Babymoon 2012
- January 16, 2012 - posted by chicago wedding photographer nate mathai

categories: Personal
tags: baby, babymoon, bongo room, chicago, chicago wedding photographers, couples, downtown, grand lux, illinois, maternity, portraits, second city, wyndham

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

Babymoon? Yeah, I had no idea what that was either. But my wife sure let me know early on that we were taking one. :)
Seriously, though, the wife and my schedules have been very busy that its been a bit difficult for us to actually have some extended time just to relax. And since the wife is unable to relax while being at our house (she will always find something to clean, fix, organize, work on, etc.), it was necessary for us to physically get out of our place and get disconnected from everything.
We spent the weekend in downtown Chicago and stayed at the Wyndham. A week ago, Chicago was boasting an unseasonable warm winter with 50 degree weather…sadly this time around we were in the teens. Coupled with me being a little under the weather, the plans didn’t go exactly as we expected, but we still had a great weekend away. We spent a good deal of time just laying around and watching movies, before catching a showing of Second City- I feel like at every improv show I go to, there’s about 2 people who are extremely funny and make the show worth it, and then the remaining cast is just OK. Definitely had a good laugh though! Afterward, we had dinner at the Grand Lux…the wife was initially wanting to go someplace we’ve never gone before, but I was in the camp of getting something that we knew we’d like. I won this one. :)
We ended off our weekend stay at the Bongo Room, which is small and busy, but had a great brunch (according to the wife who got a chocolate tower french toast…I’m not much of a foodie so I stuck with an egg sandwich). All in all, it was definitely a great escape for us to just spend time with each other and plan and look ahead to 2012, as we get ready to raise our first child in this world.

We also planned to do a faux-maternity shoot (“faux” in the sense that I’m not really a maternity photographer), so I brought a handful of gear along. But the cold weather and my sickness didn’t allow us to do as much as we/I envisioned. But one thing that I always wanted to try was “freelensing”, and I finally used this opportunity to mess around with it! I took a handful of images of people passing by our hotel room on the streets below (all the freelensing images were shot with the 135 f/2)-

The wife wanted to make sure that both of us were in some of the images together, so we set a few up with us two, but then I got to have a bit of fun just photographing my model (and doing a little freelensing on her as well) :)

March 25th is right around the corner!

Winter OIL 2012 : Gospel Obsession
- January 9, 2012 - posted by chicago wedding photographer nate mathai

categories: Personal
tags: cfc, christianity, dr eric mason, dr paul tripp, pastor min, winter oil

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

2006 was my final year of undergrad at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Champaign, and my first time attending Winter OIL, and conference held by my campus church every January. Six years later, a lot has changed (especially the location, as they moved from Montrose, Pennsylvania to Sandwich, Illinois :)). More importantly, though, the heart and quality of the conference has continued to be the same. Seeing as it was much closer now, the wife and I were able to make the drive during the week for one day of the conference, and that in and of itself was such a blessing- I can only image how great it was for everyone who was able to be there the whole time! Below are a list of the main speakers I was able to hear and a few excerpts that I loved from their messages. (I only took a couple images throughout my time there as the OIL staff had more than enough photographers covering the event ;))

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Dr. Eric Mason is the founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA. In addition to his role at Epiphany Fellowship he serves as President of Thriving, a ministry dedicated to aiding ethnic minorities to be resourced and trained for ministry to the urban context. He has also contributed to multiple publications to service the body of Christ. Dr. Mason is known for articulating and proclaiming the gospel with clarity, passion, and authority at churches and conferences nationally.

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Dr. Paul Tripp is the president of Paul Tripp Ministries, a nonprofit organization, whose mission statement is “Connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.” This mission leads Paul to weekly speaking engagements around the world. In addition to being a gifted communicator and sought after conference speaker with Paul Tripp Ministries, Paul is on the pastoral staff at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he preaches on Sunday evenings and leads the Ministry to Center City. Paul is also professor of pastoral life and care at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He is the executive director of the Center for Pastoral Life and Care in Fort Worth, Texas, and has taught at respected institutions worldwide. As an author, Paul has written eleven books on Christian Living that are read and distributed internationally, including Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands; War of Words; Broken Down House; and Crossway’s Whiter Than Snow.

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Dr. Min Chung is the founding and senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church (CFC) in Champaign, IL where he has been serving for 21 years. Along with his pastoral duties, he is a board member for Serving in Mission (SIM), Korean Inter-Missions Network (KIMET), and KOSTA. He is also an adjunct professor at Urbana Theological Seminary. Dr. Chung’s messages always bring a powerful impact to Winter OIL attendees every year. He received his Master of Divinity as well as a Doctorate of Ministry from Biblical Theological Seminary.

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It was also great for me to sit in on the seminars by Rich Kohng (“Social Justice”) and Thomas Kim (“Pursuing a Professional Career For Christ”)- great reminders of what should be of priority in my life and vision.
It was definitely refreshing to reconnect with many of the pastors and friends from years back and get refocused in perspective and passion. Conferences like this can be sort of ‘information overload’ at times, but I’m Looking forward to reflecting on what I’ve heard in the near future and putting things into practice for an exciting and purposeful 2012!

Merry Christmas!
- December 23, 2011 - posted by chicago wedding photographer nate mathai

categories: Personal
tags: christmas card, e-card, family, Jesus, merry christmas, nate mathai, photography

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

2011 was an amazing year for us, and we are so thankful for all the God has blessed our family with. Just wanted to take this time wish you all a blessed Christmas and an amazing New Year- looking forward to big things in 2012!

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