Zafira Ahmed 7/28/21 Zafira Ahmed 7/28/21

June & July on Film | Zafira

Hey everyone!

I’m back with one of my favourite types of posts to do one here … A monthly film dump!

It’s summer, and I couldn’t be happier. The sun’s out, I’m finally turning a nice golden shade of brown and most of all, I’ve reunited with my friends and family again for a summer of fun after nearly 2 years apart.

There was a lot going on these past 2 months but it’s been a joy getting back to some sort of normality.

Here’s my June & July on film!

REDOING MY BEDROOM

I graduated and turned 21 in June and July and my room needed a well overdue makeover. The last time it had been painted was when I was around 13 and being the avid clothes collector/hoarder I am, I just needed more practical clothing storage solutions.

As you can see, I decided to paint my room white. I’ll try and post a room tour or some pictures of my new room soon if that’s something you’d like to see?

I turned 21 in June which was more of a shock than excitement. I feel like I’m still 13 sometimes, I can’t believe how old I’m getting. Thank you to my favourite cousin Zahrah for my lovely birthday balloon! It’s surprisingly still floating a little over a month later.

Also how cute is my new rug from Wayfair?! I will definitely be taking more shoe pics on it very soon.

I posted a blue eyeshadow look over on my IG a few weeks ago because it’s been my go to look recently. Blue eyeshadow and brown eyes are the perfect combo and I feel so 60s anytime I put it on.

In the middle is a very blurry picture of a polaroid of me and my cousins when I saw them for the first time since the lockdown in March 2020 which was so crazy, I’ve missed my family so much and it’s the biggest blessing to be seeing everyone again.

A SHOOT WITH MARIA

I’ve started shooting again!

I did a shoot with my friend Maria in June with the cutest baby blue backdrop. I’m not as comfortable using backdrops as I used to be so it was more of a little experimental, play around kind of shoot which are my favourite kinds. Look how amazing she looks!

You can check out all the pictures from the shoot here:

a shoot with maria

Alpaca Farm

On the hottest day of the summer, me and my cousins ended up at Adventurous Alpacas in Rossendale Valley. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done even though I’m not the biggest animal fan and I was quite scared but these alpacas were adorable and not scary at all.

You get these little bags of food and you get to feed and stroke them (if they let you lol) and take some cute pics.

This is Alfonzo with the pretty blue eyes.

NJ looking like she belongs in the countryside.

It’s such a lovely family activity to do during the summer! We all had so much fun hanging out the alpacas.

That’s my film dump over! Let me know what your favourite pictures were and follow my socials for updates for some very very cool things happening in the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for reading,

Zafira Ahmed 11/14/20 Zafira Ahmed 11/14/20

October & November on Film | Zafira

Hi!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done one of these monthly film posts but I haven’t been shooting as much film as I would like to. With lockdown it’s been difficult to get my film developed at my regular spots and also, I don’t have anything exciting to shoot anymore. My life is officially boring.

However these photographs were shot in the little period of time during the beginning of October. When things were slowly on the path to feeling normal again and we were reuniting with friends and family. Little did we know we’d be in yet another lockdown just a few weeks after.

Anyway, enough with the doom and gloom. I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves and staying safe. Here’s a few photographs that will hopefully brighten your day.

I think growing up I never realised how exceptionally lucky I was to grow up around so many people who used to sew. I used to watch my grandma sew, my aunts and of course, my Amma. Now that I’m older I’ve found a little soft spot for sewing. Everyone knows I love clothes but the effort and time that goes into making them is an art in itself that many people don’t appreciate.

This past year I’ve made the time to teach myself how to sew, mainly from random Youtubers and just doing whatever feels right and what I’ve seen my Amma do. I’m not exactly what you’d call an organised sewer lol but there’s nothing more satisfying than wearing something you’ve made with your own two hands.

I’ve made a few things this year but recently I worked on this green dress. It’s not completely finished yet but I adore it so much. These past few months I keep seeing pictures of Gwyneth Paltrow in various shades of green and all it’s done is make me fall in love with the colour. I’ll try and make a post about this dress when I finish it completely over on my Instagram.

And just like that, eating out is once again a myth. A distant memory of something we once did so freely.

Earlier this October, I did manage to eat out once with my favourite cousin (sorry 2 the rest of my cousins) who I hadn’t seen since before the first lockdown earlier this March. It was so nice catching up with her.

We grabbed some lunch at one of our favourite places to eat, Comptoir Libanis. This is the one in Spinningfields and it’s so pretty inside as you can see from my poorly shot blurry photograph of the place. It’s literally one of the most stunning places to lunch. The food is amazing too.

What would these monthly film posts be without some shots of the city?

Here’s my friend Matt and his sleeping puppy Bear.

This is my favourite autumn outfit at the minute. The skirt is from Cow and my cardigan with the little birdies is from Zara! I don’t think it’s available anymore sadly but Zara has such a cute collection of cardigans this season.

And of course, uni was in full swing in October so I loved being reunited with my uni pals again!

And lastly, here’s some more pictures of Manchester looking gloomy and unusually quiet on a cold and breezy Monday afternoon.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. Thanks for reading!

Zafira Ahmed 1/23/20 Zafira Ahmed 1/23/20

January on Film | Zafira

Hey!

January has lasted a good 3 years or that’s honestly what it’s felt like. It’s been a quiet month. I think like a lot of people, I’ve been trying to get my life back on track a little bit after almost a month off uni. I’m happy to be back into my usual schedule though and also happy to see what this year has to offer!

Here’s my January on film:

For the past few weeks, I’ve been adoring this little spot in my parents room. It’s on top of my mum’s dresser, a spot where she keeps a vintage jewellery box, her perfume, a mirror and a spinny bangle holder (not pictured). I think it might be the way it looks when the sun starts to set or the way an immense amount of light shines through no matter what the weather. It’s just very pretty.

Pictured here is an & Other Stories Perfume I got my mum for her birthday which I occasionally steal a spritz or two of and my favourite favourite & Other Stories lipstick that has most definitely been loved.

We spent Christmas and Boxing Day in London this year compared to our usual family shindig in Birmingham so we could visit some family. I took this somewhere in Whitechapel on Boxing Day. Honestly I think it’s kinda disgusting. There’s nothing I hate more than pigeons.

Here I am dressed like I’m cosplaying Shrek in this funky green silky dress from none other than Zara. I love this dress however, I hate wearing it because it creases instantly. I am also wearing some vibrant green eye shadow that you can barely see. I have my massive vintage coat from Headlock Vintage on too which everyone seems to hate but I am completely smitten with it. My personal tutor at university actually asked if I picked this coat of a skip which was very nice of him.

I was going to do this whole “only buy two things a month” thing but it’s now the end of January and once again, my wardrobe doors are incapable of closing without an aggressive shove.

These dreamy babies were a little bit of an impulsive buy from ASOS but my god are they beautiful. I love Mary Janes. They’re probably my all-time favourite style of shoe. These are plain black and velvet and pretty much match everything in my wardrobe.

As I said, this whole “only buy two things a month” thing did not go well whatsoever.

I’ve been quite in love with various shades of green for a while now which is strange because I used to hate the colour green. I think it’s incredibly flattering on brown-ier skin tones.

This blazer style corduroy jacket is from TK Maxx but is from a brand called Y.A.S that I know nothing about other than they are expensive are sold on ASOS. This jacket was originally £80 however because TK Maxx is a literal heaven on earth, this jacket only cost me £14.99. Bargain of the year.

Considering I’ve lived in Manchester my entire life, I don’t think I’ve ever been to the Whitworth Gallery.

It’s an incredibly pretty building, not only from the outside but the inside too. It’s so open and bright and I think this might be my new favourite place in Manchester. They’ve also got the most aesthetically pleasing cafe that’s lined with tall window after tall window (there’s a little snippet of it on the smaller pic).

I don’t even know where to begin with these cheeky babies. They both came over a few days ago and were causing chaos left, right and centre. They gave each other makeovers with some pretty pink lipstick, made me draw everyone and everything ever possible, ate of course (their fave activity) and both took turns drinking from my water bottle/cup in this picture.

Thanks for reading!

It’s been wild watching these two grow up the past 2 years.

Lots of love,

Zafira 11/9/18 Zafira 11/9/18

October (and a bit of November) on Film | Zafira

Hi!

I'm back with my film series! This is probably my favourite thing to post on here just because I love looking back at everything I've done at the end of each month.

October was a bit of a weird one, I feel like it was so eventful but I only remember picking up my camera a handful of times. I was feeling a bit meh towards my photography work recently so this roll of film was a bit of a struggle to get through. It ended up being in my camera for over a month which is completely unlike me. Anyway, I had a good mope about it and now I feel a lot better. I'm also looking forward to doing so many new projects very very very soon! I switched up my film this month so if things are looking slightly different than usual then it's because I used the famous Kodak Porta 400 which I bought for waaay too much.

(also how weird is it that in literally 2 months, it will 2019. wtf.)

I started off October with a shoot with my favourite model Hannah. I stupidly started a new roll right towards the end of our shoot so I had to wait until I had filled up my roll which like I mentioned earlier, took forever.

Since I not only live in Manchester but go to uni here too, it's impossible for me not to snap a pic here and there of the pretty city scenes it has to offer. It's so amazing seeing it how it changes through the seasons.

This is my friend Vicky. We had a bit of a flashback Mary moment but it's okay, she's still cute.

My outfit was inspired by Rachel Berry from Glee lol.

Sorry for taking bad pics of you Vicky.

I walk past this everyday and I've never realised how beautiful it is, especially in autumn.

I'm trying so much more to photograph strangers because despite being told to stay away and never speak to them, they're actually quite interesting people.