What if I said no?

It has been an incredible year for Film Art Pictures, we have come a long way from our humble beginnings to becoming one of the most sought after wedding film companies here in UK today...

By the way, this is not our last message of the year...we still have a few more lineups before saying a big thank you to all of our vendors, friends and the star of our shows...our brides and grooms!

I have always looked down at all of the wedding films I have shot and try my best to provide something different every time. Thinking about it, that's not been a bad thing, it has helped me and my team develop and improve every step of the way. So, I was sitting down and thinking about my journey with Film Art Pictures so far... I was quiet overwhelmed by what I had achieved in my road to producing creative wedding films.

In a matter of five years, I was fortunate to have won three prestigious wedding awards, my work was showcased on Channel Four (My Big Fat Asian Wedding), I was a newspaper headline for Asian Express Newspaper and I was featured on a desi TV Channel Samaa TV. To top it up, Film Art Pictures also took me and my crew to most parts of the globe...

I could never have imagined this would all start from filming my cousin's wedding. Maybe if I said "no, I'm not filming your wedding!". I wonder what the outcome would have been? What would I be doing right now...

After filming my cousin's wedding, a lot of people approached me to film weddings across Manchester and the word spread like wild fire across the cities of UK. Along the way, many people put me off cinematography by saying stuff like..."you can't make a full time income from this", "Oh so you make wedding films" and so on. I came across a lot of crappy people in my Film Art journey. However, if I had listened to them, I don't think I would be in this business today.

I didn't start filming weddings because of the money, the publicity or the free all inclusive trips abroad. I came in to this business because of my passion for filmmaking. It's what I love doing, it may sound a bit cliché, however, this is the honest truth. I couldn't give bananas on what anyone thinks.

Its funny how one little decision or one little step paved my journey. I strongly believe in fate! Think again before you say no. :-)

Thank you for reading my little blog.

Zohaib Abdullah