About Me

My journey all started as a young kid in the 80's with my Dad. My father, Ebrahim, was fond of taking family portraits and filming short family videos with his 8mm camera. For Stills he used a Voigtlander 35mm camera. I would sit for hours watching him splice and put film rolls together creating these magical family videos that we could not wait to watch on his projector. My Dad was brilliant at sketching too. His eye for detail always amazed me and he would often sit and explain his process to me. He was a perfectionist. Meticulous in everything he did. I can thank him for planting that creative seed in me, and from where it has since flourished. Growing up I would use most of my spare money to purchase gear and photobooks, visiting book and camera shops. These were my candy stores. I remember a holiday in Singapore with my parents in the 80’s, where my Dad purchased my very own camera, my first. It was a Mamiya with added lenses, complete with a bag and accessories. Unfortunately, with the cost of film, trial and error was a costly luxury. Learning how to use my camera properly was the only option. I have always been self-taught and constantly learning, whether through videos or books. So much to learn and not enough time. It has taken me hours, days and months of research, attending seminars, chatting to pro-photographers with a wide variety of styles and genres. Fine art photography is my goal. The road ahead is like a grape vine that could easily lead you to so many different paths, each one as interesting as the next. Photography is a lifetime of learning. Bitten by the photography and the Art bug at a young age, it has been “In My Blood” ever since. I would shoot family functions gaining more experience; I ventured into professional wedding photography about 15 years ago. Inspired by pro-photographers like Jerry Ghionis, Cliff Mautner, Joe McNally and Scott Kelby amongst many others, I learned priceless tips and tricks that helped groomed my own personal style. In the late 90s, experience working as a Product Manager for an I.T company that sold DTP software was a blessing in disguise. I got familiar with the Adobe suite of software and the likes very quickly; the same went for hardware such as Apple. This was a huge advantage in the world of photography and editing. I was at the forefront of cutting-edge technology during that time. Years later, I started testing various software products to design my own photo books and instead of using standard templates, I started creating my own, with my own unique page layouts. Although wedding photography kept me very busy, I experimented with many other genres too. My daughter Raisa and son Mikhail would often accompany me on wedding shoots being my second and third shooter. As my personal portfolio started growing, I begun enjoying landscape, black and white portraits and street photography. I quickly became a photo nerd carrying my camera everywhere I go. Wedding photography helped me compose and shoot quickly, training my eye to capture those memorable moments that could change in a split second. Now I enjoy capturing daily life, slices of time, all while working towards my goal to sell my portfolio of fine art pieces. Thank you for visiting my page and peeking through the lens of Riaz Hathey Photography! “The richest amongst us are those that never stop learning” (Riaz Hathey).