Today at 2:15, I'll be at the @WHCCpro booth talking about the controversial "what to do with the digital files?" issue. #thebschool | 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.
It starts earlier and earlier every year. Last Sunday night I found myself at The Grove in LA watching their Christmas tree lighting celebration a full 4 days before Thanksgiving. Call me old school, but I don't like celebrating Christmas until after I've had my turkey coma nap, that's why I waited to post this. Having said that, I sure do love this time of year and I am looking forward to celebrating the holidays with new and old friends, as well as my family. I did go out and get my shop on yesterday and the malls were quite crowded despite all of the economic news. I even heard today that Black Friday sales this year were better than last year. Hopefully that means things are looking up.
I also want to say a big thank you to Travis, my office manager's husband, for hooking me up on the Christmas light installation while I was out shopping yesterday. My neighbors were jealous of a.) the wonderful job he did and b.) the fact that I didn't have to put them up myself. Thanks man, I owe you one!
I hope y'all enjoy this season as much as I plan on doing so. If you want to invite me to a holiday party, I'll probably show up! "Tis the season to [ b ] Merry!"
Happy Black Friday everyone! I don't think I am going to brave the malls today, instead I am going to take advantage of online specials. My favorite site, amazon.com is having some crazy deals today and I've also just updated my aStore with my latest gear and a few new books that I've been enjoying.
Also, there are lots of other great deals for photographers out there starting with the Totally Rad Actions, which have been updated to work with Photoshop CS4 and they are on sale today only. Click the banner below for the details.
Shootsac is having an outlet sale on it's covers... 50% off in most cases:
Mike Colon has a black Friday sale going on too!:
If you are thinking of getting a GoBee Bag, now would be a good time:
What are you hoping to get from Santa this year? I want a Canon 200mm f/2 please!
The other night, I was dining at a hip Hollywood hot spot and there was something on the menu that really got me thinking. I felt a little rant coming on, but then I just thought I'd share my experience and then see what y'all thought.
So I don't want to mention the name of the establishment, because I don't think I want to give them any publicity. If the comments you leave get me to change my mind or thinking on the situation, I may edit this post later and give them their due props.
Right on the cover of the menu, is read: "No substitutions, No modifications, No reservations".
Ok, no problem so far. A lot of places don't take reservations and I guess they don't want to change the menu. Whatever.
But inside, there was an entire paragraph at the bottom of the menu, i wish I would have written it down, but it basically went out of the way to let you know that they were so proud of their menu and there would be no substitutions or modifications and no exceptions to that rule. It was kinda like "don't even think of asking" mentality. We make our food this way for a reason, and that's that. Ok, if that's how you want to run your business... fine. But it sure just rubbed me the wrong way, especially when there were many choices on the menu that looked incredible and I wanted to try them, but I don't like mushrooms, so they wouldn't "hold them" for me. There were a few other dishes that looked good too, but sometimes I do like to modify the dish based on my personal tastes. I don't have any crazy outrageous requests, but sometimes it's nice to just get exactly what I want. I don't mind paying extra, or waiting longer, or whatever. I realize we weren't at Burger King where I could "have it my way" but it was a very expensive restaurant and I would think a high end place like that would be more accommodating.
Once more, they also said something about not wanting to change the menu because it disrupts it's efficient service. LA is known for a lot of things, but good service at restaurants isn't one of them. Our waiter, who looked like he just finished an audition, sure didn't seem like he wanted to be there. The service was slow and not particularly good anyway, so would it kill you to remove those mushrooms for me? What if I had a food allergy, would they change it then or tell me to pick something else? What is Brad & Angelina came in to dine and asked for something off the menu or a slight change. Do you think they'd stick to their guns or bend a little to the please the celebrities?
I don't know folks... am I overreacting? Does this deserve and entire blog post? Do a lot of places have this attitude?
By the way, the food was fantastic... I got the special of that day... pork chop, asparagus, roasted potatoes... but I doubt I'll go back there. Wasn't diggin' the vibe?
Well, now that wedding season is over and the holidays are rapidly approaching, I am really enjoying the "down time". And by that I mean I have time to work on the plethora of projects that I have had in my head and just been waiting for time to work on them. So it's not really down time, just shifting focus for a little while.
In the coming weeks and months, I'll be updating my online portfolios, making several new sample albums, finishing some web projects, continuing to build the [ b ] School, working on my poker career, shooting more for myself, video blogging on this site ( a whole series for couples planning their wedding coming soon) as well as catching up on some reading and other miscellaneous tasks. Today is the first day in a long time that I don't have anything scheduled on my calendar so I am using it to tie up loose ends, and come up with a plan to tackle the aforementioned to-do's. (Plus there's a poker tournament at the Bike tonight!)
I'll give you a sneak peak at my newest sample album that I've been working on. It's from that awesome wedding I shot in Carmel earlier this year.
please enter the password to view this entire post:
A while back I shot this lovely model for my fine art nude project. I am finally getting around to posting them. I have a few more models to post in the coming weeks.
Enter "sarah" in the password box to see more images. If you are offended by artistic representations of the nude female form, do not enter.
Note to photographers, most of these images were processed with the new Totally Rad Actions: The Revenge, which are certainly worth picking up.
I've know Sharon Sumich for about a dozen years now. She used to come into the photo lab I used to work at and drop off her film for processing. She ended up being my first second shooter and still to this date, has shot more weddings with me than any other person. She is an amazing photographer in her own right, although lately she's concentrating on being a fabulous mother and an all around excellent human being. She has always been one of my biggest fans and I just love her and her family so much.
Yesterday afternoon I stopped by for a visit and an impromptu family portrait session. Here kids are hilarious. And as you can see from the photo below... her husband Geoff is super tall. ;-):
The newest addition, Milan, has no problem taking center stage:
Good times on the trampoline:
I think Geoff pulled a hammy!:
Ella is 8 now.
Alida is a crack up:
I think mom will love this one:
By the way, Geoff Sumich is an amazingly talented designer. His work is going to be featured in an upcoming issue of Architectural Digest. One of these days, he's going to be designing my dream home.
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