In this 2012 interview, portrait photographer Zaakirah Muhammad (operating under the brand name Nayar, meaning "luminous") outlines her philosophy of natural beauty, emphasizing candid expressions, smiles, and laughter. She explains the choice of her business name as a reflection of her style and its easy pronunciation. Zaakirah shares her love for travel and recounts a memorable trip to Ghana, where she photographed elementary‑school children during a "timeout" session, a series that received notable feedback. She describes her studio environment as relaxed and music‑driven, focusing on one‑on‑one sessions that aim to capture emotion, personality, and the subject’s essence. Looking ahead, she aspires to photograph well‑known musicians and individuals with strong character, positioning herself as an easy‑going, attentive photographer who creates fun, self‑discovering experiences for her clients.
Chapters
A natural expression, natural smile, natural laugh. Beauty is natural. That's what I go by. My name is Zaakirah Muhammad, and I am a portrait photographer. I shoot people in action, candidly, you know, in their elements. Posing, I'm all about the beauty, the natural beauty of people. So I love people and facial expressions. Nayar means luminous, and that's the name I decided to use for my photography business. I decided to use Nayar because it's a name that was easy to pronounce, and the meaning is unique, and I just felt like to incorporate that into my style of photography. I love traveling, I love children, I love, you know, meeting new people, and just giving back. So I would love to incorporate travel as often as possible. When I went to Ghana last summer, it was just my first time really just taking my camera with me and using the tools that I know and just photographing, just photographing everywhere I went and everything that I did and all the people I met. And there's this one particular photograph that I have gotten a lot of feedback from, and it's of children. They were elementary school, kindergarten, I believe. And they were— it was a day of timeout. They were supposed to be on timeout because they had been bad and the teacher was just sick of them. So I was the teacher sitting for the day and I was like, can I take a photo of them? She's like, whatever. And so I just went around the room and just photographed children. They sat in like rows of 5 everywhere. When I am in the studio photographing and after everything has been set up and it's just me and the subject, I just feel like I'm in my element. You know, there's— most of the time there's music going and, you know, I'm just in my element and, you know, I'm in my happy place. You know, for most people to kind of go away for someplace, I'm right there. You know, just me and the subject and, you know, I'm trying to have some fun and just capture emotion, capture their beauty, capture their personality. I see myself Being the portrait photographer of maybe well-known people, musicians, people with character, people with personalities, just capturing the essence of their personality. I want people to know that I am an easygoing, laid-back person, understanding, a good listener, and all that comes out in the photo. And, you know, just to always ensure, just to know that as the shoot goes on, It'll be a fun experience, a fun experience of getting to know yourself in a way that you never have and just having fun.
