Photography is my way of showing the world what I feel, and I'm so excited that you're interested in joining me! Below you can keep up with me both in my personal life and my photography career (they seem to intermix quite a bit). So come do life with me and share your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to connecting with you!
First, big ups to the Who Dat Nation and the New Orleans Saints for grabbing the ring and playing an awesome game this weekend! Drew Brees is a very classy guy, and well deserving of his first ring. Though Peyton is an amazing player, I think the loss tarnishes his stand in greatness as one of the top QBs of all time. The win would have secured it, but now he only has 1 super bowl win, and that was against Rex Grossman. I still think he’s a QB stud, but he needs another ring to really set him apart. The Saints made some gutsy calls (going on 4th-and-goal and failing, getting the onside kick), but it proved successful.
Now on to the Superbowl Commercials…I must say as a collectie body of work, I was very unimpressed with the ads this year. I don’t know what it was, but most of them didn’t have the punch as in years past. Even still, there were a few that rose to the top for varying reasons. Here are my top 10.
10. E*Trade: Girlfriend
The babies are always funny.
9. Bud Light: T-Pain
Everything sounds better in auto-tune.
8. Boost Mobile: Shuffle
Will I switch to boost mobile? No. But I must give props throwing it back to the Chicago Bears 1985 Superbowl Shuffle.
7. Snickers: You’re Not You
Another great celebrity appearance of Betty White.
6. KGB: Sumo
They finally brought a marketing spin that works- answers, not links. Does it mean I’ll use KGB? Nope. But at least they differentiated themselves.
5. McDonald’s: Horse
The kicker was Dwight Howard saying “Who’s That?” The shots itself looked so fake, but the ending clinched it. (Would have been nice to see MJ there with Bird, but then the joke probably wouldn’t have worked as well)
4. Google: Search
The more I watch this ad, the smarter it becomes. Google proved just how powerful it can be, with the emotional linkage of a relationship to a wedding to a child. It also showcased many features that people don’t realize it can provide- not just links, but definitions, flight statuses, etc. Whether others caught that, though, is another question.
3. VW: PunchDub
Stevie Wonder…another genius kicker!
2. Career Builder: Casual Friday
CB continues to put out humorously creative ads during the SB. This was another one.
1. Doritos: House Rules
Hilarious! Awesome delivery by the little man. Doritos dominated the commercial realm this year.
So there’s my top 10. Agree/Disagree? Which commercials did you like this year? What’d you think of the quality of commercials as a whole? Would love to hear your thoughts!
I got to kick off the wedding season pretty early this time around, with Elisabeth and Andy’s modern wedding the day after New Years! It was such a great way to start the year off for me- a simple and blessing ceremony uniting two people, along with their close friends and families.
Everyone had a hand in helping Elisabeth get ready, including the flower girl-
Elisabeth and Andy chose to see each other before the ceremony, which is always fun. It also allows the bride to “straighten out” her groom :)
We were able to steal a few moments for portraits of just the two of them…it’s great when couples are so in love!
The ceremony was held at the Suburban Bible Church in Hammond, Indiana.
Both Elisabeth and Andy’s fathers are pastors, and so each of them shared time in giving the message during the wedding- how personal is that!
Elisabeth and Andy, thank you so much for allowing me to take part in your wedding day. I wish you guys all the best as you prepare for all the married life has to offer you two!
One thing I never want to do is grow stagnant. In any area of my life, I want to be constantly growing, improving, moving. Many times, the repetitive nature of our lives cause us to fall into a monotonous lifestyle, where everything looks the same, feels the same, sounds the same. And in that we begin to lose our passion, begin to digress.
It has been almost a month since I last picked up my camera- it was actually refreshing to do so. I’ve been catching up on album designs and edits, and meeting with wonderful clients for 2010 that I haven’t really had a “need” to shoot. And THAT is the best time to grow. During this time, I was able to stretch myself creatively…doing things I won’t normally do for client shoots. But in doing so, I expand my vision, see what’s possible, and learn.
First thing I did was play with light…I’ve always been enamored with light and photography, though I’m not a big studio set person. As I tell everyone, though, in order to be a good photographer, you need to understand light. Learn how it works, its effects on your camera, and what you can do to it.
After that, I did another photowalk in downtown Chicago. I did this about a year and a half ago on another cold winter day, which made this a bit more exciting for me. I had to walk the same area I did before, but take a different perspective on everything. Don’t just take the standard images others take…don’t even just take the standard images I take when I’m there. But find that next angle. My original thoughts were to do 60 frames in 60 minutes. Then it was to do 50 frames with just my 50 1.4 lens. Then 35 frames with only the 35 2.0. Then I decided to just forget labeling what I am doing and just shoot…anything and everything. That was probably the most freeing decision I made for the day. I decided to give these images a different processing that’s from my norm- but hey, it’s a personal project and I can do whatever I want! :)
There is a problem when you aren’t passionate for the things you once were. Recognize the change…realize what’s missing. Push yourself to be constantly growing.
To end of last year’s shoots, I had the honor of capturing the formal engagement ceremony of Rejani and Lejoe, in Indian Creek, Illinois. Rejani is from Baltimore, and it was awesome to see both families come together to celebrate their plans for marriage. I started out at Lejoe’s house for a quick prayer before the ceremony.
We then headed over to the beautiful St. Mary Of Vernon Catholic Church in Indian Creek, Illinois for the engagement ceremony.
An Indian ceremony tradition for engagements that I love is when the two fathers hug-
After the ceremony, we headed back to Lejoe’s house for a luncheon. They did an amazing job decorating their place!
I was able to steal the two of them away for about 5 minutes for a mini-shoot, and we made the most of it!
Lejoe and Rejani, thanks for letting me serve you guys during your engagement. I wish you all the best as you prepare for the wedding day this year, and married life from then on!
So I’ve been stuck in front of my computer for what feels like 75% of my days recently, so I jumped on the formspring.me bandwagon, an online site dedicated to simply answering questions! I decided to do a video post answering one of the questions I got there, so I hope you enjoy it. If you have any follow up questions or anything else that you would want me to answer (either on the form or as a video response), hit up the comments, or just post over at formspring. Enjoy!
Photography is my way of showing the world what I feel, and I'm so excited that you're interested in joining me! Below you can keep up with me both in my personal life and my photography career (they seem to intermix quite a bit). So come do life with me and share your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to connecting with you!
natemathai | 
filed under: Personal
