Hello, my name is Fatema Hijazi and I am a freelance food photographer, food stylist and pastry culinarian. My family is the essence of everything I love and seek. Romantically living through pastries and roses in a style that represents femininity and elegance has become a way of creating endearing memories. These sources of joy in my life have been the centerpieces of my photography.

I was born in the sunny city of Los Angeles, CA. I spent my early years in California then lived in my parents' Mediterranean homeland, Lebanon for a number of years. Finally, I made my way back to the United States and settled in the Great Lakes state of Michigan where I have built a lovely family (my husband and two children) and dwelled ever since. Throughout this journey of living in different places, I was privileged with experiencing various cultures, family traditions, and unforgettable moments that had a profound impact on my worldview and lifestyle.

I started baking at an early age with my mother. Everything we baked was done from scratch. Our parents raised us to be health conscious, and that meant that we never used boxed cake mix. I have a twin sister and we pretty much had nothing in common except that we both really enjoyed baking, and it became our way of bonding. We were 13 years old when we baked our first layered cake, a chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse filling covered with chocolate ganache. Into my early twenties, I started to delve deeply into baking French pastries and began to blog about it. The name of my blog is Crème au Beurre, which means buttercream in French, in that my preference is to decorate my cakes with buttercream.

I always had a fascination with photos. It represents something of the past and a special moment captured in time. Growing up, much of my modest allowances went toward purchasing Kodak funsaver disposable cameras until I obtained my first Polaroid instant film camera. As I got to high school, I finally got my hands on a small Canon digital camera. Fast forward to the birth of my son Ali, I was inspired to invest in a professional camera out of the sheer interest of capturing valuable moments in his life. I dived more into French baking around the same time, learning from cookbooks and admiring all the beautiful photography within them. I was inspired greatly by these cookbooks and proceeded to create such experiences for my family and friends through cooking and baking. Styling and photographing these moments became part of the experience.  

My elation for roses is quite evident if you were to come visit our home. From the front garden to the back garden, a plethora of rose bushes will occupy your eyesight. Nearly 100 rose bushes have been planted around my home. The garden is my place of respite, tranquility, and enjoyment.

Visual storytelling is my means to convey a lifestyle that is drawn from a collective of valuable experiences. My works showcase elegant pastries in a setting rich in tradition, emphasizing beauty in simplicity and vintage in character.