containing us

He said the world could only be known as it existed in men’s hearts. For a while it seemed a place which contained men, it was in reality a place contained within them and therefore to know it one must look there and come to know those hearts, and to do this one must live with men and not simply pass among them.  - C. McCarthy, The Crossing

here are some "polaroids" [aka fuji instax] shots that i took recently on our way to malibu. we hiked up this beautiful hill and found this golden paradise all to ourselves. it seriously felt like i was dreaming, like heaven on earth - to be so surrounded by such awesome beauty, such innocent and unassuming perfection. we were so pumped to be there, i'll never forget being on a hillside surrounded by yellow.

then i went home and sneezed a lot. 

fiona + bobby - 35mm pre-ceremony portraits

so the thing is, i've been blessed in my life with loads of sisters, by blood, by deep friendship & through marriage. i cannot even express to you how proud, grateful and over the moon i am about my newest, most beautiful sister, fiona.

my brother in law, bobby and fiona got married on a spectacular friday afternoon outside of malibu in a canyon. while i wasn't the hired photographer for the day, i of course shot with my beloved 35mm camera to provide fiona & bobby with these shots of their wedding day. all the shots were taken pre-ceremony and i adore each of them.

i hope these photos will in some ways, tide over the masses who are eagerly awaiting the amazing photographs by their hired wedding photographer, michael segal. i am so happy for fiona & bobby, and selfishly for baktash & i, as we now have another amazingly loving family to call our own.

raddest signage ever

that dress!! a girl after my own heart !

bobby + fiona portraits

the bride & lindsay

now that's a sharp looking couple, right there.

beauty.

fiona's radiant cousin kalinz + her daughter

right after the first look

the aazami brothers + bride

ADORE this shot - stunning bride & light

yeah, YOU!

one of my favorite shots of fi.

bobby + his boys

the sassy bride

the couple's first home! [small joke]

the baybeez before ceremony

right before ceremony

// CONGRATS TO THE SWEET COUPLE!!! ALL MY LOVE. XXXO.

> hey, dear readers, i know you've been following my blog for a while now, and i would love for you to also follow my photography facebook page - layli samimi photography. if you haven't already "liked" the page, please do so and pass on to your friends & family! 

luckyducky

this has been an awesome month full of my most treasured beloveds coming to visit LA. i am the luckiest duckiest around. here are two portraits i took in the last couple days, of 2 of my most treasured people:

SSM

WLR

we can all always use a laugh till we cry moment.

geeeeeeez, i just about DIED looking at these photos from this winter in israel. i laughed so hard i think i woke up the neighbors.

we had gone to the beach in atlit, israel to go for a walk and to shoot some footage for a birthday video that we made for my mom. that is why she isn't in any of these photos. and obviously, it looks like we got a little sidetracked.

melancholia // israel film shots, part IV

i gasped once i got these shots developed. i mean, they are so unusual to me...the darkness, the moodiness of it all, especially in places like the Baha'i Holy Land. i feel like these photos capture what i feel to be a huge surreal-ness to the environment there. most of the photos we see of the Shrines and the Gardens are always so beautifully colorful, so bright and bold and cheerful.

i will always say, as long as i live, that there is something so powerful and HUGE about the world when its grey, and dark and raining. it's like another layer of depth to things at times, it allows people to let down, open up, and take a moment to reflect, or allow themselves to feel those at heavier, harder emotions [which, by the way, are just as valid to feel and express as the light ones, like joy and gratitude ; it's just a balance right], [a dear mentor of mine shared with me this beautiful, totally truthful quote by a physician in the early 1900's, i believe: "if one doth not let the tears fall, the body will find other places to cry"].

some of you might disagree, that walking around with an umbrella in your nice clothes is a drag. i quite like it. it's very good to expose yourself to the elements, and there is some sort of romantic nature about it, some wonder.

most of these shots were taken on a day where it was raining so hard, then it started hailing. we were waiting under the roof of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, to find a clearing in the straight-up-torrential- downpour to walk back to the Pilgrim house. when we found a bit of a clearing, we went for it, even though others were still waiting for the rain and storm to disappear.

call me an alaskan rainforest girl ... that i love my melancholic moods and my stormy skies...call it what you will, but there is so much magic to it, for sure.

i HAVE to go on record and say that this is one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE-EVER PHOTOS. of two of my most treasure people.

do you like being out in the rain and the storm? if so, what is your favorite thing about it?