I love Twitter…
- October 29, 2008 - posted by chicago wedding photographer nate mathai

categories: Personal
tags:

interested in booking? Head over to the the contact page or shoot me an email to info@natemathai.com

I consider myself to be a rather early adopter on things, especially with technology (at least being knowledgeable).  About a year ago I signed up on Twitter, and it wasn’t too exciting for me at the time because of the lack of use by others – you definitely need a community to make it worthwhile.  But since the iPhone hit many of my friends, twitter became so easy to update and more and more are starting jumping on board.  Also, so many photogs are on twitter that it’s a great way to stay connected in the industry since I can’t make it to every social or networking event and such.

My fiance (and others) are not huge fans of it, and I keep trying to convince them of the relational benefits that I’m reaping.  I’ve been a terrible phone person with keeping up with people in the past, but through twitter I’ve reconnected with some people and know a lot more of whats going on in their lives than ever before (and vice versa)!  Now when we see each other in person, we bypass a lot of the formalities and can get deeper into conversations.  And more so than just random knowledge of what people are eating for lunch, I’ve gotten a lot of personal benefits from it.  Let me share a few:

(1)  I was leaving work one day, and wanted something refreshing to drink…so I twittered that.  I got a response from a friend who works at Starbucks who recommended an Iced Venti Passion Tea Lemonade…and hooked me up since she was going there to study anyways!

(2)  In an effort to expand my fashion knowledge and such, I made a request to see if anyone had magazines laying around that were not in use (I was going to get a subscription, but figured I start with this first).  Within an hour I had 3 people offer, and have already received a handful of mags.

(3)  In need of a GPS, I posted for recommendations.  I got a slew of responses with what people are using, what price points they are at, and things like that, which helped  me make a decision on what I just purchased (and am pleased with my Garmin Nuvi 750).

Some bonus perks are I’m able to have my facebook status update with my twitter status, which frees up my time from having to be “as connected” to facebook…because I do twitter quite a bit though, you facebook friends probably see my status update a lot.  Sorry!

All this just to say…I love Twitter.  It helps me stay connected, get quick answers, and keeps me entertained throughout the day. Do you guys use twitter?  What’s your favorite part about it?  And for those of you who don’t, why not?

Oh right…it’s rude of me to have a post without a picture…so…ummmm…here’s what my desktop looks like right now (I’ll be getting this shoot up soon…):

[10.27.08] Monday Night Recap
- October 27, 2008 - posted by chicago wedding photographer nate mathai

categories: Personal, [MNR]
tags:

interested in booking? Head over to the the contact page or shoot me an email to info@natemathai.com

• [W] I went to watch “W” with a couple of my college roommates last week.  It was a very interesting portrayal of our current government leaders, basically exaggerating various characteristics of their past or present.  I don’t believe that it’s in any way an truly accurate look at the reality of the leaders, although I don’t believe that was the original intent.  From a creative standpoint, the movie was pretty well-made, although there were a handful of scenes that I didn’t think were necessary to the story, and there was also no correlation with the flashbacks (and I constantly was looking for a correlation).  All in all, though, I think its an interesting movie overall and worth the watch.
• [U of I] This past weekend I made a trip out to the University of Illinois, which is always fun.  It was slightly different than normal, as there were about 20 friends not from the school who were visiting because of another friend’s birthday.  Although I had every intent to take some pics, I barely took out my camera, and when I did I didn’t shoot much.  So not going to be that much of a photo documentary as before.  But now a recap:
  • [Ballin'] One of my joys is being able to ball with the college guys when I get a chance.  50 degree weather, but we played some outdoor ball on Saturday.  Unlike last time (when I ate a steak dinner before some midnight ball), I actually played decent.  Fun times, indeed.
  • [Birthday] My friend celebrated her ‘supposed’ 21st birthday on Friday (I still think she’s like 12…), and she had quite the celebration.  Like I said, there were about 20 visitors who came as surises for her, at multiple times of the day for 3 different surprises.  We got together at Houlihan’s for some dinner, and this is pretty much all the pictures I took this weekend (all shot with my 17-35):

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  • [E-Session] The main reason for this visit, though, was because my fiance and I were taking the second half of our e-session with Kenny Kim.  You can be sure I’ll be linking to the images when he posts them, but for now you can check out our wedding website (work in progress), and here’s one of my faves from our first session a few months back that we turned into our save the dates:

  

  • [Quarantine] Sunday night my fiance and I went to go watch Quarantine, which is surprising because (1) it was her turn to pick the movie and (2) she always picks romantic comedies.  Sadly, she wanted to watch ‘Nights of Rodanthe’ but it was no longer in theaters, so she settled for this.  It was a decent film overall.  I’m not a fan of unrealistic movies (for scary movies), and this one had a more realistic flavor to it, which made it work.
  • [Quality Time] My past few ‘encounters’ with my fiance have been a bit rough with various other responsibilities and events going on, but this weekend we had an extended time together which was great! We were able to just spend some quality time together, as well as make some progress on wedding planning and such. All in all, I couldn’t ask for a better weekend with the soon to be Mrs…less than 10 months away!
  • [Gas Prices] When I left to head out to U of I on Friday, the cheapest gas price I found was around 3.09. This is what I filled up with when I left (felt so liberating) {sorry, the iPhone takes pictures sideways…}



• [Fantasy] I done and done it again.  Another breakout game provides another W, and helps me jump another 3 places into 7th overall…people are starting to get scared!

EDIT

• [Photo Challenge] About 1 week left to get your self-portraits in…help me connect a name with a face!
• [Winter Weather] Today I woke up and had to scrape ice off my windshield…I’m not ready for this.  Need to go invest in some gloves, hats and scarves soon…

Abraham Family :: portraits
- October 24, 2008 - posted by chicago wedding photographer nate mathai

categories: Modern Portraits
tags:

interested in booking? Head over to the the contact page or shoot me an email to info@natemathai.com

Jason and I pretty much grew up together (though he is a bit older than I am) attending the same church, and he’s also best friends with my brother-in-law.  Over the past few years Jason and Susan were out in Bloomington, IL, and had just moved back closer to the Chicagoland area much to the joy of many of us.  (He chronicled the transition for his family to move back as well as starting is insurance agency at this blog).  We’d been looking for an opportunity to do a family shoot all summer but it was quite difficult because of schedules, but finally were able to get something a couple weeks back.  We made our way out to the Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton, IL for some fun times with the family.

(side note:  Isabelle is also best friends with my niece Alexis, and has become like another niece of mine.  I think she likes me – except she constantly refers to me as the one who always takes her food…I don’t know what she’s talking about [kids always have good snacks wherever they go]. :) )

Definitely one of my favorites of the day…

Of course, we were able to grab a few of just Jason and Susan too…

and I LOVED that patched lighting by this bench…a beautiful set…

Little kids have so much fun making silly faces.  I’ve always wondered, though, where it starts…where do they get the inspiration to make these faces?  I think this answered my question.

Jason and Susan, I had a blast as always hanging out with you guys, and definitely look forward to seeing you more often now that you’re back ‘home’.

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