[08.04.08] Monday Night Recap
- August 4, 2008 -

natemathai | Couples Lifestyle Sessions, Personal, engagement

• [Photo Challenge] Was the last challenge that difficult? I haven’t received a single entry…how sad is that?!? Well…as always, there’s a grace period, but I’ll have August’s challenge up in the next day or so.
  
• [Wedding Photographer] Especially when you are a photographer, one of the most common questions asked is “Who’s going to be your wedding photographer?”, which is commonly answered with “I am. I’m going to set up the cameras on tripods with a remote in my hand and get everything I need.” Seriously though, it’s a tough choice…I know of so many amazing photographers that it’s hard to narrow it down. Setting a budget helps a bit (but you’re always willing to bend on it!).
  One thing I plan on doing from now until the wedding is ‘feature’ a couple photographers that I would have loved to shoot my wedding if money/location/time/etc. were of no issue whatsoever. And it would have been cool to have it all lead up to the actual photographer chosen around my wedding next year, but it’s not possible, because I’m going to post some images of his shortly :). I’ll probably still ‘feature’ him at the end with an explanation of why we chose him, but for now, here he is: Kenny Kim (of Kenny Kim Photography).
  
• [The Proposal] People have been asking about the who/when of the proposal for quite some time now (including my now fiance :) ). It was quite difficult planning one with the busy-ness of our schedules this summer, and more so my sister’s wedding last weekend (can’t steal her thunder…that’d be mean of me). When I met with Kenny earlier in the year, we were trying to find a time for a mini e-session because we wanted to get a couple of images in time for our traditional engagement ceremony/party in a few weeks. He was able to find time for us this weekend in the midst of his nationwide travels, and I immediately knew what I wanted for the proposal.
  We scheduled to have our e-session at the beach, and God blessed us with some BEAUTIFUL weather (more on that to come). And so our plan was to meet up with Kenny at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park, and then walk over to the beach. Nithya and I got to the museum a little early, and I texted Kenny to see how long he was going to be (we’d been texting back and forth for the moments prior to set everything up). In the back of the museum was a pond and a bit of a cross-platform over it, which would have been a perfect place for the proposal. The only problem was there was a wedding being held at the museum, so everything was closed off…there were some people from the wedding party hanging out on the platform too. So I took Nithya around the back to walk around while we ‘waited’ for Kenny (…Kenny was making his own pathway through the bushes and found a way up on the platform). Nearby that area, I found a little rocky area just next to the pond, so I stepped in to see if I could get on the platform from there…sadly we couldn’t. But it was a nice enough place, and I knew Kenny could see us there (I spotted him because I was searching for him to make sure, luckily Nithya didn’t)…
  After a few more random words, I turned, looked at Nithya, (insert words here), got down on one knee, (insert more words), pulled out the ring, asked her if she’d marry me, she said yes, I put it on her finger, and stood to hug her with the applause of the wedding party. By that time Kenny moved into plain view where Nithya saw him. Here’s one of the shots he got:
  



• [The E-Session] We carried on the rest of the day as planned. We headed over to the beach to get a handful of shots and call it a day. Let me tell you, it’s very awkward being on that side of the camera. With a camera in front of my face, I never have to worry about my facial expressions or what not…luckily, weddings/e-sessions are all about the girl so I’ll be out of focus in a majority of them :) . There will be more to come, but here’s one that Kenny got to us so far:
  



• [The Cubbies] As I posted before, Nithya bought us Cubs tickets for my birthday, and we went on Sunday afternoon (after church and getting her ring sized). We had a great view and experienced a great win…Zambrano pitched a decent game, back-to-back-to-back doubles, after being down 2-0, and then after the Pirates tied it up with 3 in the 8th, the Reed Johnson hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to put us back up by two, followed by a solo shot by Soriano. And then Marmol closed it off for the win as expected. For my first (and probably only) Cubs game this season, I can say I was satisfied.
  


A model?










This fun friend helped lead the YMCA in our area…here he is donning the construction hat and the cowboy hat…

The anatomy of a swing, by Derrick Lee (I seriously think he has one of the most beautiful swings in all of baseball – if he would just stop hitting into so many double plays)…

The anatomy of a close, by Carlos Marmol…

version2…


• [The Power of the Ring] I’ve noticed that there is a lot of power that comes with a diamond engagement ring. Prior to the proposal, the perception was it being in my ‘possession’. And with that, I got a lot of attention…everyone asking me about it, when’s the proposal, how am I going to do it, etc. Now that she has the engagement ring, I get nothing. The occasional congrats, but that’s it. Now, its all about her. Every question is now directed to her and I’m all alone. Woe is me…woe is me. :)
  

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