Last week, against my better judgement, I left the house in the middle of the long Eid weekend. It was for a good cause though: food! Or to be specific, a joint birthday celebration for Myrene and her son, Johann. Don’t these guys look cute together?


Earlier that week, we had a little celebration in the office for Myrene. This cake is living proof, well it was until the team polished it off.

Birthdays in the office are always a fun affair. This one was a joint celebration too for Myrene and Ashan. So we had 2 cakes! Yay!

It was the first time we went to Discovery Gardens, but before that we saw Cats and Dogs 2 at the Ibn Battuta Mall and had a light lunch there too. I brought my camera of course which meant there was an impromptu photo shoot.  Excuse the messy hair, I didn’t bother dressing up either since I was only there for the food.

The photo shoot was minus all the high tech gear that DARE have. I just used my trusty Speedlite and the generous off-white walls of Myrene’s building hall.  I admit and have long ago realised that I do not know how to direct people on how to pose.  I just point and shoot and let them work.  I’ve had some great photos from models who know how to play with the camera, but when you have a large group of people thrown in, it gets a little bit more difficult.  Thank God, Myrene was such a trooper!

These three, of course, will never be away from the camera. Juvy surprised us with her new hairstyle, which she did all by herself and with the help of two beavers, a pen knife, a shard of broken glass and maybe even a half-eaten packet of crisps. Talk about the ultimate female McGyver!

Myrene’s friends were all great, they posed on demand and were awesome sports.  I would love to do a proper photo shoot with this lot again.

See what I mean?  I think they can do real damage when thrown in a room with lots of props to play with.  And lots of outfit changes plus some out-of-this-world make up and hair styles.

The birthday boy was not to be left out of course!  He’s a shy little thing but he did let me take photos.  I love this one the best because it’s candid and turned out really crisp.

And then it was time to get the cakes out.  But first a random group shot with friends.

And then Johann’s turn to blow out the candle on his 1st birthday cake.

And then Mommy’s turn.  Excuse the noisy photo, the flash didn’t fire properly, or I must have set it wrong so I compensated by adjusting it in Lightroom.  Terrible terrible end result but the birthday girl had to have a photo with her cake.  Awesome brownie cake by the way!

Happy birthday again, Myrene and Johann!  Until next year ha?