Last week I had the honour of photographing the opening of Naela Chohan’s art exhibition here in Ottawa called ‘Art from the Heart.’  For those of you who don’t know Naela Chohan, she is the Deputy High Commissioner for Pakistan, here in Ottawa.  The art exhibit was held to raise awareness of issues and challenges affecting 21st century women.  It was launched at  Rothwell Gallery to a full house with dignitaries from the Canadian government, Canadian-Pakistani’s and several Ambassadors and diplomat officials here in Ottawa.  ’Art from the Heart’ was inaugurated by Laureen Harper, wife of the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

This event was held to raise awareness and funds for the displaced women of Swat in Pakistan.  As you all know, last month I was also fundraising for the displaced people of Swat with my ‘Portraits for Charity‘ and all the money that I raised was distributed to displaced Widows of Swat so that they could set up means to earn a living.  The theme of this exhibition was Pakistani women in Canada supporting the displaced women of Swat - these recurring characteristics played a dominant role in bringing Naela Chohan, Rehana Mufti and myself together for this event.  Naela Chohan, as the artist; Rehana Mufti, as the Gallery Owner; and myself as the Photographer - all unified by our roots and our desire to support a common cause.

Click here to read an article that was published on East Ottawa.ca

Clieck here to view and download pictures from the event.

Below are a a few images from the Launch of ‘Art from the Heart’

I had the privelage of being the official photographer for the first annual South Asian Festival  took place at Confederation Park in the heart of Ottawa!  Thousands of people attended despite the few spells of rain we received! A big thanks to all the organizers for doing a flawless job at organizing this event, all the vendors for not only the amazing goods and services but also for opening up their booths to let people stand in the shelter while it poured on the grounds! The Volunteers for doing an amazing job at keeping on top of everything! and the biggest shout out goes to all those who attended! It was definitely an unforgettable day and it wouldn’t have been half as fun if you guys didn’t come out to show your support!

Now a little about the festival - There was such a wide variety of performances all day. One of the earlier performances was the ‘Atan’  by The Afghan Student Association. Atan is a traditional dance where everyone dances in a circle to the beat of the dhol & shehnai.  Just Wow!  There were two stunning performances of the Snake Dance from Sri Lanka.  Very soothing beats of Calypso performed by Sri Lankan groups.  Of course lots of Bollywood dance numbers and Bhangra teams and a whole lot of others!  Prita was the last perfomer for the day…she is such an  amazing singer and the fact that she’s South Asian is super! She’s so down to earth and was just great at getting everyone dancing to her songs.  The evening wrapped up with the DJ mixing some amazing bhangra and bollywood beats.

I can promise you that this Festival is going to only get bigger and better! See you all next year!

To view all the pictures from the South Asian Festival. Please go to:

www.amnahakim.com > portfolio > clients > Events: South Asian Festival   [You can download pictures from there.  If you want prints or high resolution files, feel free to send me an email.]

In the meanwhile enjoy some of my favourite shots below followed by a slideshow.

A few of the Afghani Dancers. I love their clothes! They are sooooooo lovely!

Prita performing one of her awesome songs.

The crowd having an amazing time.

This is what happens when it rains buckets..no one wants to leave..so everyone just waits for it to stop raining…! hehe

and when it stops raining..it’s like nothing ever happened! hahaha we’re back to enjoying ourselves!

Now the slideshow:

I’m so excited for this Saturday becuase I’m going to be Photographing a fantastic event that will be taking place in Confederation Park in Ottawa! The South Asian Festival is going to be a one of a kind event and it’s going to be so much fun..lots of performances all day - vendors, stalls and amazing food!

So make sure you come out and show some support! and dont forget to come say hi to me! I’ll be the one with the camera… 

July 18, 2009 - 11am - 8pm - Free Admission - Confederation Park - info@southasianfestival.org

For the performance schedule and other details - please visit www.southasianfestival.org

I’m heading to Toronto tomorrow to do my secret celebrity shoot - I am so ecstatic that I can’t contain my excitement. But until I can spill more details..I’m going to blog about a super cool portrait session that I did.

Meet Charaya! She’s such an amazing person and such a happy-go-lucky girl! She’s got the most infectious smile that you can’t help but smile with her! I decided to do her portraits at Union Station in Toronto - The architecture of that building is just breathtaking so I couldn’t think of a more appropriate place for such a breath taking person!

Below are a few (okay…a lot!) of my  favourites from the session - enjoy these and don’t forget to leave me some love.