sit and draw in a museum or gallery.
I think I was in year 7 and we'd have these English lessons every other week or so which were so chill and we'd read poetry and just talk about stuff and I remember so vividly reading the poem behind this painting. This is 'The Lady of Shalott' and the poem is bit miserable but still quite good. I used to try and draw and painting this painting so much when I was younger.
Also some of the frames around these paintings are just as stunning as the paintings themselves.
If you're wondering whether I took these on film or not then the answer is no. Preparing for uni has made my bank account a bit non existent alongside living the city life in London so shooting on film wasn't really something I could do. I took one roll of my usual Fujifilm Superia 200 and used that one 36 shot roll for the entire trip. I'll post those in a few weeks but these are all digital photographs that I've edited to make it look like they were shot on film.
I'll be posting these photographs plus a lot more over on my Instagram!
Lots of love,
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO STAY UPDATED:
Wales on Film | Zafira
Hey!
So if you've read my last blog post (
click here to read if you haven't already
) or have been keeping up to date over on my Instagram, you would know that I spent the most magical and absolutely beautiful weekend away in Wales. It was just what I needed after the stress of exams and college.
We begin our extended weekend away in the small but pretty town of Penmaemawr. If you're thinking what in the world, how do you even pronounce that? Well after a lot of practice and help from this website, I can finally enunciate it like a proper Welsh gal. My family is pretty big, there were about 40/45 of us on this trip which is a loooot of people but this is what made it so so so good. We stayed at this place called Mountain View which is sort of like an Airbnb kind of place. It was just like this huge house with 20+ rooms and it was the coolest. It was based in this cute and quaint town which was most definitely the most picturesque place I've ever been.
What station house looks this pretty in 2018?!
To further emphasise the beauty Penmaemawr had already blessed us with, there was a beach literally down the road from where we were staying. I love love love love love beaches. On extremely sunny and warm days, it almost felt as if we weren't in the UK. It was so calm and is completely different than beaches near Manchester such as Blackpool. It's just stunning. I think we ended up at the beach pretty much everyday.
The next place I explored whilst at Wales was Llandudno. I'm not exactly sure which bits of it we went to but we visited the famous pier and some hilly areas too which were absolutely captivating. It's so weird how you can go from the hilly areas that are completely isolated to areas such as the pier which is filled to the brim with people.
The last place I went to was just as encapsulating as the other two. I was so blown away by how stunning Wales is I can see myself going down there for so many years to come. I had no idea it was as alluring as it was. It took my breath away. It's so strange to go from a busy city like Manchester to somewhere like Penmaemawr and feel such a stark contrast in the way people live. It's even stranger that this is literally 2ish hours away from Manchester and it's so different. Anyway, Snowdonia was the last place we went to. We actually went on my birthday which was the 24th of June and I loved it. It's crazy how amazing the weather was when we went too. The sun was shining, the water and sky were as blue as ever and mountains were this amazing luscious green.
And lastly, here's a shot on me looking too happy on my 18th birthday which was the best birthday I've ever had.
Thank you to my family for making this the best holiday ever! You can see some more shots over on my Instagram 😊
Lots of love,
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO STAY UPDATED:
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/thezafiraedit
Photography Tumblr:
Personal Tumblr:
Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zafiraahmed/
:
https://twitter.com/thezafiraedit
Youtube:
London on Film | Zafira
Hi!
If you read my previous post, you'd know that I spent a week in London and it was so great. It was nice to have a week away from the chaos and craziness of college life and just take time to spend with my family. I didn't really get to out and explore as the main reason we were there was for wedding shopping but I managed to sneak away for a day and these are the film photographs that I took, enjoy!
I like to organise my photographs into categories when doing these posts but these two don't really fit into any because I took them on a different day.
Like I said earlier, the whole purpose of our family London trip was to shop and shop we did. We bought so much stuff and it was such a long process but most of the shopping is done and I can't wait for the wedding.
I can't remember where I took this but the sunlight is what really caught my eye, it just created such a calm and serene environment in a busy city like London.
The Tate Modern is quite a peculiar place but I love it nonetheless. It's definitely for the more artsy fartsy people but it's still such a cool place to walk around.
The two photographs above were actually taken in a pitch black room. In order to see the work on the walls you had to use flash which is usually not allowed. It was such a beautiful and moving collection of photographs.
Covent Garden is one of those days you'd go when it's sunny and warm. Thankfully, the day I went, the weather was so good even though the Beast from the East 3 had hit a couple of days before.
There's so many pretty flowers in Covent Garden and if the Sun decides to be your friend you can get some super cute shots.
The British Museum is just built in the most beautiful way possible. The outside looks quite historic and old but on the inside, it has the most stunning minimal yet breath taking interior. It's all white and when the sun shines through, it just creates such an amazing atmosphere.
I was running pretty low on film so I didn't get to get as many shots I initially wanted to but I completely adore these Greek sculptures.
I'll be posting these photographs plus a lot more over on my Instagram!
Lots of love,
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO STAY UPDATED:
Exploring London: Tate Modern, The British Museum & Covent Garden | Zafira
Hey!
It's been quite a while since I've been to London but I was there for the first week of my Easter holidays. The main reason I was there was to shop for my cousin's wedding in the summer which literally took an entire 3 days. Don't even ask it was a very very very long process but just know me and my family will be looking quite cute on her wedding day if I don't say so myself. Anyway, my week was filled with not only shopping but visiting family I hadn't seen for a while which took up the majority of my time there but eventually, I had a day spare and spent it doing what I love most which is wandering the streets and taking photographs. A lot of the photographs will be used in my last ever photography project at college based on the structure and composition of everyday life which is why the majority of my photographs look like I've spent the entire day stalking people.
My little day adventure began at the Tate Modern. I think every hipster/indie/tumblr child has been here but I've always put it off until now. It's cool but weird at the same time. Contemporary art is a strange thing but it's always fun to see what unique things people have created.
From the outside, it doesn't look like a very modern building but inside it's pretty amazing. This particular part drew me in because of the bright coloured text and windows opposite each other. It's a cute corner.
Here's some close ups of what the text says, they're a quite cynical but the quote "Panic drives human herds over cliffs" on the yellow square is my favourite bit.
I don't know what it is but I frickin' love neon lights. I've been contemplating getting a neon flamingo light for my bedroom but they're just waaay too expensive for me at the minute. These two particular pieces are by Bruce Nauman.
I love it when photographs are organised like this.
When I did Fine Art in my first year of college, this famous urinal by Marcel Duhamp was bought up when we were studying what art actually is. It was really cool seeing it in real life.
This was really adorable because they're just staring at an older version of themselves.
For this piece they had several screens and each screen was a different argument for a question that went along the lines of "If you post your art work online does it still belong to you?" It was so fascinating reading the different viewpoints.
It was also really exciting looking at Martin Parr's work as he is one of the photographers who I had used for inspiration for my final photography project at college. I love this sort of stuff.
It's really interesting watching how people react to art. Especially at places like the Tate Modern where the art is so different and unique.
I'd love to give you some context about these last two images but I honestly cannot remember what the story was behind them but they me remind of Neanderthal/monkey-esque creatures.
The next place on my list was the British Museum. I never even knew this existed but I was extremely glad that I went. The building itself is so beautiful inside and out and if I had a lot of time to explore, I could most likely spend an entire lifetime in there.
Look at this beauty.
I have quite an admiration for stuff like the globe and golden details on the clock on the two photographs above. I think they're insanely pretty and I'd fill my entire house with stuff like it if I could.
Whenever I look at a vase like this I always think of the opening scene of Hercules.
When you have your exams 4 weeks and you still haven't revised a single thing.
When you try and act casual when you see your bae.
I actually adore these Greek sculptures, I really wish someone would make one of me.
The boys.
How cute does this father and son look in the sunlight?
I have so many photographs of the British Museum building but they're on my rolls of film that haven't been developed yet (keep your eyes peeled over on my Instagram to see when I post 'London on Film').
The last place I ventured to was Covent Garden which is the perfect place to go on a sunny day. Thankfully, I was blessed with amazing weather when I went last week and I'd definitely be going back there a lot more. It's such a nice place to go with friends and family. It's filled with little market stalls but also a huge variation of shops to fit your every need.
I tripped and almost fell before I took this. I just thought you should know.
There's so many cool acts going on around Covent Garden to keep everyone entertained.
I 100% will be having my lunch here some day.
I'll be posting these photographs plus a lot more over on my Instagram!
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO STAY UPDATED:
Exploring Manchester: Cat Cafe | Zafira
Helloo and welcome to today's post!
I've lived in Manchester my entire life but I've never really had the chance to explore it so I thought, as I explore more of Manchester, I'll document it and write about it on here!
Today, me and friend Britt finally decided to go to the Cat Cafe. Since she loves cat and I have no idea how I feel about them we thought it would be the perfect place to visit. First thing I noticed was how friendly the staff are. I've never felt so at home and welcomed before in my entire life. We only stayed there for about half an hour which came up to the grand total of £6 which is not bad at all considering all drinks are unlimited. It's such a chill and relaxing environment, there's soft music playing in the background and the room is filled with homely furniture that adds to that overall comforting feel.
The cats are basically everywhere doing just about anything but mostly chillin'. It's so lovely to see all these cats with so many different personalities. I think one of the things I was pretty scared about was like a cat jumping onto me or attacking me or something like that just because I've not really had a lot of experience with cats. But I can assure you that nothing like that happened lol, the cats are pretty friendly and won't jump onto you but will come and walk around and near you which is pretty cute.
There's just something in the air whilst you're in there that makes you feel so happy. Me and Britt were almost in tears from happiness whilst we were in there and even after we left. It was such a pleasant experience and will most likely become sort of tradition for us. I think it's perfect for a little get together with friends, dates or just as a stress reliever. I can imagine myself sat in here a lot when exams are going on. It's such a wonderful place and I can't wait to go again!
Here's a few pictures I took today!
I should become a cat photographer.
Not a cat but she might as well be.
Heaven.
Just look how chilled out this angel is, what more could you want in life?
This is Bert, you can follow this qt on Instagram by clicking on the following link:
As you can tell from this, Britt was pretty much crying once we left the place.
Make sure you check out my Instagram for more snaps! 💮
Exploring London: Columbia Road Flower Market | Zafira
Hello!
So my first few blog posts were all about exploring London, it seemed like a really good way to start off my blog and I loved writing about all these new places I had visited and explored. I adore travelling, maybe not the travelling itself but the idea of adventuring around somewhere I have never been always excites me. A couple of weekends ago during my half term holiday, me and my family decided to go to London for the weekend. We have family there so it's always nice to go down and see them and do a bit of wandering around too! This time I revisited Portobello Market which is an absolute beauty of a place but seeing as I've already done a blog post on that I decided to do this post of the Exploring London series on Columbia Road Flower Market. When walking towards where Columbia Road was, you could see people leaving with bunches and bunches of flowers and the hugest grins on their faces and straight away, I knew I would love it there. I entered and I was overwhelmed by the flocks of people as well as the pretty and colourful flowers. It had this amazing atmosphere. I felt a sense of warmth on the inside (shock), it was just the loveliest place ever. I didn't buy any flowers unfortunately mainly because I can barely keep maself alive let alone a flower but if you do go buy some flowers! They've also got the cutest little shops along the sides of the market which are just adorable! Anyway, enjoy the pictures, I'm posting all the pictures I took in my 2 day stay in London over on Instagram (link at the end of the post) and I'll also leave links to all my previous posts in the Exploring London series!
http://zafiraahmed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/london-saatchi-gallery-zafira-ahmed.html
http://zafiraahmed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/london-victoria-and-albert-museum.html
http://zafiraahmed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/london-portobello-market-zafira-ahmed.html
http://zafiraahmed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/london-brick-lane-zafira-ahmed.html
Follow me on social media for more pictures!
A Month In Bangladesh | Zafira
Hi guys and welcome back to my blog!
So during this summer, me and family headed up to Bangladesh to visit family and to also explore the small South Asian country. For me, this was an eye opening journey as I discovered a lot about Bangladesh, it's traditions and the people there. In all honesty, Bangladesh isn't one of the prettiest places in the world at first but you can see the beauty of the country in the people there. What I loved most about Bangladesh was the amount of pride people had in their country and how much they love it. A majority of the people there don't take anything for granted like many of us do in countries like the UK where important factors of life such as education are handed to us on a plate. Last time I went to Bangladesh was about 7 years ago in 2008, I was too young to understand of how much an important holiday it was and how much things would change when I next came back. Bangladesh was very different this time for me, I focused too much on the minorities and things weren't important such as bugs and the fact that it was about 40 degrees and I was melting . The only thing that should have been important was grasping hold and creating memories of what could be one of the last visits to my somewhat home country. ALTHOUGH I was a major fusspot throughout a big quantity of this holiday, I did create a few memories and on here, I'll share a few with ya ;)
ALSO ALSO ALSO, I'd just like to let you know I didn't use a fancy shmancy camera, I only used my small Canon Powershot A2500. It's not got top notch quality but it took decent pictures and was easy to carry around.
I hope you all had a lovely summer and enjoy my pictures!
I'm really really pleased with how these shots and edits came out. I hope you like them! Make sure you follow me on Instagram and Flickr, I post regularly :)
To keep up with what I am doing follow my other social media accounts:
Exploring London: Portobello Market | Zafira
Hi guys and welcome to my blog!
SO we've finally come to the end of the London series. It only took me like 4 months. But anyway, we've reached my final and fave part which is Portobello Market! I'm a huge fan of anything vintage and antique and Portorbello was filled to the brim. I found so many amazing things and everything I saw was just beautiful.
Since we've come to the end of the London series I'd just like to thank my wonderful Auntie Mahmuda for being the best tour guide ever. I can't wait to come back to London and explore more exciting places!
Enjoy and remember to see all the pictures I took at Portobello Market, go visit my Flickr!
To keep up with what I am doing follow my other social media accounts:
Exploring London: Victoria and Albert Museum | Zafira
Hello and welcome to my blog!
Victoria and Albert Museum is the third part of my London series! It is such a pretty place with a range of different arts and designs. I was very intrigued by everything I saw and it is now one of my favourtie places in London. I highly recommend you to visit whenever you are in London.
To see all my pictures of the V&A Museum, head to my Flickr. The link will be at the end of this post :)
Sneaky song 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjPyvoLXPs4
Sneaky song 2 :
Sneaky song 3 :
Sneaky song 4 :
To keep up with what I am doing follow my other social media accounts:
Exploring London: Saatchi Gallery | Zafira
Hello and welcome to my blog!
This post is all about the Saatchi Gallery. It was one of my favourite places that I had ever visited. The art was so beautiful and moving. I also got a lot of inspiration for my own artwork.
*I'm very active now on my Instagram so follow to keep up to date with my blog! Link is the end of this post :)
On with the pictures!
Sneaky song 1:
Sneaky song 2:
Sneaky song 3:
To keep up with what I am doing follow my other social media accounts:
Exporing London : Brick Lane | Zafira Ahmed
Hi guys and welcome to my blog!
So I spent a couple of days in London and took waaaaaaay too many pictures. I've decided to start a 4 part series here on my blog on my adventures in London. So keep up with my blog within the next few weeks as I'll be trying to put them up as soon :)
To see all the pictures head over to my Flickr. The link will be at the end of this post.
Here's a couple sneaky songs I've been loving:
To keep up with what I am doing follow my other social media accounts: