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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.
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check out the top voted images click to enlarge
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| I had a chance to photograph the lovely and charming Betcee May the other day. She was delightful and possessed a very natural beauty that is rare these days. |
Going back to the 80's with "The Perfect Kiss" by New Order on:
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| camping out for the iPhone |
06.29.2007 |
*THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY SO CHECK BACK OFTEN* (Newer post will appear at the bottom)
12:10 AM. My friend Gary and I are out in front of the Apple store at the Irvine Spectrum camping out so we are assured to get the new iPhone when it is released at 6pm tonight. Currently we are 32nd in line and waiting for Jessica to join us as soon as she gets back from LAX. (We were never 2nd in line, it was a typo from my Blackberry)
If you are in the hood and want to come by and say "hi" and/or bring us some snacks, that would be awesome!
*UPDATE* 2:55am
Jess finally made it an hour or so ago and the 3 of us are questioning or descision making because the ground is awefully hard. At least the weather is perfect for sleeping under the stars (or the lights of the outdoor mall)
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| Once I can connect to the net with my laptop, I'll post some photos. For now I am blogging from my soon to be extinct Blackberry. Speaking of which, how much do you think I can get for my Blackberry with the cracked screen? |
*UPDATE* 5:40am
Rise and shine!I actually slept quite well all things considered.
So I was thinking it would be cool if I went over to Krispy Kreme and bought like 10 dozen donuts and just passed them out to everyone in line (along with one of my fancy metal business cards of course). But then I thought to myself maybe I could get a loyal blog reader to bring the donuts for me... so this is what I propose:
If someone will bring us the 10 dozen original donuts from Krispy Kreme, I will give them a link on my blog, a free [ b ] school t-shirt, a promo kit and I'll take them to a "free lunchL on me sometime in the next week or so.
This offer expires at 7:30am (at that time I'll go get the donuts myself). Email thebecker at mac dot com if you are on your way. I'll write back and let you know if someone has beaten you to it. Chop chop!
*UPDATE* 7:40
Dad saved the day! Thanks for donuts pop. Here's your plug: if anyone needs a loan or wants to refinance their current loan, drop him an email at gary.becker at wmhml.com
Just over 10 hours to go!
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*UPDATE* 10:10am
Ok, I finally can get on the net with my laptop and here are a couple photos. The first one is of my Crackedberry and the "starry night" we slept under.
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| Here are the guys that were first in line. Lucky! |
*UPDATE* 11:27 am
A camera crew from CNN just came by and got some unflattering footage of me napping under two black umbrellas. It may or may not show up on "The Situation Room". It was not a flattering angle shooting up my nose, but oh well. Let me know if you see it. I am in a light blue shirt. |
*UPDATE* 3:10pm
The Apple store is now closed in preperation of the big event. This will be the last post until I get the phone in a few hours. Here I am spooning with my true love: |
| And Jessica sharing the love with the faithful: |
| Blacking out the windows: |
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Check out my 40 second video on CutFrame.tv
*UPDATE* 8:40pm - Final update for the long crazy day.
Well, we got the phones! Whew. I am not sure if they sold out, but the line was still plenty long when we left.
I can't even begin to describe the atmosphere from about 5:45pm until we left the store around 6:45. It was electric. People really started getting excited around T-minus 15 minutes till the launch. A few folks were getting worked up over folks that were trying to cut into the front of the line, but in the end, they booted those people out.
At about 4 minutes before 6pm, the ripped the paper off of the window and people went nuts. Cheering as if Bono took the stage at a U2 concert, or the Ynakees just won the World Series again. It was loud. Aside from the hundreds of people in line, there were another hundred or so spectators that gathered near the entrance with cameras, video and still. iPhone, iPhone, iPhone... was being chanted by the cult... er, I mean crowd.
When they finally let the first few folks into the store another loud cheer erupted and people were high fiving left and right. I wish I had taken better video, but my point and shoot camera just doesn't cut it. It was insane, a true unforgetable experience. Apple sure knows how to create hype... and the best thing is, they usually back it up with a killer product. |
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| Two happy people with our treasures: |
My phone is busy charging and I am sure I'll be up late playing around with it. Check back next Friday to get my full review after I've played with it for a week. Thanks again for stopping by today.
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This phat track was the closing credits of last week's Entourage (which I just finally watched on my Tivo) and it's awesome. "Lady Don't Tek No" by Latyrx
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| bbq and poker party wsop send off |
06.28.2007 |
Last night a few of my friends and family members came over for the last poker party before I head out to the WSOP next week. I've been playing as much poker as possible to get some more practice and experience before I go play with the big boys.
Caden came for the BBQ, but didn't stay for the cards (way past his bed time). |
| It was an awesome night to play outside. |
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FYI to photographers... the above image of David Jay was shot at 1600 ISO on the Mark III (50mm 1.2 wide open). Speaking on DJ, have you joined his Freedom Club?
Some dude named Tim actually won, but since he beat me by getting so lucky he gets no photo or link love because I am still a little bitter. On the final hand he went all in and I called him with pocket jacks, when he turned over pocket queens I was toast. But the hand before it, when I had about 4x the amount of chips he had, he went all in with Ace 8, and I called and had him dominated with Ace Queen. The flop was a bunch of rags but the turn was an 8 and just to add insult to injury, so was the river, giving him trips and the slight chip lead.
Oh well, that's poker! I'd actually be quite happy with a second place finish at the Main Event next week. I'll be blogging often from Vegas next week from my new iPhone with status reports. Speaking of the iPhone make sure to check the blog often tomorrow as I plan on blogging multiple updates as a few of us are camping out to ensure we'll get a phone. |
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The song of the day has a haunting melody and killer vocals. "Into the Stars" by Alphawezen on:
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Edited to add:
OK, I am done being bitter. The winner was my buddy Tim Halberg from Santa Barbara. |
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Toast is good! I love toast. There are not too many things in this world that taste better than a good piece of toast. So when I came across a website called Your Name on Toast, I knew I had to be a part of it.
So this guy named Pete came up with a brilliant, clever win-win situation where if you donate money to charity via his website, he'll write your name, your message, or your logo on a piece of toast, photograph it, then post it on his website which will link back to your website. So I thought, what the heck... and since my motto is "go big or go home" I bought the top slot since the money is going to a good cause. I have also found a couple of other cool websites and blogs that have advertised there. Hopefully it will take off and be a wildly successful viral marketing phenomenon and I'll get more loyal blog readers and raise money for a good cause at the same time.
Either way, I have a nice slice of toast with my logo on it! You know you want some too! |
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And since the toast guys is from Ireland, I thought some Irish music would be in order today. This U2 compliation is 12 minutes long and it is flippin' awesome "Bad, 40 & Where the Streets Have No Name"
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| 365 and counting |
06.26.2007 |
I did it! This is my 365th day of consecutively posting on my blog*. I never actually set out to blog every single day for a year, but I just had a lot to share, and once I hit the 6 month mark, I just figured I'd go for it. I know there were a couple of days that weren't the most exciting posts... but I have thoroughly enjoyed having this outlet and connection to the world.
Since June 27th of last year, I've posted over 1600 images, had 20,000 unique visitors pay a quarter million visits, with over 2000 regular readers, over 2000 comments, links from over 500 different blogs, websites, forums and search engines and I have readers from all 50 states and over 100 countries. The numbers are mind boggling and it is a trip when I am at the mall, or out to dinner, and random strangers come up to me and recognize me from my blog... and I am not just talking about other photographers. I also get feedback from friends and colleagues of mine that have been recognized from being on my blog. During WPPI a couple of months ago, my sister got recognized at McCarran airport by a photographer who follows the [b]log and it kinda freaked her out.
I also keep up with about 200 or so blogs of other photographers, wedding professionals, friends, marketing gurus as well as other random, interesting people. Blogs are my version of reality televison since I don't watch Survivor. They keep me connected to the real world.
People often ask how I have time to do it, and where do I get my material. Well, I usually blog first thing in the morning, while still in bed, or late at night, before I go to bed. It doesn't take very long. I bet the average post only takes me 10-15 minutes. Obviously the post wedding posts take a bit longer to tweak all the files, but it's picking the shots that takes the most time. I get my material from what is going on in my life, or in my head on any given day. I also get feedback and emails from people about what they'd like to see. While I do get plenty of comments on the blog, I get more emails every single day (usually 20-30 per day from photographers asking questions or giving praise or thanks).
Since I do have an audience here, from time to time I like to use it to bring attention to things that are important in this world... that's why I am always talking about the (RED) campaign. (click the link at the bottom if you are new here and don't know what I am talking about). I will be certainly sharing more and more about worthy causes in the future, but I will try my best from using this blog as a soap box. I want to keep the blog fun, positive and as entertaining as humanly possible (just like my real life!) ;-)
Anywho... I am so thankful to all who have taken an interest in my life and while I don't know if I'll continue to blog every single day... I plan on continuing to share the goings on in my life, both professionally and personally, and about the things that interest me.
THANKS AGAIN FOR STOPPING BY! |
| I found this cartoon on the Soiree Special Events blog and it seems to sum up how it is in my family regarding my blog. Anytime my sister asks what I've been up to, I reply with "Have you not been following my blog?". |
Cartoon courtesy JM Borgman and the Cincinatti Inquirer.
*In January, there were 3 days that my blog was shut down due to too much traffic, but I did still blog those days, I was just unable to post.
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Today's track is "Alphabet Aerobics" from Blackalicious and it just rocks.
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| the party of 5 tour suggestions |
06.25.2007 |
By popular demand, I am in the early stages of planning my Party of 5 tour and I am trying to figure out where I should take it. Most likely the tour will be 6-8 cities this fall. I am thinking late October and early November. I am trying to determine interest by region, so please only vote if you are considering going. I know it's hard to know for sure depending on the price, the date and other factors, but I am just trying to get a feel for what cities I should put on the list.
I should have all of the details worked out sometime next month. Thanks for voting! |
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"Galvanize" from The Chemical Brothers is a great song to add to your workout mix. Get it on:
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| A blog stalker of mine sent me this awesome photo: |
I thought it was real until I looked closer and found out you can make your own church sign. Either way I appreciate the sentiment and the effort. Thanks blog stalker Emily from Texas!
Happy Sunday every one!
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The song of the day is one of my all time favorites, "I've Been Thinking" by Handsome Boy Modeling School and Cat Power available on:
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