nmathai photography

We've Reached the End

2008-08-08T08:00:00.007-05:00

I've officially reached the end of NMathai Photography and this blog. I've had a good run, don't you think? I actually began this blog as a personal journal of sorts back in 2006, and its come a long way since then...almost 200 posts, over 100 comments, thousands of visitors. It was fun while it lasted. Rest in peace, people.

OK...obviously, it's not the end. But going through many changes recently, this was another one that was in the works. And today, I am excited to reveal to all of you the new...everything! Here goes...

- New Name: The business will now be know as Nate Mathai Photography...it's a lot easier, don't you think?

- New Cards: With the new branding of the name/site, I got these super cool new business cards made up, too! I've already switched my image branding to the new logo and such (as you probably noticed awhile ago), but now it's all tying together. What do you think of these?

- New Site: I've completely revamped my blog and site...and in the process they got merged together to form my new and improved blogsite! There's still some features that will be added in due time, but I've been patient enough until now and got tired of waiting! So now the new site is located at http://www.natemathai.com/ (it's a lot easier, don't you think?). Make sure you update your bookmarks and RSS readers, because I won't be making any new posts to this one.

Why do I love my new site...let me count the reasons (this is more a way to help you navigate)...
1] Easy Commenting!
No more needing to leave the page or anything. Easily view/hide all comments, and add your own much faster! This is by far my favorite thing (...and to prove it, I've also added a shout-out to those who comment most at the top of the blog :))

2] Rotating Banner!
At the top of the page, you'll see some of my favorite images of my clients. Each to you reload the page, you'll get a new one. Changing content is a beautiful thing.

3] Photo Challenge Location!
Now there's an easy way to see the current and past challenges...just go up to the drop-down navigation under 'extras' and find everything you need! (You can also follow my progress in my 28 in 2008 in the 'extras' section)

4] Client Cart!
Also in the navigation at the top, you'll find a "clients" where you can view your events in your own gallery. I'll also post personal work on their available for purchase too (once I start shooting more personal fine art stuff)!

5] Mobile Ready!
For those of you who browse on your iPhone's and such, you can go to http://m.natemathai.com/ for a mobile-friendly version of the site!

I've pushed all my old posts from this blog to the new site, so there really is no reason to keep checking this one moving forward- unless for some reason you really want to read this one post again, or have an odd love for this blog design...then by all means, to each his own.
With that said, head over there now and have a blast! (Oh, and let me know what you think about it over there too!)

NMP Photo Challenge: August

2008-08-06T22:30:00.001-05:00

And for August, here we go!

Theme: Signs

Much of the communication we receive and give are visual. We signal hello's and goodbye's with a wave of our hands. A circle with a line through it means not to do something. We are directed how to get around a building or where a restaurant is by signs.
For this challenge, show me some signs! Have fun with composition or tell a story with the sign (...like, have a picture of people running past a "Slow Children" sign), or display a universal gesture that has become standard in our lives (...such as the two-finger peace sign).
Send your submissions to challenge@nmathaiphotography.com with the month in the subject, and include your name, link to your site, and a description/explanation of your image (especially if it is a gesture). Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Happy shooting people!

100

2008-08-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

I just came across that I received my 100th blog comment! Woo hoo! Thanks to everyone who leaves the love. I stole this idea from Jasmine* who does something similar, but I did a search for "100" on Google images and found this:

Sunil was the 100th commentator to my blog, and with that he will receive a $10 iTunes Gift Card! Congrats Sunil! And now you know that it pays to leave some love...you never know when I'm a mood to give some gifts. :)

Reflection...

2008-08-06T07:24:00.005-05:00

He made dancing fun for me...

It was one year ago - though there has been healing, there is always pain. And I question what to write, what to share, what to post...so many different directions and angles my heart feels like taking this, but not knowing which one is 'best'. Words will not do justice, and might only make me more restless, or bitter, or something (praise God for the delete key and delayed postings).

I remember December 2006. At our church's regional conference, Binil asked if he could talk to me, so we found some time to meet up separately between things to talk. It was a question i knew was coming - 'Are you willing to serve in leadership with CPT?' CPT was the Creative Presentations Team at our church, which I was a part of way back in the day (mid-90's), putting on skits and presentations for different events. It transformed greatly over time, and was something that Binil invested so much of his time and effort in. Over the winter, though, many of the leaders were being called to different ministries and stretched too thin, and they were lacking people to take charge. I'd always loved serving in it, and that type of ministry is a 'fun' passion for me, but we both knew that I had already accepted the role as VP of our youth fellowship, and it just wouldn't be right for me to take on more at the moment.
The one thing I always seem to share of him is his passion, and it came out here again. He got into talking about his vision for the ministry, his heart for the people involved, his feelings on the leadership. He was a visionary and a dreamer. He looked at the Kingdom before looking at the situation at hand, and I still don't know how he did it.
Looking back on the year, many things have changed in my life, and I've grown a lot. But these are stakes in history to remind me of different areas where I stkk lack. I praise God for a relationship that is continuing to push me to not be limited by the practicality of this world's abilities, and to be a dreamer, to have a vision. And moments like these remind me of what a full life consists of.
His time came at the right time.
But I say that with a mental understanding of God's control more than a heart-filled conviction that he shouldn't have been with us longer.

I hear him challenge us with a reflection of his own life:
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."

...and continuing to say...
"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Do your best to come to me quickly..."
2Timothy4:1-9

ETA- Binil's slideshow/testimony

[08.04.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-08-04T14:50:00.007-05:00

[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.

[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. :)

She said Yes...

2008-08-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

{I'll have more info later...}

[07.28.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-07-28T23:15:00.002-05:00

[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.

[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.

Nisha and Joel

2008-07-27T12:20:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, my sister finally got married! I did their e-session a bit ago, but they said I have to stand in the wedding so they hired other photographers...ah well, such is life. After many years and a lot of planning and preparing, everything finally came together yesterday. We had many relatives coming in from around the country for a 600+ person wedding, and everything went by smoothly.
By ~~order~~ ~~demand~~ request of my girlfriend, I was not aloud to bring my camera with me to the wedding and take pictures while being a groomsman. So sadly, my gear sat at home for the entire festivities. HOWEVER, I did grab some shots at the rehearsal earlier (with some fun processing).

I was also able to get a quick grab of the dress/shoes when the girls were getting their hair done.

They're off to their honeymoon tomorrow, and then next up for our family is my engagement ceremony in a couple weeks (wow...things are coming up out of nowhere!)

PS> There have been many questions regarding the realness of emotion in my toast. Let's just say the dramatic pause in the beginning was pre-planned for an added kick to the punch line, BUT it was more dramatic than I had intended due to some realness sneaking in. Make sense? :)

Linu and Sunil's Engagement

2008-07-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

Earlier in the month I shot the engagement ceremony of Linu and Sunil. Their wedding is going to be held in India, so this was their opportunity to bring all the close friends and family together to celebrate with them who will not be able to make the trip.
I love it when you can see the union not just of two individuals, but also two families. It was also so great to experience the love within each family...the fathers had so much to say of their children, and it was very clear how tightly knit all of them were.

Linu and Sunil, I wish you guys all the best in your married life to come.

[07.21.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-07-21T22:26:00.003-05:00

[Photo Challenge] I know I posted it late, but the month's almost up for July's challenge! Get on it and send them in!
[Turning 24] This past Thursday I celebrated my 24th birthday...man am I old! I started with work from 9-5 (I know...I should have taken the day off, but I need to save my vacation days). Afterward, I came home for dinner with my family and girlfriend, and then the two of us went to watch a movie in the park. A rather relaxing night.
Last year, I made a point to respond to each person who wished me a happy birthday, but this year there were way too many sources! Text messages, phone calls, e-mails, facebook, twitter, IM...I just couldn't do it! I'm thankful to all of you who did send messages though...if it makes you feel any better I did read them all!
Oh, when you get this old, you rarely receive physical gifts, really...but my girlfriend came through yet again (isn't she the greatest!):

[Indo-Pak] I remember going to helping out with the Indo-Pak tournaments in the early 90's since my cousin ran them, and this year I went back as a photographer. I'll have a write-up once I process the images, but here's what you get for now:

[Girl Seeing] That's a very loose translation of what Saturday held for me. It's an Indian tradition for the groom (to be)'s family (elders) to go to the house of the bride (to be) and see the girl...and so on Saturday my family went to visit my girlfriend. About 15 from my side of the family drove over there, sat around and stared at each other, ate dinner, and returned. In the end, I think everything worked out because nobody is going to call off the wedding :)
[Summer League] My season is over. Sadly, I wasn't able to take any pictures this past week either! I was shooting Indo-Pak earlier in the evening, and made it to Summer League just in time for the last 3 games of the night, 2 of which I was playing in (we need more photographers!). The good news is we finally won! We had inter-league games, and we pulled out the first win in OT, and the second one we pulled away at the end. Even with those two wins, though, we weren't able to get into the playoffs because of the point differential. Ah well, we played the spoiler determining the fate of a couple of teams in the West. Looking forward to seeing EVERYONE there next week for the playoffs and All-Star game!
[Wedding Planning] Man is it busy! My sister's wedding is this coming Saturday so it's a last minute crunch on seating charts and details and such. The good news is I'll have a lot of things taken care of and organized for my wedding next year! Yay for silver linings!

Jiju and Soumy (and Baby Abigail)

2008-07-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

I remember the younger days with Jiju. Being cousins and all, we had a lot of family parties and such, and I still hear him claiming he was Michael Jordan and the famous Indian actor Mamooty. Now he's all grown up, married a little over a year ago, just had his first child, and is finishing up seminary. It's crazy to see how much we grow over the years, yet still how much we retain our character.
I went over to take a few family pictures with Baby Abigail and the inlaws, and followed it up with little portait session of just Jiju and Soumy. They had their wedding in India (and I wasn't doing international destination weddings at the time :) ), bu really wanted to have some portraits of just the two of them...and of course I was game!
We started indoors for some family portraits:

Isn't she precious?

The rain let up, so we decided to take their portraits out by a lake nearby...

The winds picked up, though...which was entertaining, but a bit hard to control...

So we took the shoot back indoors...

Jiju, Soumy and Abigail...I had a great time shooting you guys. Definitely looking forward to seeing Abigail grow up this year!

Happy Birthday!

2008-07-17T00:00:00.002-05:00

24. Wow, I'm old. God is good, still. It was a rather crazy 23 with many ups, downs and changes in life, but all with a purpose (much of which I'm still looking to figure out). All things considered, I'm thankful.

I realize you people come here for the images and not for the words (it's OK, I'm still going to write stuff :)), so here you go. In the past year there's been a handful of images from my younger days posted on Facebook, so I figured I might as well post one from 'way back'. Enjoy! (I was rockin' the orange way back then too!)

Happy 17th Everyone! Celebrate it well!

::EDITED TO ADD::
Like last year, I was planning on responding to everyone who wished me a happy birthday...but this year I was receiving it from too many sources! I had around 100 on Facebook, a couple e-mails, some texts, a few phone calls, some twitter ones, gChats and a blog comment (plus the obvious face-to-face). SO...consider this message to everyone who contacted me through those sources: THANKS!

[07.14.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-07-14T21:19:00.003-05:00

[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:

[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...).

Welcome to the Governor's Club

2008-07-11T15:15:00.003-05:00

I just got into NC a little bit ago and haven't had a huge amount of time to wander, but wanted to let you all know I got here safely! Oh...and here's where I'm staying:

And that's just my room. There's also a living area in the center since there are four rooms attached.

Alright...time to go!

NMP Challenge Submissions: June-Rule of Thirds

2008-07-09T08:45:00.000-05:00

I posted the July challenge here, so make sure you check that out and get your submissions in this coming month. For June, we worked on composition, and I applaud you guys. In honor of the 4th, here's one of the submissions by Bincy from NY:

And here are the rest:
[Bincy]

[Leena T]

[Taffy]

NMP Photo Challenge: July

2008-07-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

I said I'd post it, and here it is!

Theme: Games

The theme is pretty simple enough...I'm looking for games. Maybe those fun little past time games that you might play 1-2 times a year but they are just so fun! Or games that you find yourself getting overly competitive in. Games that remind you of your childhood.
This theme might not be that difficult, but get creative with how you set it up! With this one, I lined up the dominoes, then used an off-camera flash to camera right to throw the shadows in the frame and give the image more depth. Now, I know not everyone has an off-camera lighting set-up, but again...GET CREATIVE! Give us a point of view that we normally would not see. Take something simple then make it something eye catching. Happy shooting everyone!

Alexis' 3rd Birthday

2008-07-08T18:56:00.004-05:00

It seems like just yesterday I left work early to get to the hospital to see my first niece. Now she is 3 years old and has a baby sister. It's crazy how fast things change.
Alexis had a luau for her 3rd birthday and invited a bunch of her friends (and their parents), which meant the house was filled with these little ones running around. With a scare of rain, they brought much of the festivities indoors, but were able to go outside for some cake...and everybody loves cake!

Here's the birthday girl...

There was a time for dancing...

Some of the best limbo you've ever seen!

When I took this picture, I thought "If these two hook up, this is definitely going in their wedding slideshow". Then I thought, "That's like in 20 years at least!" Do you think they'll still be doing slideshows? What do you think will be the next big thing?

And with everyone there, it was only fitting to have a quick portrait of all (most of) the parents with their little ones(I think the parents enjoyed it a bit more than their children)...

The wife and kids couldn't make it...but that doesn't mean he can't have a picture...

[07.07.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-07-07T19:57:00.003-05:00

[Photo Challenge] Sorry everyone for the delay...things have been VERY hectic as of late. I'll get the challenge for July out by tomorrow, and post the June entries by Wednesday. (remember, you can keep sending them in until I post everyone's submissions...my delay means more tme for you!)
[All-Star] The MLB All-Star game is right around the corner, and the Cubbies will be sending 7 guys, including our rookies Soto and Fukodome! It's also pretty impressive that Kerry got called as a closer...well-deserved recognition for the Cubbies. (I am a bit surprised that Soriano got voted as a starter with his limited action as of late, but ah well...I'm not complaining)
[Linu and Sunil] On Saturday, I shot an engagement ceremony for Linu and Sunil, so I'll have a full blog post coming up (...along with many other blog posts coming up :)), but here's your tease to hold you over:

[Summer League] The first day of summer league kicked off yesterday, and boy was it exciting! There was a new batch of rookies (and some vets back to prove a name for themselves) which proved to show for some tight games. Personally, I played as if I never shot a basketball before (we went 0-2 on day1), but it's alright. Now that I know what it feels like to play again, I'm ready for next week! Here's a couple shots, and you can find the rest on the summer league website (for the photogs, I normally shoot raw, but I did these jpg with limited post production for quick turnaround. I give much respect for sport shooters who have like a 10 minute turnaround time to turn images in for the web or paper while producing amazing images...it's tough stuff!)

[Things to Come] So you all know, I'll be flying out on Friday to shoot a wedding in North Carolina on Saturday, and I'll be back on Sunday in time for day2 of summer league, so I'm not sure if you'll hear much of me during that time. But I'm looking to get a couple posts up before I leave, so that should be a fair trade, right? :) Happy Monday everybody!

4th of July

2008-07-04T19:23:00.003-05:00

Another national holiday means another chance for my college friends to hang out. We weren't able to get 100% attendance again, but got a good majority to celebrate and catch up.

The food:

Here's a cake shaped like a hamburger! (nobody really ate it, but it sure looked cool...)

In addition to the 4th, we were celebrating 6 birthdays (one from January, one from February, 2 from June, and 2 in July), a welcome back to our friend who is in London the past year, and a 'congrats on a new job' to a friend who wasn't even there today [but at least we caught up!]. My girlfriend asked to borrow my camera (literally took it out of my hands) because she wanted to take the picture of myself and Ekta (the July birthdays) blowing out the candles on our cakes. She still hasn't grasped the concept of the back focus...

Hers was actually a set of cupcakes...

My cake had these basketball candles on it...getting me hype for summer league (rosters will be posted tonight!)...

And this is what everyone actually looks like when we have our conversations...

Happy 4th everyone!

Dianna & Joe's Wedding

2008-07-02T10:43:00.007-05:00

They had been together for around 5 years, and finally chose to take that next step into married life. It's such a special moment to see two people so entwined together make a commitment to each other. Dianna and Joe wanted to have a very small wedding with just their family and close friends, and they got exactly that. It's such a different look for me, as I'm used to a 500+ wedding every other weekend, so it was very refreshing to see a gathering like this. With such a small group, Dianna and Joe were able to share their special day personally with those they love, and you could definitely feel the love between everyone that day (especially these two!).

Some getting ready time...

Have I mentioned how much I love ring shots?

Help me out...I keep looking at the next 3 and can't figure out which one is my favorite! They are so in love...

Here's a nice rendition of the wishing well...shaped like a cake! (It was surrounded by smaller cakes for the reception)

The pastor had received the rings earlier without the knowledge of Dianna and Joe...just before this he asked for the rings and there was a brief moment of silence/searching by Joe before he finally pulled it out.

Dianna and Joe, thank you so much for letting me take part in your special day and I wish you all the best!

[06.30.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-06-30T20:57:00.004-05:00

[Photo Challenge] As today is June 30th, get your submissions in NOW for the June Photo Challenge! I'll post the next challenge later on this week (...oh, and if you have any ideas/suggestions for challenges, feel free to leave them in the comments).
[Cubbies] After sweeping the Sox last week at Wrigley, they repaid the favor be sweeping us in the Cell this weekend. I'll give them credit...it's not like they're a bad team, they're leading the AL Central. What do you think...too soon to call a Cubs-Sox World Series?!?!

|ETQ| The Cubs OWNED the Giants tonight in San Fran 9-2! DeRosa had 2 home runs (a grand slam in the 8th after they walked 3 straight batters to load the bases) and 6 RBIs...now that's how you swing it back in the right direction!
[Summer League] I can't believe its almost here! The second annual Summer League is starting this coming Sunday (draft on Friday), and I am OUT OF SHAPE! I tried ballin' with guys last week and was winded after 1 game. We played again today and I at least had better endurance...maybe playing indoors well bring me back to true form...maybe?!?!
[Abigail] On Saturday I did a shoot of baby Abigail. Im not sure of what I'm supposed to call her...she's my Dad's-uncle's-wife's-brother's-son's-daughter. In any event, she's family. Here's a glimpse:

[Jiju and Soumy] While I was there, I did a fun little portrait session of Abigail's parents, Jiju and Soumy. They've been married for over a year, but had their wedding out in India and didn't really have many relaxed portraits of just the two of them, so we made sure to get some there. Another glimpse:

[Busy Schedule] I thought June was a busy time for me, but July is even busier! I've still got to get some dedicated posts up about Dianna and Joe's wedding, Alexis' Birthday, and now baby Abigail and Jiju and Soumy's session. And looking ahead, I've got an engagement ceremony this Saturday, a wedding the week after [more details to come], a basketball tournament the week after that, and then my sister's wedding on the last weekend! (I'm standing in that one, but maybe I can pull off a few snaps without getting in the pro's way :) ) I'll be hard at work so please be patient if it's a little quiet on the bloggin' front or responding to e-mails/comments- I'm definitely reading everything and planning on getting back to all of you soon! Back to work!

Cleaning and Reminiscing

2008-06-25T21:35:00.007-05:00

As my sister's wedding draws closer (July 26th), my dad seems to be finding more and more home improvement projects to do. I thought the big thing was painting our family room...boy was that a silly thought. I believe his main thing is cleaning out our basement. He's been wanting to finish the basement completely for awhile, but we've never got around to it. Although we probably don't have time to do it now, he t least wants to clean out all the junk and what not that's been piling up over the years.
The last time I remember being down there with people was after my oldest sister's engagement party...like 7 years ago. Since then, I basically only went down there to store boxes or whatnot...which is what everyone in the family did. But now, we must clean. So I went down there today to start organizing things a bit to make it easier to sort through, as well as do a quick grab of my stuff. There's so much more to go...

Here's a small corner of the basement...

The evolution of phones. I found a couple more (including a few cell phones) as I started to unpack boxes. And yes, that is a rotary phone. I believe it still works, too.

A vintage vinyl record player. We have no more records; the needle is broke. Yet we kept this thing for years.

And you obviously need some speakers to go with. I actually brought these to U of I during my senior year and we hooked up our TV to it for some quality sound during movie nights (or when were bored and wanted loud noise).

As my parents seem to keep many unnecessary items for years, I think it's made its way into my genes on the tech side. here are a couple printers and a scanner (mind you I currently have an inkjet printer and a printer/scanner/copier in my room).

And here are 3 monitors. Note: During the last week of school, make your rounds to the apartment buildings around campus...many people throw away perfectly good stuff as they are moving out because they don't want to pack it all up. I think we picked up 3 monitors from there. And that has helped me to have, between my room and the basement, 4 CRT monitors, 1 LCD monitor, 3 PC towers, and my Macbook Pro. I really need to figure out what to do with this stuff...I just can't let go!

And you might think you know religious people, but look at here. These are 'extra' bibles in our basement. Personally, I think I have another 6 bibles on my shelf in my room (not counting my regular use one). And that doesn't include what the rest of the family has scattered around. Is it just me, or is it really hard to get rid of a bible?

As I unpacked some boxes I started to stumble upon some old stuff of mine, which got me into a reminiscent mode. To start:

This was my first digital camera. In 2002, I bought this HP Photosmart digital camera off ebay, and people quickly got annoyed of me (that was the beginning of my photographic life).

Yep...you are reading these things right. That's a 2.1MP camera with a 4x digital zoom. Man I thought I was cool. I had the only camera around. And I tortured it a lot, as you can tell. I can't count how many times this thing had been dropped.

One of the goals on my 28 in 2008 list was to organize my card collection. When I went off to college I moved all of this from my room to the basement, and I wanted to go back and get it all back together. I started collecting around 1990 (if my memory served me correctly) and only did it for a few years. But I was hardcore then, constantly checking the value of the cards in Beckett. I haven't taken great care of these,a s you can tell, but I wonder how much all of this is worth now. I guess step 1 in the process is bringing this all out of the basement.

Another thing that I collected very briefly was newspapers. There were a couple papers that I thought 'In the future I'm going to look back on these and be glad I kept them.' And I look at them now and think the same thing...it's a small thing right now, but looking 20+ years down the line, this will be fun to reflect on.

[Thursday, April 25, 1996] Bulls 4th Championship run (I also have the papers from the 1st, 3rd, and 6th titles)

[Friday, February 27, 1998] Harry Caray's passing

[Monday, March 12, 2001] Illini's first major run in the NCAA Tournament (my junior year of high school)

[Wednesday, September 12, 2001] September 11th

That last one hit me a bit. Almost 7 years ago. The big tagline during that time was "We will never forget." Sure, I think we all remember it. But does it impact our daily lives? Life is short. Ultimately, our time on earth is out of our hands and has already been decided for us. Are we making the most of it? Are we living purposefully able to be 'satisfied' with this day being our last?

I don't recommend you guys keeping clutter and stuff for years, but if you already do it...take some time and go through it all. It might be a good thing to help bring you back for a bit and put current situations in perspective again. It's interesting just thinking of how far I've come even in the past 5 years...

[06.23.08] Monday Night Recap

2008-06-23T19:14:00.004-05:00

[Photo Challenge] 1 more week for this month! Remember, this challenge is about composition, and giving your keeping your subject OUT of the center of the frame.
[Cubbies] We had tough break getting swept by Tampa last week, but we just owned the AL Central leading White Sox in the crosstown series! (For the record, I'm not a White Sox hater...but am a MUCH bigger Cubs fan). Surprisingly enough, I was busy enough that I didn't get to see any of the games...how sad is that!? Ah well...
[ABDC] I was very disappointed in America's Best Dance Crew last wek...the people who killed it the season premiere dropped the ball, and the average dancers really put on a show. One thing, though...I don't like there are these "Best..." shows that do not bring back previous competitors. It would have been better if you had like that top 3 from last year come back and defend...I mean, seriously. JabbaWockees, Kaba Modern and Status Quo should have to prove themselves year in and year out (of course, they'd obviously own the competition...but it'd still be fun). Just a thought...
[Ben & Anee] On Saturday, another set of friends got married...yep, it happens A LOT in my community. I think this is the 3rd set this year where both the bride and groom were from my home church! I've known both of them for awhile and have served alongside them over the past year. It's so exciting to see two people get together with such a great vision for the future.
Showing up as a guest, I let the paid photog's do all the work :). But here are a few I grabbed...

Binil Samuel Memorial Fund

[Alexis' Birthday Party] Happy 3rd Birthday Alexis!! Wow...my niece is now 3! Today is her official birthday, but yesterday we had a Luau party for her and her friends at the house...my goodness all these kids are growing up so fast! I'm actually able to have a bit of dialog with them, which makes them more entertaining for me (I mean, they're cool when they're younger, but this is the age I like). Here's a glimpse of the party, with a recap to be posted later:

[Reflections] On my train ride to work, I was listening to a podcast by Ravi Zacharias entitled 'The Lostness of Man". Here are a few quotes that really hit me that I felt like sharing:

The fact of the matter is that man carries on this game of pretense into many, many arenas of his life. He is attempting to build civilizations when he does not know what it means to be civilized. He is trying to be a philosopher when he does not know who the master philosopher is. He is portraying his artistic perceptions, he does not know the master artist. He moralizes on life, but he does not know the moral law giver.
(quoting Dr. John R.W. Stott) Many of the happenings of civilized society would not exist if it were not for human sin. A promise is not enough, we need a contract. Doors are not enough, we have to lock and bolt them...Law and order are not enough, we need police to enforce them. All these things and many others to which we have grown accustomed that we have taken them for granted are due to our sin. We cannot trust each other, we need protection from one another; it is a sorry state of affairs.

...until [we] understand the heart of man, [we] will never understand the justification by faith.

So there's a glimpse into what I contemplate during my days...enjoy! Happy Monday everybody!

Lenie & Namratha's E-Session

2008-06-20T19:36:00.004-05:00

I knew Lenie and his family growing up, but then awhile back they moved out to Atlanta. After graduation, he found a job as a Math teacher in the Chicago Public School which brought him back around, and we re-connected since I came back from U of I. Lenie and Namratha met while they were in college, and have been doing the distance thing for a bit as she is still out in Georgia, but she was able to come down for a recent weekend so we made sure we got a session in for them. We took a stroll around downtown Chicago in some great weather (though the weatherman told us we'd experience rain...silly weathermen). The wedding is going to be out in Atlanta on July 12th, so it's right around the corner!

Now I don't do many images with textures, but I knew I had to with this one right when I snapped the picture...

And I love this set...It's great when my clients are willing to stand in the middle of the road just before a truck comes at them...

Lenie and Namratha, I had a blast with you guys and wish you all the best on your wedding day and married life to come. See you guys back in Chicago in the fall!

Baby Seylah

2008-06-20T18:45:00.003-05:00

Baby Seylah was born a little bit ago, and I had gone to take a few portraits of her for the birth announcement. Normally it's a bit tough to take these portraits because the kids can get a bit fussy over tme, but she seriously did not mind the pictures AT ALL! Here's a few more from the session:

Big brother Jaden...

And this one's to show that he really does like her :)