WELCOME! - August 1, 2008 -

Hey everyone! Welcome to my new and improved blog/site! I have merged both my website and blog into one place so it can serve as an easy-to-remember, one-stop shop for the most up-to-date happenings in my work and, basically, my life. There will be no more posts to the old blog, so make sure you update your bookmarks and RSS feeds to keep up! I have imported all the old posts here as well, so now there’s no need to keep yourself linked over there.

Below you will see the most recent information with what’s going on with me through my blog. And for those who are looking for a bit more information about Nate Mathai Photography, you can use the navigation above. I hope you all enjoy the new look, and I look forward to connecting with you all in some way, shape, or form. Oh, and leave me some comments! It makes me happy God bless…

[mail] | info@natemathai.com

natemathai | filed under: Uncategorized

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Chicago Photowalk - November 19, 2008 -

Yeterday afternoon I decided to do a little photowalk  in Chicago, as I realized I haven’t many opportunities as of late to “shoot for myself”.  It’s fun just wander around with no rush, no real direction, and just let your eyes lead you.  So I stuck my 17-35 on and headed around Millenium Park and the likes.  For all you photogs out there, I challenge you guys to take your least favorite lens (if you always shoot tight, take a wide angle, or vice versa) and spend a day just shooting with it.  Here’s a handful of views of the city through my eyes…

*note:  Again for the photogs out there, these images were all shot in JPEG and processed in Bridge - none of them were brought into Photoshop except for my standard branding/resizing action.

And we’ll end it with my favorite ‘bean’ shot…

natemathai | filed under: personal

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[11.17.08] Monday Night Recap - November 17, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] Just a reminder that we’re a little over halfway through November’s challenge, and the weather (at least here) is changing drastically into winter so be sure to get your “Fall” pictures taken!
• [NavJeevan] The NavJeevan Centre is an organization in India that my church is connected with, which helps children of women who are in the Red Light District.  For the past few years, we’ve been able to send a team out every year for a few weeks to serve out there, build relationships with the kids, and things like that.  This past Friday, most of the team members took off for two weeks, which include my sister and brother-in-law.  In total, its a team of 8 that will be out there spanning 4 weeks.  Keep them in your prayers, for both physical and spiritual protection.
• [Winter] I’m not sure what the true definition is for the change in seasons, but this is how I know:





• [Bears] For the first time Lovie’s career as head coach, we lost to the Packers…and it was to Aaron Rodgers too!  It was an extremely sad game to watch.  Our defense got owned, and our offense played like…our offense.  Not a good combo.  If we don’t make changes fast it’s going to be a fast fall from the top.
• [Fantasy] It’s official…I’m knocked out of playoff contention.  I had some poor management yet again with my RBs, but even if I picked the best lineup and my opponent made the worst choice, I’d have still lost - it was just one of those weeks.  All well, it was a fun 11 weeks so far, and for the last two I’ll just play the role of spoiler.
• [Snuggies] For some reason, I seem to be stumbling across a bunch of infomercials as I flip through channels.  And the latest one that scared me was for “Snuggies“…I seriously thought it was some sort of cult-ish outfit when I watched.  Would anyone of you guys wear this?  Or more importantly, do any of you already have it?  (And if so, please disregard the “cult-ish” statement )  The big question:  Have you purchased anything off an infomercial, and did it live up to the hype?
• [MammothMen] So a little while back a group of 6 awesome photographer friends got together for a week away for Snowboarding and fun times in Mammoth, and its become a regular occurence now.  They have now doubled in size, and are on version3 of their trip, which is being fully documented on their blog.  So if you’re looking for an overload of awesomeness, be sure to keep up with them.  If Indians enjoyed cold weather sports, I would so be looking for my own set of Mammoth Men.  But alas, we do not…but is anyone looking to just get away for some fully documented fun times!?!?!  Let me know!
• [Wish List] Christmas is right around the corner, so I guess its time to start thinking about what I’d like to get (that’s reasonably priced and not photo-related).  Any suggestions?  What was your favorite Christmas gift and why?  What are you looking forward to getting this year?  Help a brother out!

natemathai | filed under: [MNR]

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Carolyn and Chris :: wedding - November 12, 2008 -

A short while ago I second shot Kenny Nakai at the wedding of Carolyn and Chris. Except…this wasn’t your normal second shooting scenario, because Carolyn is Kenny’s sister! And to make matters even more exciting, Kenny was a groomsman as well! I give him major props for having the energy to fulfill the duties of brother-of-the-bride/groomsman/photographer.
Back in September Chicago got hit with a terrible storm, flooding streets like crazy. That didn’t put a damper on this wedding, though. Once you got inside the First Presbyterian Church in Evanston, there was no reminder of the weather outside, and everything was beautiful from start to finish!
For a more complete coverage of the wedding, be sure to hit up Kenny’s blog as well. Now on to the pictures!

One of the more powerful moments of the wedding is when the bridal party prays over the bride or groom…

Some brides are nervous before the walk, but Carolyn was all smiles…

After the ceremony, we headed out to Grazie in Des Plaines for the reception.

The flower girls were the cutest things ever. And it seems they got to the cake just slightly before Carolyn and Chris did…I love this shot:

The first dance…

First Dance version 2.0 (quite possibly my favorite first dance shot to date…)

As a surprise to Carolyn, not only was there a father daughter dance, but each of her brothers danced with her as well. Quite an emotional time for everyone there - now that’s love.

After the bouquet and garter toss, they opened up for a night of dancing. Some people weren’t that into the dancing, though, and found some more entertaining things to keep them occupied…

Carolyn and Chris, you guys had a beautiful wedding and it was my pleasure to take part in it. I wish you all the best as you move forward in your married lives. Take care!

natemathai | filed under: wedding

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[11.10.08] Monday Night Recap - November 10, 2008 -

• [Presidential Election] Unless you were stuck under a rock for a week, you probably heard that Illinois senator Barack Obama won the recent presidential election in a landslide (based on the electoral college system).  At the last election, I remember staying up until 5am following the polls because it was just so tight!  This one was decided by around 9pm.  It’s really only just the beginning - Bush is still in office for a little bit longer, and then we’ve got 4 years.  Don’t expect everything to be spun around overnight, but here’s to hope and change!
• [The Office] It’s finally getting back on track!  The first few episodes were funny, but not to the same extent as previous seasons, but its starting to pick up again.  Loved the halloween episode.  I love looking forward to Thursdays…
• [Black Friday] It’s coming.  Are you guys ready?  Care to share your plans?  Last year I was up around 4am to wait outside Best Buy, and I think we’ll be starting around the same time again this year.  What are you guys looking to pick up this year?  Let me know if you know of any amazing deals too!
• [Bears] I almost get an ulcer every game.  Going in I wasn’t really expecting a win.  But then they tease me by playing just good enough to give me hope, but just bad enough to lose the game.  It’s surprising that we’re still #1 in the NFC North…I’ll take what I can get.
• [Fantasy] This was quite possibly my worst managed week of the year, and probably knocked me out of playoff contention (I’m clinging to a thread over these next 3 weeks).  I left 50 points on my bench between two running backs and a wide receiver (the running backs I started barely got me 5 points total).  BLASTED!
• [Nieces] You probably remember Izzy from the family session I did a short while ago.  While her mother and my sister took a weekend escape of sorts and left the fathers to babysit, so I went over to hang out on Saturday.  I got there just in time for their dinner…pizza and green beans.  They had a contest to see who would eat the green beans the fastest too!  I love how kids can make a competition out of anything.  I wonder when we grow out of that.  Enjoy the pics…








• [Coming to an end?] As we close off the year, I’m pretty impressed with myself, as I have been keeping the MNR going for over a year now (That’s a lot of Mondays!).  I’m thinking it’ll be coming to an end soon though.  The good thing, though, is it’ll hopefully get me blogging more regularly as I’ll spread out the topics throughout the week (hopefully).  Also, I got some interesting stuff that I’m *hoping* to get up and running soon too, that will most likely keep you all entertained.  (Again, if there’s anything you’d like to see/hear about, feel free to leave it in the comments)

natemathai | filed under: [MNR], family

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