My Story – The Birth of Life Photos

Hey, thanks for stopping by! Welcome to Life Photos. My name is Nathanael Zeghai, a wedding photographer based in Ottawa, Canada. I specialize in weddings, events, and portraits.

Photography has been a hobby of mine ever since I was a kid. I was always the one taking photos at family gatherings, a cousin’s engagement or graduation party, vacations, and even local Eritrean community events. I enjoyed photography simply because it let me immortalize the smallest moments into lasting memories.

I started taking more photos around 2013, when my parents gifted me a Canon Rebel T3i for my high school graduation. The next summer, I went on a four-month vacation to my home country, Eritrea. During that time, I got to experience multiple national holidays and take road trips to different corners of the country. When I got back, I started sharing my photos on my personal social media, and the response from friends and family was really positive. I wanted more people to have access to photos of Eritrea, so I created a photoblog: 🔗 https://eri14.weebly.com

For the next few years, I continued casually taking photos for family and for my local Eritrean community. Whenever I travelled I’d always have my camera with me. During that time, I was studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ottawa. And like most people’s stories go—I got busy with school, and later, starting my career, resulting in me not picking up my camera up as much.

July 21, 2013 - Family friend’s wedding - Whenever I travelled, I’d always have my camera with me, enjoying capturing my own memories.

In early 2020, I had pretty much launched a photography business under the name Photo Natu. I had booked my first paid gig—but as we all know, the pandemic happened. From late 2021 to mid 2022, I travelled the world. I visited Portugal, England, Italy, and Eritrea. This time around I saw the iPhone 13 as a good enough camera and left my bulky camera at home on a shelf collecting dust.

In 2022, I ended up focusing on launching a side hustle in the hospitality industry. Then in 2023, I was ready for my next challenge. And this time, I knew it had to be something I truly enjoyed. So I went back to do what was long overdue…

Life Photos was officially established on December 10, 2023.

Why Life Photos and not Nathanael Zeghai Photography?

Just like I fell in love with photography because it helped me capture my life’s most meaningful moments, I wanted to offer that same service to others. At the end of the day, the photos aren’t about me, the photographer—it’s about you. Your life. Your memories. Your moments.

Your milestones, your story.

That’s the meaning behind Life Photos.

My Mission

My mission is simple: I want to help you relive life’s biggest and most meaningful moments by capturing them in a way that lasts. From baptisms to birthdays, proposals to weddings—these are the events I want to photograph with a documentary-style approach. I want to help you tell your story visually so you can look back years from now and still feel what that day was like.

What Makes Life Photos Different?

There are approximately 1,000 photographers in Ottawa… so why choose Life Photos?

One thing I learned from the hospitality industry is: you can have a great product, but if the service isn’t great, the whole experience can fall apart.

Take Costco for example... I’ll buy the same product from Costco over another store because I know their customer service is solid. If something goes wrong, they’ll go above and beyond to make it right. The product may be the same—but the experience is different.

So how does that relate to photography?

As part of my market research before launching Life Photos, I talked to friends and family about their past photographer experiences. And honestly? The quality of the photos was rarely the issue. What I heard over and over was customer service complaints: Difficulty getting in touch with the photographer, waiting nearly a year for galleries to be delivered, etc.

That’s when I decided that excellent customer service would be one of the two pillars of Life Photos.

The Two Pillars of Life Photos

1. Customer Service: I want every client to feel heard, cared for, and taken care of. That means quick communication, clear timelines, and a smooth experience from first contact to gallery delivery.

2. Quality: I focus on three things when it comes to quality:

• I aim to make my photos look like they came out of a magazine or were pulled from a movie.
  Whether it’s bright daylight or a dimly lit reception, I work to produce sharp, cinematic, high-quality images.

• I tailor my lighting and editing to every skin tone.
  Every complexion deserves to be photographed and edited with care. Whether you’re melanin-rich or fair-skinned, I make intentional choices to bring out the best in your skin. This is a skill that I’ve studied and practiced—and I take pride in getting it right.

• I edit in a true-to-life, timeless style.
  Trends come and go (bright and airy, dark and moody, etc.), but I believe your photos should stand the test of time 25 years from now. A good example? My uncle has a wedding photo from the early 2000s hanging in his living room. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the fashion, you wouldn’t be able to tell what year it was taken. The colors, the lighting, the natural look—that photo is still beautiful 20 something years later. That’s what I aim to create for my clients.

So welcome to Life Photos—where I don’t just take pictures. I capture memories that last for Life.

Ready to capture your own life moments?

Whether you're planning a wedding, a proposal, or a family celebration, I’d love to hear your story.
Get in touch here or check out the Life Photos services to get started.