Archive for the 'wedding' Category

Nate Mathai Photography | 2008
- December 25, 2008 -

I’m a bit of a people watcher. I find myself in an area, watching the subtleties of the interactions between people. What I see is not simply the kiss between the couple, but the shy smile and glance she gives him immediately afterward. It’s not the laughter of a child being thrown in the air by her father, but the look of anticipation right before she is lifted up. It’s these moments before and after ‘the moment’ that get my attention, and play a huge role in the story that I tell through my work.

Throughout the past year, I’ve had the honor and privilege of being asked to participate and document the important moments in the lives of many. Here’s a recap of 2008 (I also have done a handful of family sessions and events, but I wanted to keep these images more…couple-y… ;)).

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[04.26.08] Deb+Cabin for Nakai Photography

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[05.31.08] Dawn+Richard for Nakai Photography

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[06.07.08] Namratha+Lenie

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[06.07.08] Dianna+Joe

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[06.20.08] Nisha+Joel

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[06.28.08] Soumy+Jiju

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[07.05.08] Linu+Sunil

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[07.12.08] Linzy+Christiaan

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[08.23.08] Sherry+Phuc for Nakai Photography

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[08.24.08] Sudha+Stinson

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[08.30.08] Liza+Shibu

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[09.13.08] Carolyn+Chris for Nakai Photography

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[10.04.08] Susan+Jason

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[10.11.08] Julie+Mark

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[11.29.08] Michelle+Suresh

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Once again, a big thank you to all of my clients (or as I like to call them, friends) for allowing me to have the greatest job ever. You all make it so easy for me!

2009 is right around the corner, and I’m looking forward to some awesome things to come. If you are interested in learning more about my services or availability, head over to the contact section and drop me a line! I’m looking forward to connect with all of you a bit more in the years to come.

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!

Phuc and Sherry :: wedding
- October 1, 2008 -

I second shot with Kenny Nakai for the wedding of Phuc and Sherry recently, and I was so excited for this one!   Weddings are such an amazing and fun time for me, but its even more exciting for me when there are many traditional/cultural aspects to it.  Phuc and Sherry were having two tea ceremonies along with a church ceremony.  I love shooting these events because they really show the roots of family traditions and the richness of a culture.  And I LOVE learning about different cultures!

We started out at the Phuc’s place with the guys getting ready.

We then headed over to the bride’s place for the first tea ceremony, which started out with some ‘door games’.  What happens is the groom and the groomsmen go to see the bride, but the bridesmaids stop them at the door.  Then through various games, the bridesmaids test the groom to see if he is fit for the bride.  After performing a few acts, the girls finally let them in to complete the tea ceremony, where the bride and groom receive blessing and gifts from the elders of the bride’s family.

Afterwards, we headed over to the church for the wedding ceremony.

After the ceremony, we moved ahead to the second tea ceremony.  This time, Phuc and Sherry would give tea to Phuc’s family, and be received by them and given gifts.

From there we went downtown for some portraits.

Here’s Kenny doing his thing-

Phuc and Sherry, I had a great time at your wedding - thank you for giving me the opportunity to take part in your wedding day.

[07.28.08] Monday Night Recap
- July 28, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] This month’s almost done, so get your submissions in ASAP! I promise I’ll be better about posting the next challenge within the first week of the month.
• [Nish & Joel] I posted yesterday, but my sister got married on Saturday and the happy couple are on their honeymoon now. I was told not to bring my camera so my gear sat at home throughout the festivities. But if you want to see some pics from the rehearsal and a quick grab of the details, check out yesterday’s post.
• [Summer League] The Bulls win! The Bulls win! They beat the Jazz! Reminds me of mid-90’s…except no last minute jumper by MJ to win it. With 6 rookies, the Bulls took had am impressive run through the league losing only one season game on a last second shot on day2. There was some amazing talent that came through again, and it’s only looking to get even more exciting in years to come. Thanks to all the staff who helped put this together as well as the players for making it the success that it was. Check out the site for many more pics for this year’s league.






Do you see where the ball is? Passes like that will always bring the oohs and ahhs…


















• [Teaser] I’m still getting through Linzy and Christiaan’s wedding, but wanted to get another teaser out there for you..the full recap will be coming soon.

[07.14.08] Monday Night Recap
- July 14, 2008 -

• [Rough Thursday] Last Thursday I had a rough day. A bunch of last minute projects made me stay at work an hour late. Then I had to walk to the train in the rain. Then I drove through a hailstorm to get to the Men’s Warehouse in order to get fitted for my tux for my sister’s wedding in 2 weeks. I pulled into a parking lot to turn around and I hit pothole and popped my tire. And I still hadn’t packed for my trip. But I thought, ‘Ah well, it could be worse.’ And then I was fine.
• [North Carolina] Because you all are obviously wanting more, here’s a pic of part of the living area in the cottage I was staying at, and then a view of my “backyard”:






• [Linzy and Christiaan] Like I said before, I was out in North Carolina to shoot my first destination wedding! The wedding was at the beautiful Duke Chapel (…I’m still not a Duke fan), with the reception back at the Governor’s Club. I’ll have a full write-up later, but here’s a handful of teasers until then:

The chapel was AMAZING!






…inside and out…










• [Photographic History] Somewhere on the plane ride back I got a bit under the weather, and just felt like sleeping. But I got a quick call from my dad asking to go to my godparents place (his uncle) to take a portrait shot of them (which I wasn’t too excited about intially due to my ‘under-the-weather-ness’). You see, hanging in family room is a picture from India taken awhile ago with my Dad’s father, his brothers and their wives (minus the youngest brother, who is my godfather). So my dad wanted to get a picture of them in a similar pose/style blown up to hang right next to it. I don’t have a copy of the original, but this is what we’re blowing up:
  
  
  
  It really helped me remember the importance of photography in people’s lives. This is something that goes back many generations. My only knowledge of some of my grandfather’s brothers are purely through these pictures. I’m glad I’m able to provide a service like this which last well beyond even my client’s years.
• [Summer League] After the portraits I got changed up and headed out to summer league. There were some good news and bad news. The good news was I played like I knew what I was doing (unlike last week) and felt closer in skill to my younger days. But the bad news - we lost both our games. So that makes us 0-4, and the only team not to win a game yet. Sad! We’ve got to step it up big time next week as our league lives are on the line…I’ll have gone from being in the Eastern Conference finals last year to not even making the playoffs this year. Wish me luck!










• [The Shot] Sadly, I didn’t have a picture of this as I put my camera to get ready for my game. But just a story: Going into the day, there were 3 undefeated teams, and all 3 suffered their first loss. The one with all the attention was the Pistons vs. the Bulls. Clock winding down, tie game, Shawn Thomas with the ball…8, 7, 6…baseline, spin…5, 4…turnaround, fade, shoot…3…around the rim, SCORE! The Bulls had 2 seconds but couldn’t get a good shot, and so ended their run to perfection! This porved a couple things to me…1) Summer League is filled with MADNESS!, and 2) Never put down the camera. Sorry guys!
• [All-Star] This is probably most boring time in sports during the year, as none of the 4 major sports in the US have an official game going on. It’s the night of the MLB home run derby before the all-star game, but it just doesn’t have the same excitement as before for me. But the All-Star game tomorrow…the Cubbies got 8 represented (with Marmol taking Woods’s place because he has a blister)! Awesome!
• [2.0] The iPhone 3G came out, and over million were sold over the weekend (the original iPhone took 74 days to hit the one million mark). I’m still debating whether to switch over to AT&T once my contract with T-Mobile finishes up, but we’ll see. I must say, I am liking the 2.0 software though (played around with it on my brother-in-laws original iPhone…).

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