so stoked to be home! looking forward to my own bed, shower & fast internet connection. although, i want to go to SXSW, but i have a wedding | 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.
Last night we went to the new Derby in Mission Viejo for our New Years Eve Eve celebration. We had way too much fun singing and dancing and taking silly photos.
Joe, Gene & I borrowed our straw hats from the venue. Tony brought his own stylish headwear.
Joe & Ingrid Photo met at a wedding Joe was shooting on New Years Eve 19 years ago. They've been together ever since.
Keats & I making and Ingrid sandwich:
Gene & Bianca doing "Irish Car Bombs" after giving into peer pressure from Joe (notice the sweet timing on this action shot):
I don't even drink, but I did have 5 or 6 Diet Coke's last night. It was crazy. Don't worry... I wasn't driving!
Regis was very excited about his Apple-tini and Rene sure seems to be enjoying whatever she is drinking.
Goodbye 2009, Hello TwentyTen! Happy New Year friends!
It's hard narrowing down my favorite images, but over the next week or so, I am going to be sharing some of my favorite images from 2009 in a few different categories.
Today I am posting some of my favorite engagement photos. I love shooting engagement photos because not only does it give me a chance to get to know my clients, it gives them an opportunity to get to know me and my pace and style of shooting. It makes things go a lot smoother on the wedding day because they are more comfortable with me, and I get an opportunity to see how they photograph.
I usually shoot engagement photos down at the beach, because you can't beat the late afternoon sunlight, but as you can see, 4 of my 5 favorite engagement photos we taken somewhere other than the beach.
Can you see what all 5 do have in common?
Don't mind me... I'm just a guy with a camera. I love shooting the couples interacting with each other and not worrying about "posing" for me. I just try to put people in nice light, find a decent background, and tell them to make out. Works like a charm! ;-)
Please vote for your favorite(s):
This one was taken in the Los Rios District in San juan Capistrano. I love the backlighting and these guys are getting married in two weeks!
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The LA smog sure is good for something. It diffuses the late afternoon sunlight so nicely. This is up in Playa del Rey and the couple lives in the neighborhood in the background of this photo:
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These guys made a road trip to Big Sur and we shot amongst the Redwoods:
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Thankfully, this guy wasn't proposing and did not drop the ring off the Brooklyn Bridge:
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This engagement session took place right around the corner from my house and I just love the movement and action in this shot:
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Couples planning their 2010 & 2011 weddings will be happy to know that an engagement session is included in all of my packages!
It's that time, the year is almost over and I have been looking back at my over 220 blog posts from 2009 reviewing where I've been and here are my favorite posts of the year (in order in which they occured):
The WPPI Convention in Las Vegas is always one of my favorite times of the year. 2009 was no exception and I am already getting excited for the 2010 convention.
The week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It's right up there with WPPI week and Burning Man week, but for a totally different reason. It's my time to rest, relax, recharge, recover, chill, organize, lay low and lounge around. I make no official plans this week and just basically do whatever I feel like on any given day. Having said that, I like to take the week to really clean up and organize my room, home, office & life in general. I also give my staff the week off so I get a little alone time to myself (read: walks around in boxers all day long).
Over the weekend I went through all of my kitchen cabinets & refrigerator, tossed a lot of crap, expired food, etc... exciting times I know! ;-) But I found my favorite sharp knife, a serving platter that went missing and made room by trashing a bunch of stuff I don't use anymore. I also did several loads of laundry and make a huge pile of clothes that I'll be donating to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
Today I am working on my loft office, which is isn't too bad, but I also go through my computers and delete a bunch of files and organize my external hard drives. I am working on going to a paperless office in 2010 and I just got the NeatReceipts for Mac and I'll be trying to figure that out this week (I'll let you know how it goes).
Tomorrow I am going to help Keats with her office since she helped me with my kitchen the other day but then I'll be back taking on my garage and bedroom later in the week. I am going to try to catch a few movies like Sherlock Holmes and Avatar and I plan on doing a movie review blog post later this week or early next week.
Also this week I'll be refining my 2010 goals that I've actually been working on for a while. I am not a big fan of New Years resolutions, but instead just trying to make some changes and develop better habits in both my personal and professional life.
I am excited for 2010. I am stoked on the weddings I'll be shooting and of course I'd still love to book some more. I am stoked on the things we have planned for the [ b ] School. I am excited about some traveling opportunities in the coming year. I am excited to revamp my personal website thebecker.net (if you haven't seen it yet, check it out before it gets a major facelift). I also have some personal photo projects in mind.
Anyway... I've gotta get back to my loft and my Westwing marathon. Happy New Year!
The say it's better to give than receive and I believe that with all of my heart. Sure, of course I like getting gifts and presents as much as the next guy, but my favorite part of this past Christmas morning is when my sister opened up the gift I got for her and Matt. They joy in her face and the tears that welled up in her eyes assured me that I made the right choice in the gift department.
I made her a new album of photos of her kids. I made one the first year Caden was born documenting the first 5 months of his life, then I made one for his second Christmas, but have slacked off the last two years. Now that Addison has joined the clan, I made an album that starts off where the last one left off. It's a 26 page, handmade album from Leather Craftsmen and it's titles "The Engel-Kids" as a play on their last name of Engelken. Check it out:
Note to Photographers. I use Album Exposure to proof my albums like this.
I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas. I had a nice relaxing day with my family. On Christmas Eve, I went to dinner with Keats and her family at a place in Glendale that the go to every year. We went back and played some Balderdash and I had to use some of my poker skills to bluff my way to a victory.
Here we are in front of on of her dad's many Christmas trees (I counted at least 4 and yes, I am working the winter beard for another week or so):
On Christmas morning, I was back over at my sister's place as that where the kids are and most of the presents. As you can see Santa left a few crumbs behind:
Addison was sporting her sweet new shades:
That's all this rambunctious 4.5 year old needs... boxing gloves and a punching bag:
Caden was quite excited when he got this gift:
Addy got a kitchen set and a grocery cart. She's already quite domestic and made us "food" all day long:
Here's the fam:
The rest of the day consisted of assembling toys, playing games, eating, napping, eating some more, napping some more and watching movies and unfortunately there aren't any photos of those activities. All and all it was a wonderful Christmas and a very much needed day of relaxation.
Check back tomorrow to see the album I made for Matt & April as their Christmas gift.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I had a great day with my family and I'll be sharing more photos from today in tomorrow's post, but for now... I convinced my mom to let me share her world famous cinnamon roll recipe with my faithful blog readers. I've teased y'all each year with photos and stories of how amazing they are, and trust me, they are incredible! I took a couple photos of the latest batch as well as both sides of the recipe card, and if you can read her writing, you are welcome to give them a try. This recipe was passed down from my great grandmother who used to make these on her farm in North Dakota.
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