Family – Farook Khan Blog

Green Valley Falls Hike

Monday, 30 May 2011, 3:49pm

Green Valley Falls Hike! I was able to visit my family in California a few weeks ago and while I was there my mom organized a hike through her hiking club. We went to the Green Valley Falls which are essentially in the backyard where I grew up. A short drive down the road from my parents house you have these beautiful hills and this fantastic trail.

The trail and valley are owned by the city of Vallejo and they restrict access year round granting occasional authorized and guided hikes. The falls are just outside the city of Fairfield out toward Cordila off of Green Valley Road. Those are the hills that separate Fairfield and Solano County from the Napa Valley.

The trail was only a few miles round trip and there is a slight elevation change. We were lucky to go in the first part of May after a pretty wet spring so the falls were full of water and the vegetation was very lush. We had to watch out for poison oak and there were lots of birds, butterflies and other animals during our hike.

I have included a few pictures that I took while we were hiking. They were taken with my Nikon D300 and the first three were five or seven exposure bracketed and then merged to HDR. The last image is of my sister, her boyfriend and my mom. Enjoy.

Artwork: Charlie

Saturday, 10 July 2010, 10:37pm

Artwork: Charlie. A few months ago I was playing with the configurations on my camera and snapped a few pictures from the front room. I managed to capture this portrait of Charlie and while I don’t normally consider many of my photographs as artwork, I thought that this picture really captured a moment and personality.

While I am lacking in formal photographic analysis and commentary, these are some of my thoughts about this picture. Charlie has a diet coke in his hand and he is wearing one of his favorite shirt combinations (white long-sleeve underneath a colored t-shirt). His attention is toward my direction but he isn’t looking at me or the camera. The light from the window is lighting his face perfectly and there is some distractions to the left, but the picture frames add to the background. Charlie is more or less void of emotion. You can’t really tell if he is happy, tired, sad, excited.

I know that Charlie actually does not like this picture, but I am going to share it anyway because I really like it. Enjoy.

Hiking the Y

Saturday, 24 April 2010, 12:00pm

Hiking the Y. About a year or two before Yasmin was set to graduate from Brigham Young University, my mom made it a personal goal to hike the Y mountain that overlooks the BYU campus. This is often a tradition that BYU students take when they first come to campus. My mom made it a goal to be physical fit enough to climb the mountain. After months of training, organizing a hiking club in California and preparing for this day, she successfully met her goal. It was a very fun morning and it was a great way to celebrate Yasmin graduating from college. I’ve included a few pictures from our hike.

Spring Portraits 2010

Friday, 23 April 2010, 12:30pm

Spring Portraits 2010. After the Friday Graduation ceremonies for Yasmin we went outside to grab some fresh air and the weather was interesting to grab some photographs of Charlie and Shaheen. I was using my flash and really like these photographs. These were taken outside the BYU Marriott Center on the South East side.

Yasmin’s BYU Graduation

Friday, 23 April 2010, 9:30am

Yasmin’s BYU Graduation. After many years of hard work, my little sister Yasmin successfully graduated from Brigham Young University. The family drove in from California to celebrate and I was able to capture a few pictures from the graduation ceremony.

Sanpete County

Sunday, 7 March 2010, 5:57pm

Sanpete County. I took this picture while driving down to Sanpete County for the funeral of Charlie’s nephew Wesley. Sanpete County is located in the central part of Utah just over two hours south from Salt Lake. The valley is beautiful year round and this weekend was no exception. We got several inches of snow Friday morning and luckily most of it melted off by the afternoon. Charlie’s sister told me that once you enter Sanpete County, time slows down and you go back a many years to another time.

Farook Khan

Spring Wedding Flowers

Saturday, 27 February 2010, 10:23pm

Spring Wedding Flowers. I had the opportunity to photograph the wedding of Ron & Jeanie this weekend. It was a really close and intimate ceremony with only family and few close friends. The flowers were gorgeous and I wanted to share a few of the photographs. The wedding really got me excited for the spring with the warming weather and the blooming of the flowers.

Farook Khan

California Christmas

Friday, 1 January 2010, 10:12pm

California Christmas. Charlie and I were able to take a few days off and drive to California to visit my family. Since we drove we were able to bring along Jake who enjoyed meeting AJ our eleven year old boxer. While in California we were able to visit with a few friends and drive to Lake Berryessa, Napa, and San Francisco. My dad cooked some amazing meals and shared some new recipes. My mom has lost a lot of weight and looks fantastic. My sisters introduced me to some really cool iPhone cases and apps. It is always fun to visit the family.

Khan Family

Farook Khan

Jake

Saturday, 31 October 2009, 5:45pm

Jake! He is a wonderful dog. A few months ago he had a skin infection that caused his hair not to grow and he was becoming pretty bare on his backside. Luckily our veterinarian was able to prescribe a good medicine and within four weeks Jake was starting to look normal again. I have a few pictures of when he was sick, but he looks much better now and I though I would take and share a few photographs. He is over two years old now and I’ve grown to love him. We’ll occasionally buy him a toy so he can have fun. Jake loves the toys the have a squeaker. You can see the remains of one of his toys in the background of the bottom picture.

Farook Khan