Who am I?

Recently, we attended an interesting blogging workshop presented by Sheena Gates and were asked to describe who we are.

Well, let’s start with the physical me. I’m just about 1.5m tall (or short), have brown eyes and reddish brown hair (which more often than not you will not see as I wear a scarf). I wear a scarf because I am Muslim and am required to do so. Mind you this is no form of oppression and I have found the beauty in wearing my headscarf.

I can be seen to be very quiet or reserved, but make no mistake as dynamite comes in small packages. I love deep-thinking and often think I’m odd because of it, but in retrospect as the saying goes “I was born to stand out”. Whether I’m an outcast or seen as strange, I frankly don’t care. I live my life to enjoy it and not to impress. So I have my own sense of style (however plain that may be) and love being different.

Besides being different, I love being unpredictable. I have a secret need for speed and cannot wait to own a Honda CBR Fireblade; the roar of that engine has my heart racing. I also enjoy photography and seem to have a nack in taking beautiful images, if I may say so myself. I often assist my father in his wedding photography business. I am too, a slight feminist, especially for Muslim women; as I believe that the image of a Muslim woman as has unfortunately been misrepresented world-wide. I truly believe that I can be the voice to these women and share the beauty of what Islam is al about.

That, in a nutshell, is who I am.

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

Jump. I’m imagining a tall, thin wooden pole with a platform barely the size of an A4.

We can plan and strategise on how to get down. We can bend down slowly, grip each side of the pole and ease our way down until the bottom or we can tie a rope to the top of the pole and try a wall-climbing approach down. Whatever we strategise, there is one thing that remains constant, the goal to get down.

So why play it safe, you only have one chance. Jump and take a risk, an adventure where the outcome is unpredictable. You could land safely and continue on your daily life or you could break a leg and have a story to tell. Either way you walk (or limp) away knowing you tried something other than the norm. You found adventure and felt the adrenalin rush.

Life is quite like the 100-foot pole. So “Carpe Diem” - Seize the moment and grab all opportunities with both hands, make the most of it and importantly enjoy it because you only have one chance.

Is Shakespeare that difficult?

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

I have a brother, currently in grade 11, who despises the mere thought of having to sit and read Macbeth. He hasn't done too well with his latest English mark and blames Shakespeare for that; and he received a good shouting at too. He switches off at the sound of me attempting to explain the beauty of the language Shakespeare uses.

So what is it that makes Shakespeare so difficult, because I clearly do not see it? Could it perhaps be the teenage tendency of a rebellious attitude? Or maybe it is this technology age we're living in, where anything in the form of a book is not cool? Could it be that it's not as exciting as Die Hard or Inception? (Which is ironic because most genre themes of action, love and comedy originated from our dear Shakespeare's plays

Please could you tell me because I just don't understand!

We are what we do

I am a photographer. That's who I am, and I am what I do.

Photographers' are known to be free-spirited, imaginative and creative. I love photography because it allows me to explore all of the above. I can explore and imagine the world, or even smaller object, through the lens, creating my perspective of the image I see. My passion for photography allows me to be a completely different person, away from the daily me.

I do however have a preference in the photos I take. I like detail, the organisational trait in me, where any simple object can be defined by a minute aspect. This intricate beadwork in lace on this stunning wedding dress for example.

Raisa Hathey for Riaz Hathey Photography

Then, I enjoy those romantic moments that tell a story, as the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words". These images I capture are intended to be breath-taking, allowing the viewer to be in awe or speechless whilst knowing the tale behind it.

Raisa Hathey for Riaz Hathey Photography

Lastly, I utterly love seizing those precious seconds of oblivion, where the object (usually an inanimate object) is completely unaware and soaked up in their thoughts and actions. I try to portray the beauty of natural movement. Often these are the moments that take precedence over any other picture.

Raisa Hathey for Riaz Hathey Photography



Death on Social Media

Is it appropriate to share the death of a loved one on these social networks? Well, we share birthdays, engagements, weddings and every other possible occasion in our lives so why not death?

I was recently thrown into total disbelief when I was invited to a Facebook group called “In loving memory of…” I was invited in the early hours of the morning and did not quite take note of what this group was all about. Now when invited on a FB group, any post/change to the group is emailed to you, so as you can imagine my inbox was flooded emails of confusion, disbelief and condolences.

I then decided to have a look at what was going on. The person said to have died created the group. Confusion ran wild through posts and comments and seemed to cause a lot of stress. Luckily having recognized a “mutual friend” I discovered that it was indeed the person mentioned and who’s profile it was had in actual fact passed on. It was his brother who had created the group almost immediately after his death.

But, is this morally correct, to spread such devastating and heart-breaking news on a means of social networking?