Paris makes me rethink my whole stance on

never wanting to move away from New York.

It's the only other city I've been to that has the kind of charm and swag that's inspiring and up lifting. Even gloomy, rainy days somehow feed into the romance of the landscape. I've really been feelin' it and I'm thrilled that I get to go there a bunch recently. 

I work with Swarovski consistently and their Paris office often have activations and events that need content. They really understand the value video plays into them sharing their story with the world and our partnership is a true collaboration of ideas and vision which makes it even more fun to work with them.   

This couture week they invited me to Paris to create a few really fun videos  

• Backstage and runway of the Alexandre Vauthier show
• The Vogue Gala
• Schiaparelli runway show
• A private viewing of the Swarovski Atelier Fine Jewelry Collection
• Documentation of Swarovski's presence at the 70 Year Anniversary Exhibit at Les Arts Decoratifs

This was a crazy week of non stop work but each project was truly a wonderful experience that I feel blessed to have had. 

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I also was able to check out the Lourve and the Eiffel Tower up close for the first time, ate some of the best sandwiches I've ever had and kept on running into Bella Hadid - to the point where I think its awkward that she hasn't introduced herself to me yet. 

It's fun...its always fun. And I hope I keep coming back here. 

Humai and I have been traveling all over the world meeting incredible people and the best way we can think of sharing these experiences is through a Vlog. This particular series is for HYFN and will focus on stories of South Asians and Muslims in America. For our first episode we went to the middle of the Arizona desert where Humai shot a photo story with our friend Negine frolicking around the beautiful southwestern landscape. 

It's important to continually be working on your craft. Just as athletes train all year around we creatives need to constantly train our eye, go hard when we practice and push ourselves to take creative risks. The purpose of the shoot Humai is doing with Nagine is to tell a story and catch a vibe but more importantly it's to practice photography. To be in a completely unfamiliar landscape creating images that evoke emotion and feel purposeful. To get better with each shoot and walk away having learned something. This is important. 

And for myself this was an exercise in telling a story about a person and their day and also a chance for me to practice shooting with a drone (which is something we just added to our kit and fu*king love it). I'm constantly trying be better at storytelling and figuring out ways to create beautiful content that is engaging and fun to watch. 

Hopefully we will continue to do this with some constancy and as always welcome your feedback and thoughts. 

There isn't much to do in Milan and that's the reason not many people enjoy it but here why I like it: There is so much great architecture everywhere, its beautiful, so the city becomes a great backdrop to shoot street style on. All my Milan videos have a certain for feel to them for this reason.
The 2nd reason is because things slow down a bit once you get to Milan (if you're working all of fashion month) and it's a nice change of pace after London and New York. A break full of stuffing my face with pasta is much needed.

Right after we finished shooting New York Fashion Week, Humai and I hopped on a plane to London. We were scheduled to shoot a few shows for Swarovski and cover street style for HEED. 

Shooting street style quickly became one of the things I love doing the most. There's a playful, game like challenge to it, and it's exciting running around in a foreign city searching for dope style. I'm hooked, hopefully I'll be doing a lot more of this. 

Here are the two videos I shot while I was out there.

...next up Milan.

There are a lot of new people following my work so I'll start with a short intro. 

I breathe and create in New York City, spending my days telling stories with visuals. I create bite-sized pieces of photo and video content to help brands engage with their audiences on social media. Lately I've been working a lot in the fashion space and over the last year have shot fashion weeks in NY, London, Milan, Paris, Tokyo and Berlin...it's been insane. I'll go more into detail on this whole journey in another post but that's all you need to know to be caught up. 

This season started with New York Fashion Week and one of my projects was to create street style videos for @NYFW. I was hype, I love shooting these videos. even though we kicked the week off with a blizzard and had a few rainy days I still really loved the way these came together. 

I'll continue to roll out content here and if you have any comments or questions feel free to contact me directly atifateeq@gmail.com.

If you're interested in seeing the videos that I'm currently working on please check out my Instagram, thats where I post in real time.

I traveled the world. Went all the way around it. Something I always dreamed of.

I gave everything a taste, not saying no to anything.

I did some of my best work. Video content truly became king and I came through with some good ideas.

I embraced every opportunity. Walked through every door with confidence. And started a conversation with anyone I wanted to.

We created HYFN as a side project but it quickly became a huge part of our lives. We met the most amazing individuals that inspire me every single day.

I went to Portugal and for the first time didn't feel the color of my skin or the hair on my face. I truly felt people were colorblind there. I realized that even in New York I'm subtly but constantly reminded of my appearance as being the other.

I met some of the smartest people in the world on a 4 night cruise who made me gain more perspective.

I found that I've always played being the black sheep in the room to my advantage.

I constantly tried to be the light in my wife's life who went through the loss of her mother

I fell apart.

I worked hard on patience, empathy and calmness.

I struggled to be a better son but was a pretty good sibling.

I fought a losing battle with fitness. Going to the gym was the worst part of my day.

I wrote down every idea I had, no matter how big or small.

I found my groove.

I danced every chance I got.

I became closer to myself. Understanding just a little bit more of what this whole thing is about.

I became an influencer.

I bought a Kindle and reconnected with books.

I made twice as much money as I did last year.

I fell in love with Paris. I fell in love with Tokyo.

I realized that I'm going to move away from New York at some point overseas.

I lost a friend.

I became friends with the people I look up to.

I met somebody I admired and totally blew it due to awkwardness.

The camera took me to incredible places I could have never gone on my own.

I went to Mexico City, Porto, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Bali, Amsterdam, Austin, Phoenix, Miami, Vegas and Los Angeles.

I made so many hats and I wore even more.

I let go of the fear of missing out.

I went out less. I partied less.

I dined more and drank fine wine more.

I hung out with fashion royalty.

I felt energy.

I spread pyaar.

I went to therapy.

I drove a lambo.

I watched A LOT of TV.

I listened to Future wayyy too much.

I bought Alexa and it completely changed the way I interact with my space at home.

I got a massage for the first time.

I started the process of building my first real office.

I decided what's next and will announce it soon.

I gave it everything I got.

I worked harder than I've ever worked.

I wanted to do it all and somehow managed to do all of it.

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Thank you all for your warmth and encouragement. Thank you for cheering my ideas on. To all my clients and collaborators, thank you for supporting my work and believing in my vision. I look forward to going even harder in 2017. Good luck to you all!

With so much love,
Atif

I was offered an incredible opportunity to create a film document the making of the Oscars stage for Swarovski. (wow, even typing that sentence is a bit surreal). Jobs like these really challenge me and push me to do my best. And at the end of it I'm humbled and it further strengthens my belief in telling stories. The camera takes me amazing places and gives me experiences I would never be able to have, and this is why I keep doing what I do.

Shot and edited by me. 
Music by @amaadbhatti

My homie Brain Trunzo just opened Carson Street, a beautiful menswear store in SOHO. Last night was the opening and took the OSMO with me to shoot a few visuals, I ended up filming a bunch and cut together this little recap. 

Go check out Carson Street at 20 Greene Street, NYC. 

Never did I think I would end up at Madison Square Garden shooting the Professional Bull Riding Competition. They contacted me and told me they wanted me to shoot this competition in the same style I shoot fashion shows. It kind of made sense, both live shows, high energy, everything time sensitive and fast paced - without hesitation I signed up to do it. Such a great experience.