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:

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,

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!

The Last of Summer on Film | Zafira

Hey guys!

And just like that it’s autumn. I haven’t done one of these ‘On Film’ posts in forever because my life midst this whole Corona business has just not been worth shooting on film so I took a little bit of a break. But I’m back at uni, back to doing things that require leaving my house so I’ve started shooting again.

Here are a few shots from the end of summer and this September that I hope you’ll like. This roll had a light leak so a few of my shots look a bit glitchy but I kind of love how that looks.

This is my very beautiful friend Britt who I used to shoot on film all the time when we were at college together. But we barely have time to see each other these days because we’re so busy. We had a very cute day out to Heaton Park towards of the end of summer and hung out and it was just like old times.

Some more shots at Heaton Park. I hadn’t been there for years I forgot how lovely it is to walk around.

I can’t entirely remember when I took this but the sunset was something else this day. I love the way the sunlight reflects on the white walls in my parents room in the prettiest shade of orange.

These bags were incredibly popular this year and it’s so wild to me because as kid, I used to get one of these bags every time someone in our family would go to Bangladesh. So when I see brands like Shrimps selling these for hundreds of pounds, it kind of makes me feel a bit weird because it feels almost extortionate.

As much as I love Shrimps, I do have a few issues with someone of the things they sell but that’s a story for another day.

This bag along with a few others like it were kindly made for me in Bangladesh and I think they’re so pretty.

As you can tell, here is the point in my roll where a light leak formed. I actually really love when this happens and you get the orange/red colours at the top of your photographs. I wear this outfit pretty much every summer and I adore it.

A few shots from the city.

I think this was my first day properly back in the city since March so I really enjoyed just walking around and taking a few snaps of places I walk by everyday.

This canal shot is my favourite shot on this entire roll because usually, this little nook hiding the canal on Oxford Road looks quite grimy and gross but on this particular day, the sunlight was hitting the water so perfectly. It was so serene.

What would a roll be without a shot of this cat that isn’t ours? We’re no longer friends because I was quite viciously scratched a few weeks ago whilst trying to stroke it.

This is my friend Tarek looking the coolest in Piccadilly Gardens. (sorry for being half an hour late, i hope this makes up for it)

I took these when I was shooting my uni lookbook which you can check out here if you haven’t already. Some very cute fits.

I’m starting to get back into the swing of shooting often again so there’ll be more of these soon.

Thanks for reading!

February on Film | Zafira

Hi!

I have probably one of the most exciting and adventurous ‘On Film’ posts for you today because February has been a roller coaster of a month and I’ve adored it.

It’s been a pretty amazing month and here it all is photographed on a roll (or two) of Kodak Ultramax.

We begin this month miserably living my life at uni which I don’t know how, but was extra boring this semester.

Here’s Victoria looking very happy at the Whitworth Art Gallery which if you saw last month’s ‘On Film’, then you’d know that it’s become of my favourite places to hang out.

Me, Victoria and Divine were all ‘coincidentally’ matching in our funky boiler suits one lovely Media Law & Regulation 2 hour lecture.

Then we roll around to 14th February, the day of lurrrrrve and also, the first day of London Fashion Week! It was truly one of the best things I’ve ever been to, even though most of it was spent hanging out in the rain. The man is the funky 70’s esque blazer is my fashion icon, he’s called Hassani and you can follow him here.

You can also see all my non-film fashion week pictures here.

I loved seeing all these different and unique looks, it gave me a looot of inspo for my wardrobe and also an idea of what a lot of people are into wearing.

That girl’s eyelashes were stunning and I loved her bright blue beanie!

Red for spring is well and truly in. It’s never a colour I ever think to wear because it’s quite bold but seeing people in full-on red outfits such as this lovely lady or with little hints of red has made me question the lack of it in my own wardrobe.

This outfit gives me big Twin Peaks vibes.

You can follow the guy in the two red hats (iconic) here.

Told you, red is in.

The headband gives me 80’s workout vibes and I’m living for it.

You might see this photographer in the green coat a lot in these pictures, his name is Alex Amoros who very kindly photographed me in the rain. You can see the very surprisingly pretty portrait of me over on my Instagram.

Here’s another kind man in a red hat as well as a little old me in front of Somerset House with my yellow umbrella.

I read somewhere that Somerset Home was once the home to most London Fashion Week shows so I thought I’d pay a little visit since the building is so incredibly beautiful.

These shots are a little shaky if you couldn’t tell lol since my hands were frozen due to Storm Ciara or Dennis or Jorge or whoever was blowing vast gusts of winds right in my face.

One of my favourite things to do in general but especially in London is to go to museums and art galleries. This is the National Portrait Gallery which I think I’ve been to quite a couple of times now but the building itself is so stunning.

I love seeing different types of art, especially paintings of portraits of people and the way they had been captured oh so many years ago.

I’m also quite partial to a bit of people watching in places like this lol.

I also spent this month sewing quite a bit. I successfully made this top which was the biggest pain the butt, mainly because the last time I had really used a sewing machine was during textiles in Year 9.

I’ll have to do a separate blog post featuring a few things I’ve made recently but this top is made out of a scarf for one of my older Asian dresses. I’ve loved up-cycling loads of my older clothes to make more trendy or modern pieces.

Thanks for checking this post out!

Lots of love,

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,