Headed south on I-15 about a half hour away from the Mad Greek. Looking forward to our traditional stop there on the way home. Anyone else? | Follow me
Hey there! My name is Becker and I am a wedding photographer from Orange County, California who specializes in capturing relaxed portraits, amazing details and real moments for the coolest brides and grooms on the planet.
This blog follows both my personal and professional life, and features images from the weddings I shoot, the places I travel and the friends and family members that mean so much to me. It's basically like my own personal photo album combined with an information source for my current and potential clients and a source of inspiration and education for other photographers. This site is a little more informal and I just want to give everyone a sense of who I am, and what I am all about. Thanks for visiting.
Yesterday afternoon I made the annual pilgrimage to the local pumpkin patch to take some photos of my niece & nephew. As per usual, I was exhausted after the experience. Those two kids are a handful... I don't know how my sister does it. Caden & Addison are so cute in my unbiased opinion, but it's next to impossible to get both of their attention at the same time. Plus they have tons of energy and I literally was sweating at the end of the shoot. Here are a couple of the images that I actually managed to get in focus.
As you can see, Caden is going as Cliff Clavin this year and Addison is the little girl from the Blind Melon video:
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Feeding the sheep and goats was pretty funny. I wish I brought a video camera, especially when my sister was shooting some snaps with her Digital Rebel and a goat snuck up behind her and kissed her ear. She about jumped through the roof.
OMG, Last nights U2 concert was the best ever. They are amazing! How do they keep getting better & better? That stage was spectacular, the energy was electric and the band just rocked so hard. To be honest, I haven't listened to the new album all that much, but I was blown away how good some of those songs are live. It was a great show and I can't wait to buy the Blu Ray of that performance and piss of my neighbors by rocking the surround sound for my own private concert.
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They also broadcasted the show live on YouTube and are replaying it now incase you missed it. Who knows how long it will be up, so watch it while you have the chance. Click the banner below to go straight to the page:
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Hey photographers, what lessons can you learn about your business from U2? Tune into this week's Study Hall to find out. Thursday at 4pm PST.
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Also for photographers, make sure you tune into AskDane tomorrow at 2pm PST for a special episode in which I will be joining Dane & Scott Bourne on a live panel talking about the value of photographic communities. It may not get as much traffic as the U2 on youtube broadcast, but it should be close! ;-)
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Baseball season is over for me. I TiVoed game 6 and managed to make it home from the concert without finding out the score and started watching it around 1:30am. I really thought the Angels would force a game 7 and after they got a run off of Rivera in the top of the 8th, I really liked their chances. That was until back to back errors in the bottom of the 8th game the Yanks a couple more insurance runs and sealed the deal. Mariano is the best closer of all time. I don't care who wins the World Series and I won't be watching. I hate the Phillies and don't want them to repeat (because their fan's heads will swell even more) and of course it's not possible for Yankee fan's heads to get any bigger.
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Now that the baseball season is dead to me, I can concentrate on the Cowboys. Thanks to the Arizona Cardinals beating the New York football Giants, Dallas is only a half a game out of first place.
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I am excited to head to the East Coast this week. I'll be shooting a wedding in Rhode Island on Halloween and then hanging in Boston on Sunday. Be sure to follow @thebschool for info on a potential GTG.
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Is Flash Forward worth watching? I have all the episodes on Tivo, but I haven't watched any of them. Is the show going to stick around? I watched Jericho on CBS a few years ago and got all sucked in, then they like cancelled it, but then brought it back. I never found out how it ended or what happened because I lost interest. I don't want that to happen again. Same thing happened with Surface and Invasion. I like those Mystery type dramas, but I may wait a season or so to get them on DVD or iTunes to make sure it sticks around. Thoughts?
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I don't want to make any excuses for the Angels, because the Yankees outplayed them in just about every aspect of the game, but I can't remember a post season when the umpiring was so bad. The Angels did benefit by a few blown calls as well. The umps were just so inconsistent this year which really sucks.
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What did y'all think of the family portrait of the First Family shot by Annie Leibovitz? I wasn't impressed. Looks like a snapshot with a point & shoot camera, not a masterpiece from an incredible photographer. Do you think it was a political move to make the Obama's look like "average Americans"? I would love to shoot, or I should say photograph, the Obamas. I'd bring them outside and get some nice, natural light, relaxed portraits. I'd love the first family to use one of my images for their holiday card... wouldn't that be sweet?
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I haven't been playing a lot of poker lately. I've been playing with my friends, but not so much in the casinos. It's been a busy and full summer. As wedding season winds down, poker season should heat back up. I'm excited to watch the final table of the Main Event in a couple of weeks. I am going to be in Vegas next weekend, but I am going to miss the final table by a couple of days. I hope Phil Ivey wins it.
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Halloween is this Saturday. What are y'all going as? I'm shooting, so I'll be dressed up as a suave wedding photographer. If you are stuck trying to find a costume, you can find instructions on how to make your own Michael Jackson costume by clicking the photo below:
Shout out of the week: Goes to Bono, Edge, Adam & Larry. Great job last night. Also thank to Gary for the tickets and Tony for letting me park at his place in Pasadena to avoid the traffic nightmare surrounding the Rose Bowl.
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T-Shirt of the week:
iPhone shots of the week: Of course they are from the concert last night. It was torture being so close and only having my iPhone. I didn't even think to bring my flip or at least my point & shoot camera. I'm still going to try to shoot them at another show on this tour.
Last week I was in Miami to be a guest instructor and the Portfolio + Workshop hosted by my friends Kenny Kim & "Uncle Ray" Santana. (The amazing Lawrence Chan, my SEO guru also was a guest instructor). It was a different kind of workshop than I am used to being a part of as a good portion of the day was dedicated to shooting and helping some newer photographers build their portfolios and get experience working with models in different lighting situations. It was held at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables and we also shot at a beautiful church right across the street from the hotel.
I didn't actually shoot very many images as I was busy trying to help the students with their camera settings and giving feedback on the images they were shooting, but I did enjoy shooting the bridal portraits of our model Jessi, who is actually engaged to be married next summer.
Obviously she is a beautiful young women and she was quite easy to shoot, but what I like to teach photographers is that in addition to finding nice light and good composition, it's important to connect with your subjects on a personal level and truly bring out their personality in the images. That's what I mean when I talk about my signature relaxed portraits.
In case you missed the Jessica Claire is Married post the day after she tied the knot, check it out now so you'll be all caught up before checking out the rest of the images that I shot that day.
First of all, here are a few more bridal portraits of my dear friend Jessica. It's hard to pick a favorite. She was an absolute vision. I've never seen her look so beautfiul or so happy.
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Work it girl!
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Jeff is also quite a handsome man. He cleans up real nice for photos.
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I did tell him that he looks better when the shot is barely in focus:
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Here are a few of the details. The wedding took place at 3 Stones in Napa Valley.
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This place was a photographers dream. So many great and interesting places to shoot and the light was awesome.
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I loved the door with keys hanging next to everyone's names telling them what table to sit at:
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Here's a close up:
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I only took 1 shot during the ceremony... from my seat. I didn't want to get in the official photographers way.
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I shot a bunch of relaxed portraits of my friends who also attended the wedding. Here are the Boutwells. Isn't Max quite the dapper little fellow:
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The girls, Rachael, Renee & Keats on a vintage sofa:
During the first dance, I thought to myself... who ever is singing sounds like my friend Michael Norwood. Sure enough, I looked up and he was playing the guitar. Who knew he was so talented?
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Lastly, Keats & I had to get our picture made. Thanks to Michael for firing off a few frames.
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Be sure to check out Jessica's blog for her take on the entire experience. Jessica's wedding was also featured on Style Me Pretty and Angel Swanson who coordinated the event also posted about it. Event designer Kabrel Polak also did so much for the wedding and I know Jessica is so grateful for their help.
If you want to hear even more about Jessica Claire's wedding, be sure to tune into the [ b ] School Study Hall live chat tomorrow at 4pm PST. You can listen to her describe her day, talk about being on the other side of the camera and ask her any questions you want.
Last Sunday I shot a fabulous wedding at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel and it was simply amazing. I had a wonderful day because not only was the couple wonderful and easy to work with, but I got to work with some of my favorite vendors in the industry. Jeff Holmes from Moondance Mobile Music is one of my favorite DJs (I made my best friend hire him when he got married a couple years ago). I also got to work with Curtis from Living Cinema who is by far the least obtrusive videographer I have ever worked with and talented to boot. My old friend Nisie from Enchanted Florist provided the florals and they were out of this world. I also got to work with Michelle & Christine from Details Details and they are just so good at what they do and they made my job even easier. The couple was certainly in good hands and I have to compliment them on their choice of vendors. They have excellent taste if I do say so myself.
U2 comes to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena this weekend and I finally got some tickets. I kinda slacked off on getting them, but my friend Gary hooked me up for my birthday. I've been to a plethora of U2 shows over the years and they are by far my favorite band. They are so good live and I can't wait to go. U2 will be broadcasting the concert live for you folks who can't attend.
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By the way, if anyone knows Bono, or has any connections that would allow me to photograph him for just two minutes, that would be super. I got to photograph the Popmart tour back in '97, but i'd love to just spend a couple minutes with Bono, some nice soft light and an 85mm/1.2 lens wide open.
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The Angels/Yankees series hasn't exactly gone how I was hoping so far, but I still have hope. I'm currently watching game 3 and I am hoping to go to tomorrow nights game.
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Dexter is awesome. Last nights episode gave me chills.
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What did y'all think of "Law Abiding Citizen"? I've heard good things but the critics aren't giving it very good reviews. I may go see it later tonight anyway.
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The ballon story from last week is absurd. I was at the Houston airport and saw it playing on CNN. I read the crawler and saw all the tweets about it and of course was concerned for the little kid. When I landed in the OC and heard he had been found in the attic, I knew right away it was a hoax. As far as publicity stunts go, I believe they got some publicity, so it worked on that account. And I guess they are filing charges, but nothing substantial is going to happen to them so I am sure they'll figure out a way to cash in on all of this publicity. I just wish people would ignore them and not give them any of the publicity they crave. Lets hope their 15 minutes are almost up and they don't end up on an episode of the Surreal Life or Celebrity Apprentice.
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Just think, 2010 is a mere 10.5 weeks away. Crazy huh?
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The new Verizon ads are lame. "There's a map for that" I get they are trying to copy the "There's an App for that" campaign, but who is it aimed at? As an iPhone user, I don't really care that they have better coverage. I am not giving up my iPhone for anything even though I have no love lost on AT&T. Now if the iPhone came to Verizon, then we'll chat.
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iPhone shot of the week (more from yesterday's wedding will be posted tomorrow):
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Check back Wednesday to see more from Jessica Claire's wedding.
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Two huge routs yesterday... The Doyers got spanked by the Phils 11-0 and the Pats took it to the Titans in the snow 59-0. Crazy. It was a good day for the Cowboys even though they didn't play. All of the other NFC teams lost. Thank you Saints for taking it to the G-men.
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What the heck is Google Wave and do I want it?
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Hey photo peeps, we'll be featuring some cool products & service reviews on the [ b ] School blog this week and will even have some discounts available.
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That's right folks... I got a Snuggie for my birthday from my hilarious brother-in-law Matthew. It's actually quite comfortable, but I'm pretty sure I'll be re-gifting it back to him for Christmas. I have a feeling I am going to regret posting this image on the interweb, but what the heck:
I turned 36 yesterday and had an almost perfect day. Had the Angles beat the Yankees, it would have been perfect, but oh well, it's just Game 1. Back in 2002 when the Angels won the World Series, the Yankees also won Game 1 but that was it.
Anywho... the best part about yesterday was that my awesome girlfriend Keats threw a party for me in her swanky new loft. She is amazing. She took care of everything. Her place is perfect for hosting. It seemed like everyone had a good time. I only took a few photos since I was busy chatting and socializing, but I really enjoyed spending some quality time with my closest friends and family members.
I was also blown away with all of the love I got from my online friends via blog comments, Facebook and some Twitter love. Thanks to all of you who left comments.
The nice thing about moving into a new place, is that her fridge was pretty empty and help plenty of frosty beverages:
The Rosemary Vodka Lemonade Fizz drinks were a huge hit.
Keats' sister Kiersten braved the 5 and 405 freeways to come down and help out.
Caden was playing his "Concentration" game in the Shootsac office.
Matt & Zulma was the first couple there, so they go their photo taken before I forgot about my camera.
Joe Photo brought his and Jessica shot a few portraits of us. Joe loves me a lot. Perhaps a little too much.
Apparently Paul shot a stealthy video... I think he had a camera built into his glasses as I didn't see him with a video camera all night. You can see how cool Keats' place is:
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