Let There Be Light Photography

Merry Christmas from Brett Becker Photography

2011-12-21T22:02:00.000-05:00

A little Merry Christmas video to share with you. Enjoy!

Our Little Trip to Richmond, VA

2011-11-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Christina and I went to Richmond a couple weekends ago for my friend Mike's wedding. The wedding was great and it was really fun to see and catch up with friends from VA. It was also cold! But we enjoyed the [much] cooler weather regardless. We had some time on Saturday since all of the Virginia folks drove home Friday night, so we headed into Richmond to walk around, get some food, and enjoy the brick buildings and beautiful, old homes (Florida is lacking in both of those areas).

We also enjoyed the taste of fall and the oranges and red leaves. I didn't take a ton of pictures - it seems I am just as good at not taking pictures - but here are a few!

Miami Food Trucks - Hollywood, FL - Arts Park at Young Circle every Monday!

2011-11-29T09:46:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. In honor or eating delicious food, here is a little photo-montage dedicated to the Miami Food Trucks that visit our sweet City of Hollywood every week! I stopped by recently with some out-of-town visitors and enjoyed some of the delicious cuisine. It's hard not to indulge in at least SOMETHING. But if you are in Hollywood, FL and are anywhere near dowtown Hollywood on a Monday night, you should swing by and check out some of the food trucks. If not to eat, than at least to browse! You can find them starting at 5:30pm (probably earlier too) in Arts Park at Young Circle.

Enjoy some good eats!

RE: How to Take Great Race Photos @Healthontherun.net

2011-11-10T11:31:00.000-05:00

Since my sister-in-law had a funny post about marathon photos, it inspired me to do a quick search through the several marathons I have photographed for family and/or friends. I sifted through and found a few good ones (embarrassing ones) you know - the usual. And from a photographer's perspective, it is pretty difficult (especially towards the start) to catch your friend or family member, often times a marathon is just a sea of faces.

But to respond to a few of the questions posed like "Can you ever really have a good marathon photo?" -- I would say "Yes! But only when you know it's coming." Check out the last photo in this post - it is definitely helpful having a photographer in the family or a close friend because they can be recognizable and you can end up with a frameable photo for your home or office (like my dad is requesting for a Christmas gift this year). Enjoy these in the meantime:

I'll leave the caption up to you...

Can you tell who has run a few marathons? Dave (far left) is a sub-3 hour marathoner smiling away,
my sister (middle-left), my dad (middle-right) making a great straining face towards the finish, and
Dom (far right) seems to be concerned with someone on the sidelines.

Just an all around good shot - dribbling water, great facial
expression, extra water dribble on her thigh, nice tattoo on
her abdomen...and more I'm sure!

My dad and sister near the finish line (left) - I love the guy right next to
my dad (in blue) - funny expression and so exhausted!

My sister making a face - one that exclaims "How are
you there AGAIN" - since I caught them twice on
this bridge alone!

Thanks Lauren for sharing your funny photos! It was fun seeing yours and searching through mine to find some best of's! Here is a posed shot - where it is so helpful knowing a photo is coming!!

Costa Family Portraits - Bal Harbour Beach, Miami, FL

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some of my favorites from the recent family session with the Costa's! Such a beautiful and fun family. Grandma was in town from Texas, so she joined for the session and for some of the photos. Enjoy!

Check out my Facebook page for more photos:
http://www.facebook.com/BrettBeckerPhotography

And my Website:
http://www.brettbeckerphotography.com/

Less Time Blogging Does NOT Mean Less Time Photographing!

2011-11-02T07:30:00.000-04:00

Some photographs of birds over the past month or so from our balcony...

Blue Jay in Black and White

Caught this bird at the right moment!!

Dueling Birds

A Friendly Visit from a Californian Friend

2011-10-20T20:48:00.000-04:00

This post is a little bit overdue, but I wanted to post regardless! My friend Jonathan visited Christina and I here in Florida a couple weeks ago with his brother. I met Jonathan when I moved out to California for a semester of school during college and he was one of my MANY roommates. Jonathan and his brother were on a nationwide road trip and they stopped in Orlando overnight before coming down to us in the Miami area. It was a fun, quick visit and I got to enjoy some good food with them (it seemed that was one of their main "to do" items as they traveled to different cities across the country). So we got some food from foodtrucks, some authentic food in Miami, and coffee from Starbucks. Okay so the coffee wasn't anything overly special or unique haha. We even saw a Showtime show that is coming on next year being filmed while we were in Miami Beach. Photos to follow!

However, the coffee below IS special - Jonathan and his brother picked it up in New Orleans and gave it to us as a thank you. It is called Cafe Du Monde and is from an "Original French Market Coffee Stand" apparently. It's pretty tasty. I think it came in the COOLEST can - it is almost the exact same colors as all of the road signs in upstate NY (I know random, but I love the Adirondacks and went there almost every year growing up so I remember the signs well...what can I say, I'm observant).

They also made us some delicious pie, but I didn't take pictures of it. It was thoroughly enjoyed though. I'll post some photos from the Food Truck night in Hollywood, FL - which was pretty awesome.

Highlight Photos from Last Weekend - Fort Pierce, FL

2011-10-07T12:20:00.003-04:00

Weeks seem to be flying by right now for some reason! Been busy with photography, my part-time work, and some other things as well. But another weekend is just about here! Crazy. Here are some of my favorite photos I took last weekend while Christina and I were up on Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce, FL. I woke up with the sunrise...and because of the sunrise. But I got some beautiful shots and there were quite a few people walking as the sun rose!

My model (wife) showing her beautiful new haircut!

This is my best butterfly shot so far - not so great, I know!
I'm working on it. They seem to be so evasive!

Took some beautiful shots of the ocean!

Have a great weekend! I'm sorry that most of you can't go to the beach to celebrate the coming of October and fall...but be grateful that you can drink hot pumpkin spice lattes and hot apple cider and not sweat profusely because it's still in the 80's. I know...it's still not the same!

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend - and a wonderful long weekend for some!

As always check out my photography site: http://www.brettbeckerphotography.com/

And my amazinly beautiful wife's blog: http://talesoflifeloveandicecream.wordpress.com/

National Coffee Day...is TODAY!

2011-09-29T13:00:00.001-04:00

Yep, that's right. Today is National Coffee Day 2011! Althought some places said it's International Coffee Day 2011. Not sure many are celebrating - although Caribou is offering buy one get one free, 7-11 was offering free coffee until 11am, and Krispy Kreme offered some sort of free coffee as well. The Washington Post Blog had a little snippet here.

I'm not sure that Americans need a "special day" to drink coffee, right? Most people that drink coffee have it most days and those that don't aren't going to drink it on this nominally special day. But hey, since I drink coffee most days, might as well celebrate...

In honor of NCD (that's what celebrators call it nowadays obviously) here are some places where I have enjoyed a memorable cup of coffee (that I can remember)...

Costa Rica - enjoyed coffee at a hotel, bought 2 lbs of coffee in a market in San Jose, and 3 years later enjoyed Costa Rican coffee on my Honeymoon in Papagayo...

Kenya - big tea drinkers/producers but I enjoyed both in Nairobi...

Haiti - strong and sweet, almost syrup-like sometimes! Gives you enough caffeine for 3-4 days. My friend Thony said he doesn't like to drink it everyday or else he gets a little crazy and then gets headaches.

Go celebrate. Drink some coffee. Most of you already have and/or were already planning on getting your second or third cup today probably. I might go enjoy one cup today, since I've noticed that two cups gives me a headache! At least at Starbucks...

Let Me Explain Myself When I Say "I Coupon..."

2011-09-29T10:27:00.000-04:00

First of all, I am sorry to not have posted for a while...I guess with all the busyness of my photography website and placing ads and such, I forgot! But here we are, with a post that's sure to please.

So I have been couponing for our family of 2 since the summer. At first it was just a little, now it's a lot more. Once you start, it is just as they say and it is difficult to compell yourself to buy something at full price, even when you actually need it! Most of me just wants to go print an online coupon or wait until there's a sale, but oh well.

I considered starting a coupon blog, but am not sure I will yet - should I?! There aren't many male couponers out there as you probably thought - I am reminded by the female cashiers EVERY TIME I check out! For now I will show one of them success stories from Tuesday. So first here's the list of what I got and I'll explain WHY and HOW MUCH I PAID below!

9 Boxes of the largest size of Honey Nut Cheerios (21.6 oz) - $5.93/each retail
4 Bengay Pain Relieving Cream (2 oz) - $5.49/each retail
4 small bags of cat treats - $1.49/each retail
1 Publix Premium Honey Wheat Bread - $1.89 retail
1 Safety Matches (10 count, 32 per box) - $1.15 retail
1 Cantaloupe - $2.99 retail
1 Mission Fajita (Package of 20) - $2.69 retail
1 Family Size Box of Kleenex Tissues - $2.49 retail
1 "Body Puff" aka Loufa for my lovely wife - $1.69 retail

Ok so all of that and I was actually charge twice for the matches, but it wasn't worth going back for the $1.15 and here's why:

Total cost of all items at retail:
$53.37
$21.96
$5.96
$1.89
$1.15
$2.00
$2.69
$2.49
$1.69
TOTAL = $93.20

So...what did I pay?!? Well You'll be glad to know that with the sale prices of a few of the items and over $55 worth of coupons I paid $11.62. Now the items I need to explain...

Cat Treats - they were completely free. The coupon was for one free Crave Cat Treats (I had 4 of them) and I take Christina on cat walks - not the dangerous kind, just the ones around our neighborhood to search for strays for her to love on since I am allergic and would die in an apartment with an animal I'm allergic to!

Bengay - I had a $5 manufacturer coupon and a $2 Publix coupon - so yes, I actually made money off of "buying" them. $1.49 each. You didn't know you could?! Check your store's coupon policy. I have "bought" only packs of gum and walked out with more money than I walked in with. Worth it.

HUGE HONEY NUT CHEERIOS! Well this is my fun one. I had a rain check from a week or two before when the item was actually on sale for $2.99. Silly Publix had a $2 off only that size that expired 9/30, so of course most bought it for $0.99 - great deal. However I had coupons giving me an additional $0.33 of each, making them $0.67! But they were out of stock every time I went. So I got a rain check - another thing you should do! Then this past weekend I found new Cheerio's coupons which would give me $0.50 off each box up to 8 boxes. So I ended up getting 6 boxes for $0.49 and the other 3 for $0.67. Wow! Since Christina and I PLOW through cereal like it's our job, we will have no trouble finishing them.

So there you have it. Now, whether "couponing is cool again" is true or not, I'm still siding with it's not so "cool," but it is definitely WORTH IT! Start couponing. You won't regret it. Where do you get coupons? I buy 4 Sunday newspapers at $1.25 each so that factors in $5 a week on getting coupons. I also print from online sources like Target (an accepted competitor at my Publix), Coupons.com, Red Plum, and Smartsource. Follow some blogs of local coupon fanatics in your area and it will be super helpful. Sometimes it's hard to find someone close, for instance some of the blogs I check out are in Georgia and that means I often go to the store and the item is not on sale or not the same price. I have another great shopping trip coming up for cereal, I might be getting it for free...if they don't run out!

Since you're reading all my my math and couponing story, take a minute to head over to my wife's blog, it's not about couponing and doesn't have math and it's awesome and she will be a famous blogger.

Happy Thursday!

Announcing Brett Becker Photography!

2011-09-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

My website is live! Check out www.brettbeckerphotography.com/

Follow BBP on Twitter: @bbeckerphoto
Like BBP on Facebook: facebook.com/brettbeckerphotography

Portraits, Events, Pets, Travel and more!

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New Domain! BrettBeckerPhotography.com

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed in my previous two posts, I started watermarking with "Brett Becker Photography" and some of the new BIG NEWS is I also registered my domain name http://www.brettbeckerphotography.com/ - ~~don't get too excited just yet! It will bring you right back here!~~ But there are some exciting things in the process and will hopefully be unveiled soon. So in the meantime, take a look around and enjoy all the photos I have on this blog already!

~~But it means there are two ways to get here for now:~~
http://www.brettbeckerphotography.com/
and
http://lettherebelightphoto.blogspot.com/

In the meantime, here is a photo of my parents from a family wedding last year (such a good looking couple, right?!):

I'll tell you this...since I am now editing with Adobe Lightroom 3, Blogger does NOT do my photos justice. I think they look so much better before they get loaded and compressed into Blogger! But that's okay, I realize that Google is high-powered and all, but not enough to put full-size, all-the-millions-of-pixels-photos on my blog time and time again. There's only so much space I guess!

3 for 3 this week (Monday-Wednesday posting) - not bad!

South Beach Miami - Paying to Park...for the Homeless

2011-09-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

With all that's going on in South Beach, Miami, it was actually really refreshing to see this! There is SO much money, fame, greed, and waste going on that you wouldn't expect to find a program that provides something for free and even more so you wouldn't expect them to actually forward 100% of the money raised! This parking lot is on Commerce Street in between Washington Avenue and Alton Road - a little west of Collins Road (A1A).

Check out these signs for the full info...

Curb Your Dog! But more importantly, a program that helps change lives...

THIS IS NOT A PARKING METER
You Don't Have To Feed The Meters To Park Here.
But The Change You Put In Them Will Change Lives.

By placing your spare change in our donation meters, you are helping change lives. 100% of the monies collected in these meters fund housing and indoor meal programs for people experiencing homelessness.

Miami-Dade Count Homeless Trust

FREE CALL - Homeless Helpline
1-877-994-4357

I think these are some of the coolest looking parking meters around. I have taken a bunch of photos of viewers (you know, those things that are like "binoculars" or a "telescope" so you can see the view of the beach or city in a little more detail?!) - well maybe I will have to do some parking meters now! Who knew that they varied from place to place.

Here is the website for Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust if your curiosity has been sparked. There are definitely a lot of homeless down here in Florida. Having lived in New York, Massachusetts, California, Virginia, and now Florida, there are homeless everywhere and we are all aware. But at least next time you are parking your Lamborghini in South Beach or Miami, you can give to the homeless pretty darn easily.

I know Hollywood, FL has a homeless shelter and ministry called the Homeless Voice - and they help feed, clothe, house, and provide job training for those who are homeless. But there are usually great people doing great things almost everywhere!

A New Camera, A New Photographer, A Not-so-New Model!

2011-09-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

BIG NEWS!

It has come - the time to upgrade to a new camera. It is an exciting time! There is some more news that will be coming along with it (good news of course), but it's not quite at sharable status yet. So stay tuned! But in the meantime, I enjoyed taking my Canon 7D out for a "get to know you date" with my lifetime date (aka wife) to get to know how to use the 7D a little better - and of course enjoy time with my wife. Having my Rebel XTi for 4 1/2 years had me so used to the settings, how to change things quickly and make them the way I wanted, I was so used to the weight and size, and everything changes with the 7D. In order to do the very same things, I had to read the owner's manual...the OWNER'S MANUAL! You think, "Who even reads those anymore??" Well, I read a lot of it. It's very informative and a good reminder of settings, but more importantly I needed to actually LEARN how to change the settings quickly, rather than the slow way which I had figured out easily.

Short story long, here are some photos I took of my beautiful wife Christina - we went down to South Beach Miami (look for my next post) and walked around for the day. It was 95 degrees...and humid of course. So it's not a photographer's dream to be sweaty and trying not to drip all over his camera, nor is it fun for a model who is also sweating. These shots were taken after cooling down for a good half hour or so in a coffee shop, enjoying cold drinks and VERY cold a/c (Florida knows how to keep things cool!), so we weren't too bad by now!

Since we were both pretty unfamiliar with South Beach - as far as finding cool spots to take photos - I tried to keep my eyes peeled for some good ones. I definitely like this one we found (above). This is along the sidewalk that follows the beach - I wouldn't really classify it as a boardwalk. But this short wall added some cool dimension to the photo and elevated my beautiful subject, which also helped remove the people walking and cars behind her.

Here's my new photographer! Christina now tells me this is her camera (the XTi). It mostly is, unless I need a backup! I'm so excited to help teach her how to use it at a more advanced level, since she already knows the basics. She'll be a pro in no time.

I don't think I can pick a favorite between this photo and the first on this post. She is SO beautiful! Stay tuned for a post about South Beach!

Some Magazine-Like Photography: From New York

2011-09-09T16:39:00.000-04:00

So here they are - a few of the "model-y" shots.
Erin is a GREAT model, huh?! Let me know if you have any favorites - use the comment box!

Have a great weekend! New posts will be coming soon...that's a GUARANTEE!! Good news is coming too...

Senior Portraits - Erin - taken in Sea Cliff, NY Part II

2011-08-24T11:58:00.000-04:00

I wanted to post a few more photos from Erin's photo-shoot, but I caught a fever on Sunday and it seems to be finally gone today, so now I can sit up straight and post!

Here is the link to the first post for Erin:
Senior Portraits - Erin - taken in Sea Cliff, NY Part I

I am thinking I will do one more post of some Erin favorites, she is my cousin after all! The next post will be more of the "artsy" ones that look more like magazine shots than senior photos (in my opinion), but ya never know! Maybe out there in Washington, "artsy" is "in" for senior photos. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Senior Portraits - Erin - taken in Sea Cliff, NY Part I

2011-08-21T12:36:00.000-04:00

Senior Portraits
This is my cousin, Erin - she lives out in Washington state, but was in New York with her family for my brother's wedding and a nice vacation visit and asked if while we were both there I could take her senior portraits - to be used for her yearbook and to give out to friends and family and such.

I only was in New York from Thursday night to Sunday evening, so Erin was a little nervous we wouldn't be able to get her pictures done...but fear not, we did! We took the photos on Friday in Sea Cliff, NY - a nice, quaint, older Long Island town that is just 1 square mile. Lots of Victorian era homes and buildings. I love Sea Cliff and my camera does too. This charming village has SO many great photography spots to choose from and since this was my cousin, we chose any and all we had time for! She and the girls (my wife and sister) had to get their nails done afterwards so we had quite a bit of time, but not unlimited.

I loved how a lot of the photos came out, but in the end had to choose some favorites. There are ones that are more "Senior-photo-y" and then ones that look more like magazine shots. As you are about to find out, Erin is quite photogenic! Most of the magazine shots are not in this post and I actually haven't edited them yet. As always, I am a "light" editor, meaning I don't use photoshop and put crazy effects and made-up sunlight or anything like that. Just some minor tweaks using Digital Photo Professional by Canon. However, I am looking forward to upgrading to Adobe Lightroom.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for a few more "best of's" from Erin's photo shoot!

New Blog Header...Yes It was FREE!

2011-08-18T14:11:00.000-04:00

I was trying to redo my blog header a week and a half ago, and I didn't like what I did to it at all...in fact, I know I made it worse! But anyways, I was trying to search for correct sizes and possibly how to make a good header without the use of photoshop - since I don't have PS - and I came across what you now see above from the website you now see below:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/05/blog-headers-for-free-download/

I think it looks great! Of course, you are entitled to your own opinion about it, and you can also make a joke that it looks like the beginning of "The Simpsons" on FOX. Yeah, I just saw that, but putting that aside, it's great and will work out well until I go super custom and make my own blog header - that is nice to look at of course.

So there ya go, a few totally free, "unrestricted use" blog header designs. Free. Haha okay, now I can feel good about my next few posts! I'm very excited to share my favorites from my cousin's Senior Portrait photo-shoot from last Friday. It was a busy weekend in New York, but now we are back in sunny Florida and I edited a big handful of photos so far today. So stay tuned!

Thursday Means New York Bound! Long Island Technically...

2011-08-11T08:00:00.006-04:00

We are heading to NY today - Long Island that is. Usually when I say New York people either assume the city (New York City of course) or upstate. Well, we are going to Long Island! My brother is getting married on Saturday - so you can expect a few things:

1. Senior Portraits of my cousin Erin
2. Photos from the Rehearsal dinner on Friday
3. Some photos from the wedding, but it will be tough since I am IN the wedding
4. Some photos of my family!

So you can all be so excited for a few posts next week full of photographic fun. In the meantime, have a wonderful Thursday and Friday and weekend!

Here are a few photos of my house (an old Victorian built around 1900):

House (Left) and Garage (Right)

Accent door (left) and the awesome front porch (right)

My brother's golden retriever, Bodie!

Rain Photos into Video #2

2011-08-02T21:23:00.000-04:00

Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody #11 is playing in the background

So I promised giving it another shot...so here it is! I will probably try again, hopefully getting a little better each time. During our almost daily afternoon shower, I decided to take a few more photos. I really like a few of the series that I included in the video and will probably do some similar shots next time it rains!

Let me know what you think!

Fun with Photos...and video?! And a business card?!

2011-08-01T15:15:00.000-04:00

Since there was a quick rainstorm just a few minutes ago I decided to take a few photos. I also wanted to try a little time-lapse-style video with some of the photos. So here it is! Nothing special, I will probably try again and use more photos which will make it a little better - oh and also do it horizontally of course so it's not a pain to watch. I have never posted a video on my blog, since this is a photography blog, so don't be too disappointed!

I also played around with the idea of a business card - for my photography of course. So I will show you what I came up with! I would absolutely love to upgrade my camera to a Canon 7D, but until I either have a good job or make money off of my photography, that will not be happening! I was reading a blog the other day that recommended upgrading photo equipment every year if you work professionally...but I don't so here we are going into my 5th year! In the meantime I will enjoy my Rebel XTi, and though it has passed its 4th birthday, it is still doing well! The photos in the video above were with my favorite and best lens, 50mm f/1.4 - which has also done me wonders with portraits. Anyways, the business card....

Front

The real reverse has my phone number on it so
might as well keep that to myself! But here
is a version without my phone number!

I printed a few out just for fun. The cardstock I used is not quite as thick as a business card normally is and it is slightly gray in color, but I added a little tab just to see what it looked like...any thoughts? Part of me thought it looked good, then I put it down and thought it looked random and out of place. So I don't know - obviously it would be a lot of work to put it on every one, but I tried just for fun! Here are photos of the front and back I took...

Don't mind the colors, they look a little different in person than on the screen and there was no need to edit them to look like they should! I guess I could figure out some kind of logo to put on that little tab - then it would probably look cool. Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated! Otherwise, I am hoping to get a great photo of lightning sometime soon. Florida has so many thunderstorms, which is great for people who like thunder and lightning and rain (like Christina and I). If it weren't for all the mosquitoes, we would probably be on our balcony every time there is a thunderstorm. But there have been some great *potential* lightning photos, but no successful ones as of yet. I'll keep you updated!

NEW Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital - Officially Open to the Public Today!

2011-07-21T11:50:00.000-04:00

In honor of the official first day of seeing patients, I wanted to share a couple more photos of inside the brand new hospital - part of Memorial Regional Healthcare System. The doors opened at 7 a.m. from what I heard and I'm not exactly sure when they started moving patients from the old hospital to the new hospital, but it was probably sometime this morning!

3rd Floor - Imaging Service

Child Life Specialist explains the play CT scan
machine - rumored to cost about $20,000! The scan
can be pushed in (usually with a teddy bear on the bed)
and the screen will show a "photo" of the bear's heart,
brain, or lungs - the photos are on a loop. I think I
should get into the medical play toys industry.

This is one of the opertaing rooms at JDCH - this is a panoramic
photo that didn't come out perfectly, but still looks cool!

Above is the Oncology holding room - with a little play area/lounge

Check my previous post for more photos of inside of the Hospital and July 16th's grand opening celebration...
Let There Be Light Photography: Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration SATURDAY! JDCH Hollywood, FL

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration SATURDAY! JDCH Hollywood, FL

2011-07-18T12:50:00.004-04:00

So I was able to spend a few hours over at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital on Saturday - a little while of that time getting my "VIP" tour from my lovely wife. The hospital is nothing short of amazing! But I guess $140 million of anything should be! Regardless of constructions costs, this hospital will do what it is designed to do: Make children feel comfortable for any and all medical procedures, from life-changing surgeries to simple tests. I think from the moment you walk in, you feel strangely "at home." As I put it to my wife, I think the rooms have so many distractions and colors that you forget about all the tubes and wires and things connected to the bed and walls (and eventually patients).

The waiting rooms are situated on the side of the building in cylindrical rooms with sweeping views of the property outside. I can imagine that going to the hospital for tests on your child is not something any parent enjoys, however I think this hospital has done a great job of making it an all around better experience for both child and family. Among others, I know the employees are excited to be in the new hospital! One child on the tour told my wife to break his arm so that he could stay overnight! What he didn't know is the hospital is not open and if he broke his arm, he would have to take a trip to the "old" hospital where the ER will remain.

Remember, with giving away free food...comes LONGGGGG LINES!!!!! This is a photo from the 3rd floor looking out on the line. Luckily, when I went a couple hours later it wasn't as bad, but I still had to wait about an hour I think. But, the food was still free.

View from the 3rd Floor to the parking lot

Here are some of my favorite photos of inside the hospital...

CT scan (CAT scan) - designed as a pirate ship!

Nuclear Medicine machine - jungle themed! So fun - waterfall needs a bit of redesign!

One of the holding rooms

This is a physician-bot (robot). Can't say I fully understand
why this is needed, but it sure does look expensive!

Hotel Room...I mean hospital room! Sorry, my mistake!

They are going for the "hotel feel" - with folded towels, info folders, and room service!

3rd floor is the Orange Floor

Not your average hospital room, right?!

I saw the custom shower curtain and couldn't resist - I mean clearly that is a needed feature in the bathroom! Also
from that keyboard you can access the features on the flat-panel screen the bed faces. Custom room-service is
included...meaning anything you want anytime you want it - I can imagine that is going to be awesome for patients
and a complete nightmare for the kitchen staff!! That same TV also has internet access, TV of course, on-demand
movies and games, hospital services, and more!

One of the many tours going through!

Some of the outdoor activities seen from my bird's eye view...

Check the guy on the right - not only is he 20+ years older, but
he is mid-break on those little boards!

Hope you enjoyed!

Here are some follow up links and articles...

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital - Main Website

Memorial Healthcare System - Main Website

Sun Sentinel - DiMaggio Children's Hospital expansion to open Thursday

Miami Herald - New children’s hospital opening in Hollywood

NBC Miami - New Children's Hospital Gets Ready to Open

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration TODAY!

2011-07-16T09:50:00.001-04:00

Hopefully I will have some fun photos to post of the Grand Opening celebration going on today. I am going to head over in a little while. Already today there has been a parade and a flash-mob dance! Sounds like a fun time - free hot dogs, hamburgers, cotton candy and more so it's worth heading over for me!

JDCH Website http://www.jdch.com/
Miami Herald Article on the Grand Opening http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/15/2316465/new-childrens-hospital-opening.html

PHOTOS: Let There Be Light Photography: Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration SATURDAY! JDCH Hollywood, FL

Summer Favorite's: Weddings and of course Food, Drinks, and Delicious Desserts

2011-07-13T14:03:00.000-04:00

I'm back! It has been over a month since blogging, but at least I can say I am a married blogger now! I will post a photo from the wedding first. We are waiting for the rest of our photos to be finished by our photographer - summer is a busy time for photographers!! Keep an eye on Facebook and joellewattunscripted.squarespace.com for the photos - or just check out Joelle's awesome work in the meantime.

Photo by Joelle Watt

Summer is full of weddings. My WIFE and I moved to Florida, so it is proving difficult to attend most of the weddings we have been invited to. Our friends Josh and Whitney got married last week in DC and this coming weekend our California friends Brycen and Marian are getting married. I am close with Brycen's family and his mom, Terri, let me know that they have somewhere around 400 guests attending. FOUR HUNDRED!!! WOW! If they weren't such a cool family, I would question their sanity. Clearly they have plenty of friends and family, but Chrissie and I really wish we could go! Especially since her parents randomly decided to vacation in San Luis Obispo this week for a few days. I love California...surprise!

We also have my brother's wedding coming up one month from today - well, it's on the 13th, not on a Wednesday haha - so we will be heading up to good ol' Long Island for that...we are excited for our first visit with my family and hometown as husband and wife. Here are Katie and Kyle...

Photo by www.NYOccasion.com

Speaking of California, as I often enjoy reminiscing of California, here are some photos for my official SUMMER post. Since food is a favorite thing to enjoy over the summer, and pretty much all year long, I am posting a few photos I took at the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Farmer's Market, which is on Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, CA every Thursday evening/night. It was one of my favorite things to do when I lived in the area. I'm posting photos of vegetables since one of the photos later will make you think my wife and I only eat the "food of the month" for July...

So slat-blinds are pretty ugly. And when you are renting your apartment, there is really nothing you can do about it. However, I realized that they make this shot of the wine bottle and glasses of wine look really cool. Taking pictures of liquids will usually make whatever is behind it look cool, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The perfectionist in me wants to retake the shot with equal amounts of wine in the glasses...oh well. The photo of the bottle of beer is actually from a while ago when I was on my friends sailboat in Massachusetts. I had my long 75-300mm lens on and saw this beer further up on the boat and it made a cool photo - very summer-ry!

Iced tea is delicious. If you know my family - especially my parents and grandparents - iced tea is a staple drink when going out for lunch or dinner. One of them will ALWAYS ask the following question, "Is the iced tea freshly brewed?" Many of you are thinking "Who are these people? who cares if it's freshly brewed?!" I can defend them saying that mixed iced tea or drinks like "Brisk" are an abomination to true iced tea. If you are from the south, you will say "How could it not be fresh? Everyone has fresh sweet tea...even fast food chains." All that to say, iced tea is a staple summer drink, and if you live in Florida I can vouch for the Publix Deli: Sweet Iced Tea. It is delicious...and when they are buy one get one free I usually buy 4 and that lasts us until the next sale (They cost about $1.40 per gallon when on sale). And by "us," it is mostly just me drinking a lot of iced tea! Oh, and I like to add fresh lemon.

Ok, now on to the good stuff. In the Becker household, we love desserts. Both of our families also love desserts. Christina made these delicious caramel layered fudge brownies the other day. I will probably enjoy the last little sliver sometime today, since looking at this photo and talking about desserts make me want to eat it. I told Chrissie she needed to leave a middle piece so that I could take a fancy photo of her delicious brownies...she cooperated so I have this delicious looking photo...

Also, my sister-in-law and famous blogger, Lauren (of Health on the Run), informed me that July is "National Ice Cream Month." So in honor of it being July we have 6 cartons of ice cream in our freezer. Now you say "But Brett, you said you just found out, right?" Well you are correct, so we actually already had that many in our freezer, but now we have an excuse...right?! Either way, we love our ice cream, so I had to take a photo to prove it...it's all because of sales at the grocery store and being smart-couponers! Flavors inside: S'mores (Edy's), Cookie Dough (Edy's), Cookies & Cream (Publix Brand), Mint Chocolate Chip (Publix Brand), Dulce de Leche (Publix Brand), and Mocking Island Fudge Ice Cream (Publix Brand). Now, you'd think that store brand ice cream isn't good, right? WRONG! It is delicious.

Happy summer - I'll have plenty more photos coming soon and will be better about posting...promise!

Folk/Christian/Acoustic Music - Nick Jones - With One Voice

2011-06-11T13:23:00.001-04:00

Artist: Nick Jones
Song: With One Voice
Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/nickjonesmusic

Nick is a great friend of mine who has been a worship leader for a great church in Northern Virginia (McLean Bible Church) and works as the worship director for The Gathering - the college ministry. He has so much talent and I can honestly say he is just starting to "break the ice" when it comes to writing and making music. I know he has a lot stored up on his macbook from recording himself, but I am excited to hear more songs like this once he starts recording a few more. Nick has one of the best voices around...it's true! He studied music at Liberty University, is an awesome guy, and as you are about to find out, a very talented musician.

Feel free to share this song, I know he'd be pumped to have a lot of people hear it. I included the lyrics below - Nick doesn't have them posted anywhere yet, so there could be a few errors, but I think I got them all right since he has a clear voice that you can actually clearly understand what he's singing!

"With One Voice" Lyrics

Artist: Nick Jones

Oh come and hear the call, the cry for us to stand

Lift your eyes and see the world

The task within our hands

Take heart and breathe

He is everything we need, we need now

Come and kneel before the one who gave it all for man

The curse of sin and all the lies have ended with that man

Jesus the son

Bringing life to all who come, we come yeah

Its with one voice to you our love we sing

There's no death your life could not redeem

Yeah we're running with your truth a melody of you

So it's with one voice to you our love we sing, we sing yeah

Now priase the one who calls the sinner into life

Hear the song breathe the word, dance within his sight

Jesus the son

Bringing life to all who come, we come yeah

And it's with one voice to you our love we sing

There's no death your life cannot redeem

Yeah we're running with your truth a melody of you

So its with one voice to you our love we sing, we sing

When all the world has turned its eyes the truth we hold within our lives
We lift you even higher

We lift you even higher (x4)

And its with one voice to you our love we sing

There's no death your life could not redeem

Yeah we're running with your truth a melody of you

To you we sing

It's with one voice to you our love we sing

There's no death your life can not redeem

Yeah were running with your truth a melody of you

So it's with one voice to you our love we sing, we sing

We sing (background vocals)

-

And what would my blog be without photos, right?! Here are some photos I took of Nick over the past 2 years or so...

http://www.reverbnation.com/nickjonesmusic/

Lauren's College Graduation Portraits

2011-06-04T14:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I know that a little time has gone by, but I wanted to share these photos I took of my sister the day of her graduation - towards the evening. I pretty much made her do it, but hopefully she enjoys some of the shots at least. I'm sure I'll be able to tell if one of them becomes her Facebook profile photo. Anyways, they were all taken in her neighborhood (well, old neighborhood now) and Wingaersheek Beach, in Gloucester, MA - near Rockport, Beverly, Wenham, etc. It was still a little chilly, especially on the beach!

Though I think her face is a little dark, Lauren
preferred this one to the one where the sun is in

her face!

And what would this collection be without a lovely finish?!

Congratulations to Lauren on graduating! If anyone has favorites, please share!

Lauren's Graduation Part II: Family Photography

2011-06-03T12:49:00.000-04:00

Looking towards Gloucester/Rockport peninsula -

Saw this lighthouse on a walk we took around

Lauren's neighborhood. Lauren insisted I take a photo.

Mom, Lauren, and Dad on the beach

Mom and Dad on the beach

Kyle striking a pose...

Me, Lauren, and Kyle on the Beach - I think between

graduation for Lauren, my wedding, and Kyle's wedding,

there will be plenty of pictures to choose from of
the three of us!

A lovely photo of Mom and Lauren!

Some senior portrait style photos of Lauren
will be next and last of this series!

Graduation Photography - Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts

2011-05-28T13:11:00.000-04:00

Well it's hard to believe that my sister has already graduated. Not only does that mean that my sister is done with college, that I'm two years out of college, and that we are growing up...but it also means we are in the next phase of life. Of course to mark that phase my immediate family has two weddings this summer so we are jumping right in all at once.

Gordon College is a non-denominational Christian college about 35-40 minutes northeast of Boston. There are some great small towns nearby, such as Gloucester, Rockport, Beverly, and Wenham...but it is definitely not the "college-town" feel if that's what someone is looking for. But since Boston is not too tough to get to, it's a fun environment since it is more like you are in the woods with access to a major US city.

Anyways, I was able to go back for her graduation and of course take some photos, but sadly Christina wasn't able to join us. Since that is where Christina and I met, it would have been fun to go back together but I guess we will have to wait until a class reunion or something now. It was fun to be back, I was able to catch up with some friends from college, and of course experience that crappy New England weather, which I did not miss at all, and that is even more true now that I am in Florida!

Lauren graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Minor in Non-Profit Admnistration. I think I have all the terms correct, but I may be wrong. Either way, she has a degree! Congratulations Lauren! Now my parents are done putting their kids through school!

Here are some photos from the graduation ceremony and immediately following.

Our Family

Lauren with Grandma and Grandpa

Lauren with mom and dad

Lauren with Kyle and I

Lauren with her best friend Kaci

Lauren and Dom

Unexpected graduation attendees!
They left at like 5:30am to make it
on time - I guess Danielle (right) made a
promise 3 years ago to come.

I will post some "senior portrait" style photos of Lauren in the coming days as well! So check back. Have a great weekend!

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, Florida - Part IV

2011-05-26T07:00:00.002-04:00

The final day we had the family together, we wanted to take some photos so that they could be passed around the family. Weddings are a great opportunity to take family photos - I think the bride and groom should try to get the wedding photographer to do it, but second best is a family member that loves photography...me!

A few words of advice before I post the photos: When taking photos of family and not officially part of a photo shoot, people are going to expect things to move a little faster. I think when it is an "official" photo shoot with a hired photographer, people expect having to wait around and pose etc. But so long as you are confident and just tell people what to do, they will do it! It is hard to do a makeshift photo-shoot in a place you are just seeing for the first time and don't know if there are any good spots around the property to take photos and also the time is not chosen by you, but it is what it is.

Here are some of the highlights! I had some layout issues with Blogger - so they are boring old straight down...I tried to be different and failed. Enjoy regardless and thanks for looking!

Three sisters-to-be!

Hummel cousins

Christina and Lauren - soon to be sister-in-laws!

Darlene, Sharon, and Robin

My mom and my Aunt Sharon and Aunt Robin

The three sisters!

Me with my beautiful bride-to-be

Hummel Families

Hummel Cousins round 2

Gordon College Graduation

255 Grapevine Rd

Wenham, MA 01984

May 20, 2011

Come back soon!

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, FL Part III - Reception

2011-05-25T07:00:00.001-04:00

So I went up to Massachusetts to good ol' Gordon College for my sister's graduation - so before I post those photos I have this post and one more of the family wedding from a week and a half ago! Enjoy!

Kyle preparing for his bestman speech!

Kyle delivering the speech to the newlyweds!

Our last wedding being engaged!

Almost sisters!

Future daughter-in-law and mother-in-law!

Hummel cousins

Many of the ladies in the family doing a dance...

Mom and Aunt Robin

Mom and Lauren

Grandma and Uncle Kurt

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, FL Part II

2011-05-18T14:04:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more photos from the wedding ceremony in Palm City before I post some reception photos and some family photos from the day after!

Drew seeing the babies turn the corner at the front!

My brother, Kyle, who was the best man.

My parents - my dad was causing a little trouble
with the rose pedals before the bride and groom came out.

More coming soon!

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, Florida

2011-05-16T16:11:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went up to and stayed on Hutchinson Island (Fort Pierce Vero Beach Palm City area) for my cousins wedding. My cousin and his wife live in Illinois, but his parents live in Palm City now - and work as the pastor and pastor's wife at a Presbyterian Church there. Anyways, that is where they got married and why they chose Florida - not just for the warm weather! Though that would also make sense, it is slowly getting warmer and warmer and more and more humid. So I can imagine that summer weddings are not quite as popular as in my native Northeastern culture in New York and the surrounding areas. It was a little rainy for their special day, but since it was an indoor wedding, it didn't put too much of a damper on things. I hadn't seen my cousin for years, so it was fun to catch up with him and also to see Angie again - I had met her probably once before.

As always, it was great to see family and this was the first wedding that my fiance and I were able to attend together as an engaged couple and will also be the last one since we are getting married in just ONE short month! How exciting!

Here are some photos from the wedding - I will post at least one more time with reception photos and the like....

They had the flower girl pulling a wagon with two babies
in it - they were very cute and managed to stay happy the whole time!

He caught me taking a photo!

__________

Top Left: Beautiful bride, Angie, walking down the aisle with her father

Top Right: Reverend Anderson during the service

Bottom Left: My Aunt Robin being ushered to her seat (mother of the groom)

Bottom Right: Officially husband and wife!

__________

So the order is more how I liked it and
not chronological! But the photo
above is during their vows...

They chose to have rose pedals thrown as they made their way to their car - after talking with Christina, we definitely both like the rose pedal idea but will probably go with something like bubbles if we have something at all. It's a little different since we don't have to drive anywhere for our reception! Side note on what to throw at the bride and groom as they exit...bird seed, rice, and any other small projectile seems like such a terrible idea when there is a bride involved. It is easy for the groom (usually) to get something out of his hair or brushed off his tuxedo or suit, but for a bride it proves much more difficult. Maybe some people just really want to feed birds? And yes, I am aware that rice is "so out" since it can injure birds.

It is much more fun to go to a wedding when you have your own wedding coming up. It helps you appreciate all the work even more, and also helps with the final ideas and thoughts about your own wedding. And it's always fun to see people get married!

I will be working on the next post, so stay tuned for some more photos!

Answer to Yesterday's Poll (AKA Night Photography) and Some Fresh Photos from Today!

2011-05-05T12:56:00.001-04:00

APPARENTLY some people were "afraid" to vote because they thought they might be wrong! Well that's okay, but next time you definitely don't need to be afraid, especially because the vote is completely anonymous. But to those who voted, thanks for your participation! As Sarah pointed out to me, I actually tagged my Twitter post with "#nightphotography" so if you caught that, well done!

So yes, this photo was taken at 11:30pm. That may shock some of you and any of those that have dabbled with photography at night, it may not be much of a surprise. Now, the answer to your question: Well, how was this at night if it looks like it was during the day?!?

Answer: I took the photo with my 50mm f1.4 lens. Shutter speed: 3.2 seconds, Aperture: 1.4, ISO: 800. Basically I used a faster film speed, which allows you to take a faster photo (I would have needed 6.4 seconds if I used ISO 400 - half the film speed = twice the time). Also, the aperture is how "open" the lens is while taking a photo, the more open = more light coming in, but less focus on everything in view, or the depth of field. Make sense?! If not, that's okay. I would suggest taking your camera out and playing around - if you have a point and shoot you can play around with the ISO - try taking the same shot at night or dusk with ISO 100, 200, 400, 800 and look at the difference! For those using a DSLR, it is obviously much easier to tweak these settings and you can see the difference immediately if you are changing the ISO but leaving the other settings locked.

Also - use a tripod at night. Since the camera is taking a longer photo, if you are not using a tripod, I can almost guarantee it will be blurry!

Here are a couple fun shots I took today since it rained and I love taking photos of drops of water! These two photos were taken in Boca Raton, FL - where it's cloudy today and I'm not sure what to do on cloudy days here...it's always sunny! Click to enlarge to get a better view as always.

And here are some photos that I have taken over the past few years of droplets - these photos were taken in Massachusetts and New York...

Below you can see a little trick I use sometimes with water droplets - the flash. The first shot is without a flash, and the second is with. You can see the huge difference it makes when using a flash with water droplets, since each droplet catches the light from the flash - so it brings out so much detail! Sometimes you can tell you used the flash and other times it just looks cool!

These two photos are examples of using the flash and, for the most part, not really being able to tell the flash was used. They turned out to be two of my favorite photos of water droplets I have taken...

That's all for today. Hope you are having a great day and if you are bored tonight, go try some night photography! Or take some photos of water droplets today (if you can)...I would love to see them - I will even post them on my blog if you send them to me!

A Quick Poll: What time of day was this photo taken?

2011-05-04T11:50:00.010-04:00

So if you had to guess, what time do you think the photo below was taken? (you can click to enlarge if you want)

What time of day was the photo taken?

Florida Favorites: My Favorite!

2011-04-29T09:00:00.020-04:00

Post 4 of 4!

Well if you didn't see this coming, then you must not know me very well - but my absolute favorite thing about Florida is starting life with this lovely lady below...

That's our kitchen/dining room table - we love it! It has been really fun to find furniture and fill our new home, and we are so excited to share the space together soon! We also started with this as our first couch...

...a folded up comforter with two pillows against the wall! Then we upgraded to this one and appreciated it that much more...

I'm excited to share my photography with you and parts of my life as well. I am hoping to find some cool places to take some photos down here in south Florida, so if anyone knows of any places in Boca Raton, Deerfield, Delray, Fort Lauderdale, Dania, Hollywood, Miami, etc...please feel free to share! I would love to photography favorite places you've been or things you've seen.

Check back often!

Florida Favorites: Water

2011-04-28T09:00:00.032-04:00

Post 3 of 4....

Living near the water is something Christina and I both see in our future - as much as we can make it happen that is. We love the beach, the ocean, waves crashing, and of course the pure beauty of water. I love how some of the simplest things in the world are the most beautiful. So to accompany that thought are some photos of water of course...

Fountain - Public Park in Fort Pierce

Intracoastal - view from
a Boca Raton bridge

Lots of sprinklers down here! Goes with
the water theme...right?!

Intracoastal view from public park in Fort Pierce

View from an 8th floor apartment in
Fort Pierce - of the Atlantic Ocean of course

Post 4 comes tomorrow! Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed! Any feedback is appreciated - whether it is about the layout of the page, photos, or anything else!

Florida Favorites: The Great Outdoors

2011-04-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

I definitely love being outside and that is truly something I enjoy about being in Florida. I have been on more walks in the past month than I went on in the 6 before - and I am enjoying every single one! Some are hotter than others!

So the next on my list is the great outdoors and here are my accompanying photos!

Farmer's Market in Ft. Pierce - near Vero Beach

Watching beautiful sunsets.
This one is in Ft. Pierce.

And of course golf - even though I've
only gone to the driving range so far!

One post per day for 4 days.

2011-04-26T21:20:00.000-04:00

That's my goal. Let's see how I do!

Florida Favorites: Flowers

2011-04-26T18:27:00.000-04:00

To continue my list from my last post, what I also definitely enjoying are all the flowers. There are so many beautiful flowers, in so many bright colors that it's hard to get tired of seeing them everywhere you go. Here are just a few photos - I will probably have many more of flowers from Florida in the future! Or maybe I'll do a post of flowers from around the world - since off hand I know I have flower photos from Ecuador, all of the US, and probably Haiti to name a few.

Boca Raton to Hollywood and Back

2011-04-20T15:00:00.019-04:00

So most of my time these past few weeks has been spent in Boca Raton and Hollywood, or driving back and forth.

I am going to list some of the things I am enjoying about Florida, with photos of course:

1. The wildlife - tons of birds, lizards, fish, frogs, rabbits, and plenty more. One night I was out for a walk on a golf course and it was a little freaky because of how many frogs were on the golf course. Felt like a visual representation of one of the plagues in the Old Testament! But I love seeing lizards all over the place. Christina said there was a lizard in the apartment last week - and she had to use her skills to convince it to leave, they are so fast!! But we also have a lizard that we named Cam - it reminded me of a chameleon because of the bright green color:

He also is in the process of growing back his tail. I caught some other photos of some lizards, but Cam is pretty chill and seems to like our patio as much as we do and doesn't run away when you are close by.

I think it realized that there was nothing to jump to - but I guess it was enjoying the view.

I also got some photos of a couple dragonflys the other day - they are extremely difficult to get a photo of while they are flying, so the ones I got were of when they weren't:

The list will continue in my next post!

Been a while?

2011-04-20T13:55:00.002-04:00

WOW! Here I am almost a month after my last post and I am writing in a Panera because I don't have internet in my temporary housing - unless I sit outside, the wind is blowing just right, and the relative humidity is 85%. Haha so I have not been able to update on Floridian life or post photos. But I am going to attempt to start taking some more photos and doing more posts now that I/we are somewhat settled down here!

I am still looking for a job - whether it be with a church, ministry, or organization in Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, or the surrounding areas or maybe even some photography work - know anyone in the area that wants some photos taken?! Who knows. Keep my search in prayer in the meantime. I have some applications floating around out there along with my resume to a couple contacts, so who knows what God will do with all that.

Will be posting some favorite photos from being in Florida so far...

Less than 2 days...

2011-03-15T12:25:00.006-04:00

So I am hoping to blog a little more often now - especially since I do not have a job lined up! But I want to share life and photography, so I will try my best. I am also hoping to put only photos I take on here - meaning if I am describing something, I will just take a photo!

In the midst of packing and my room and hallway being a complete disaster, I decided to post!

Christina and I will be packing up our stuff on Wednesday in a U-Haul trailer and jumping in our cars on Thursday morning to begin the trek down to Florida - probably around 7am, which as most of you know is my "favorite" time of the day. Nick's family has been gracious enough to let us stay in their home in Savannah, GA on the way down. We are very excited, very anxious, slightly scared, and a whole number of other emotions about leaving Virginia and arriving in Florida. Lots of change!! But God has provided thus far, and we have faith that he will only continue to provide.

This passage came to mind: Jesus speaking at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6...

(Photo is of NIV, text on blog is ESV)
²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.³⁴"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

So we are trusting in God for his continued provision, knowing full-well all that he has provided for us in the past, and the number of undeserved blessings as well. Please pray for us!

My co-pilot on the trip down will be my camera and my walkie-talkie (that's what they're called, not 2-way radios) haha. Hopefully that helps the trip go a little faster since we are driving in two cars!

It's certainly not as beautiful as Christina, but it will sound just like her! I'm excited to share photos and stories from our trip!

-Brett

Oh and here are the things that have poured into the hallway...haha

Gathering City Wide Service

2011-03-01T23:00:00.010-05:00

The Gathering had its annual City-Wide worship service and community night - bringing together college students from American University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, and University of Maryland. Over $1000 was raised for The Gathering's partnership in Haiti.

Favorite photos from the service...

Gathering City Wide Photos...coming soon...

2011-02-27T22:47:00.002-05:00

Transition Time

2011-02-22T17:00:00.001-05:00

The Offer
I wanted to update you that Christina has accepted a Child Life Specialist position in Hollywood, FL at a children's hospital. Originally the position was for a 3:30pm-12midnight shift, but God had a good hand in this one and she was offered a choice of that shift or a day shift, 9am-5:30pm - so she chose the day shift! This will be much better for Christina and I especially once we are married (meaning if God provides a ministry job for me, she can be fully part of that, and if not we can at least be involved together at church) and also we will actually be able to see each other each day! My excitement for that area in Florida is the strong Haitian population - since I have continually been wondering and searching out how God is going to further my call to Haiti and the Haitian people.

Our "Trial Run"
We flew down to the Florida thanks to my parents blessing us with a TON of their skymiles to practically fly for free. We arrived on a Friday morning and drove up from Miami. We were a little discouraged because the areas surrounding Miami are not super nice, so we started to wonder what we were even doing. But the scenery changed and the hospital looked like it was in a good area and had some nice communities around it. We grabbed lunch at a nice cafe and she then had her meetings with HR and her supervisor - both went very well and she got a tour of the hospital. She said it was quite a place! They told her they were flexible on a start date, so that was good, and we have since decided that she is going to start March 31st. I scoped out the surrounding communities a bit while she was there, some good areas and some fancy ones as well. We checked out the beach and waterfront areas, and then went to Boca Raton to meet up with my parents and grandparents. Day 2 we were set out to explore downtown Hollywood and also check into apartments and such, to see what was around. Downtown Hollywood was great and seems like a fun place with plenty of restaurants (and some good NY style pizza - that is very important to me by the way). We stopped by ReMax and got a card of the rental agent but had another place we wanted to check out first. It seemed rundown at first, so we called the ReMax agent and got mostly blown off by him. So we went with the "rundown" place called Rent 1 Sale 1!

We ended up getting a very nice female agent named Anna who decided she wanted to get out of the office and show us around. She showed us one place and again...we were discouraged! But then we saw 3 other places that we quite nice, and we started leaning towards one of them. So yes, at this point we were feeling more and more like God was allowing us to have moments of discouragement followed closely by very encouraging ones! So we went back to Boca again to talk things over and think about places and all that. Day 3 we went to a church that was recommended to me by my professor and it also went very well. Got to meet the senior pastor and talk about who we were and what we were doing, but he didn't mention any positions or anything at that time. We went back to the place that both of us felt very comfortable with (both the price, the location - around the corner from the church we went to, and the grounds/safety) and decided to go for it. So we have now officially reserved a place for Christina to live in and as such had to decide when to move her in...and we decided on March 19th since the apartment was available starting the 12th of March. This way she can be down there for about a week and a half before the start date of March 31st. WOW! God provided a much more productive and decision-making weekend than we could have even imagined. Again, we just felt things falling more and more into place...very crazy.

Also, I ended up getting a call from the senior pastor I met that morning and he left a message since we were flying back that he wanted to speak with me about potential job opportunities. I was able to talk to him and they don't have openings at the church, but they are revamping and re-emphasizing discipleship and biblical teaching in the Christian school attached to their church and will be hiring probably 2 young male Bible teachers for the next school year. So we'll see what comes of that, but I would not be able to look more into that until moving down there and being able to meet with him again to discuss the possibilities. Again, another moment of thinking "okay, maybe this isn't the church we are supposed to go to, but God will provide" and then I received that call.

All in all, this is all pretty crazy and quick but God is definitely in it and we both strongly feel that. My grandparents are letting me stay in their place in Boca, which is going to be a huge blessing. So wow. Answer to many prayers for sure.

My Position
My official last day with the Gathering will be on Monday, March 14th.

Obviously this is very exciting and also sad at the same time. God has provided so many great relationships here and has blessed both Christina and I immensely. If we hadn't felt God so strongly pulling us, we would have stayed put! But we are trying our best to be obedient to God's calling on our lives and know God has something planned for us there.

I will certainly miss everyone from the Gathering (especially my Mason Gathering people!), the Gathering Staff, and MBC staff. It has been an amazing place to serve and I am grateful for God's provision of my position. I can still say that working for the Gathering is a sweet job - hanging out with students and talking about the Gospel working in their lives is great - and that won't change! I would love to keep in touch, so feel free to initiate!

Please be praying for us during this time of transition, our continued preparation for our marriage (which will begin June 18th!), and also for my job situation - which God has yet to reveal to me. I am hoping to find a ministry position working with youth, but have also been looking into working with the Haitian population stateside in the Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, and North Miami areas.

Christina and I are planning on leaving Northern Virginia (the land of yellow taxi's that are orange)...

That is NOT yellow, Virginia.

...on March 17 to start the long drive down to Hollywood Florida (where old people drive on the street in their Jazzy)

He was also trying to light his cigar - shouldn't smoke and drive man!

But regardless, I will most certainly miss Virginia and all my friends and family here.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Praying for wisdom,
-Brett

The Peoples Shoe Review

2011-02-08T23:51:00.005-05:00

Just wanted to share shoes with you. Just for fun.

Got these shoes for a great price but they are also a company promoting good work environments in their factories, very green production, and giving back. If you want more info, check out their website: http://www.thepeoplesshoe.com

My review: they are not an expensive shoe, so don't expect that. They wear down and the plastic heel breaks apart pretty easily and they aren't super comfy, but throw some sort of pad or something in there and they are good to go. They are a good shoe and I haven't seen anyone else wearing them around since getting them last summer, which is a plus for me.

All in all, probably more of a one-time buy, but then again...so are most of my shoes.

Gathering Services Start Again at GMU!

2011-02-03T00:31:00.008-05:00

Tonight was the first worship service of the semester for The Gathering at George Mason. It was awesome to be back with everyone! A great night or worship, teaching, and some sweet community afterwards. Enjoyed the free pizza of course! Here are some highlight shots from the night...

The Gathering
The college ministry of McLean Bible Church/Frontline

http://www.mcleanbible.org/
http://www.frontlinedc.org/
http://www.gatheringonline.org/

Candlelight

2011-01-28T02:38:00.001-05:00

Since our power was out Wednesday night, Joey read by candlelight...

Night Shots

2011-01-18T23:55:00.008-05:00

Long overdue post. Hopefully I can catch up on the Haiti photos from November soon.

These are just some shots in my neighborhood I took. There was a cool fog that made the lights really bright, so I captured some of that...and the other was just for fun!

Haiti in November: Post 1

2010-11-22T23:18:00.002-05:00

The first few days were pretty low key - spent a lot of time at Thony's with Thony, his wife Sarah, and Blanc. Allen was also around for some of the time. Mamai and Laura (Thony's neice's) were around and Allen's mom was also around - don't have photos of them though! Maybe next time...

Very fortunate to sleep on a nice mattress while staying with Thony.

The view from Thony's palace...

Fall's Beauty

2010-11-16T11:19:00.001-05:00

So before I post photos from my trip to Haiti last week - I wanted to take 3 photos and stitch them together of the view outside my kitchen window. So nice.

Catching Some of the "old" of Old Town Alexandria (Part III)

2010-10-15T17:19:00.005-04:00

Be sure to check out Part I and Part II

Catching Some of the "old" of Old Town Alexandria (Part II)

2010-10-15T17:18:00.003-04:00

Be sure to check out Part I!
http://lettherebelightphoto.blogspot.com/2010/10/catching-some-of-old-of-old-town.html

Catching Some of the "old" of Old Town Alexandria (Part I)

2010-10-15T16:57:00.013-04:00

Stuck around in Old Town Alexandria after having a lunch meeting. As I walked around I figured I would try to take pictures of some of the "old" aspects of Old Town and catching some of the "newness" as well. Hope you enjoy! Please check out the posts coming soon after as well - this will be I of III. All black and white!

Highlights of the Week

2010-10-12T23:47:00.006-04:00

Went to Theodore Roosevelt island in DC and took some photos. Also, I was up in NYC with Christina visiting her friend from grad-school who recently had a baby!

Georgetown From Afar

"Surfing"

Down the Beaten Path

Have All Your Ducks In A Row?

Too good to pass up this shot and the next

Note:
I am not obsessed with ducks! Just so happens that the two parks I have been to lately have both had ducks in site...and they are too good to pass up taking photos of!

Baby Lucy Zaslow Pope!

It's OCTOBER?!

2010-10-03T01:45:00.008-04:00

Took some shots today...was nice to be back in the photography zone today! Christina and I stopped at this cool park right near Reagan Airport where the planes fly right over head. Also, there was a decent amount of wildlife around - so I caught the wingspans and flights of both!

Let me know what you think!

Liked this shot of these two ducks heading out to visit the other two ducks. I waited to catch the blue feathers of the male duck on the rock - really cool blue color.

Nothing like seeing water droplets on a duck's feathers.

It's fun waiting for a bird to spread its wings...

...and just as fun to catch it twice!

My favorite plane shot of the day.

What a cute couple.

Seemed like a wagon wheel of sorts...though definitely not a wagon wheel.

Hope you enjoyed!

Favorites from the Last Two Months! Post 2

2010-08-11T21:32:00.011-04:00

So I got engaged!
My plan was to ask Christina to marry me - so I did! I took her out to California to meet friends and family friends and had a few potential spots to ask her, but decided on the best one (of course). However, this involved driving two and a half hours up Highway 1 - which if you have never heard of the PCH, you would think it sounds like a chore. But trust me, it is the most beautiful drive I have ever driven in my life (yes, I'm young, but still - you get the point). I told her that we NEEDED to go do this "hike" because it's amazing and so cool and worth it. She went along with it, wondering why we had to drive 2 1/2 hours for a hike. And just so you know, this "hike" was about a 1/4 mile on a completely flat path. Yeah, it was tough. We were pretty winded by the time we got to the end. But I made her look straight forward the entire time, so that she didn't see the beautiful waterfall to her left. Now...let the photos tell the rest of the story!

This is the restaurant we ate at on the way - Ragged Point, CA

Julia Pfeifer Burns State Park is now "our spot"

This is the place I told Christina "We have to go!" to.
I think it is amazing!

She didn't even know what was coming next!
There were too many people around this spot,
so I quickly said "Hey, let's go explore over there"

From a distance...

Our find while exploring...

Felt like a cool tree fort once we stepped inside

Just a few minutes before!

It worked! She said yes!

Sharing the news with her family once we got back to an area with
service! I also made Christina tell the story on video - which be fun
to watch later in life :o)

So there it is! My photo journey of getting engaged. She is great by the way - can't really tell from pictures how cool she is! I still have another post or 2 from June/July to catch up on - so I hope you come back and visit to check those out.
Thanks for checking out my blog and I hope you enjoyed it.

Favorites from the Last Two Months! Post 1

2010-08-05T23:12:00.020-04:00

The following photos were taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on June 18, 2010

_______________________________________

Brush fire we saw near 101 on our way to Monterey

Christina and I were invited into a World Cup viewing party while walking around LA!

Port San Luis Pier, CA
Elephant seal jumping onto the pier - quite the site. Also quite impressive.

For some reason I love taking photos of these viewers...

Monterey Bay Aquarium, CA

Santa Monica Pier, CA

PHOTOS MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, RE-POSTED, COPIED, OR USED IN ANY MANNER BY ANYONE WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Upcoming photos!

2010-06-13T01:15:00.002-04:00

I am heading out to California Sunday afternoon - and will be taking a lot of photos while I am there! So I will be sharing those of course.

Reflections

2010-05-25T19:31:00.008-04:00

Some photos I have taken looking for reflections!

Favorite Shots of Birds

2010-05-24T20:28:00.009-04:00

A post dedicated to our flying friends...

Washington DC's Greatest Weakness

2010-05-17T17:01:00.004-04:00

In lieu of the rainy Monday that we have here today in the Northern Virginia area, I decided to take a moment to find the pictures I took with my phone from back in February, both here in VA and also in NY.

This was the second major storm in a short period of time. I had learned that Virginia and the capitol basically shut down. And by basically, I mean literally. Now granted, there was a substantial amount of snow, but I'll have you know that NY was also hit very hard...and the pictures here are worth a thousand words.

Above: Milk at a grocery store in NY day before the big snow storm hit

Above: Milk at a grocery store in VA day before the big snow storm hit

Above: Salad at a grocery store in VA day before the big snow storm hit

Above: My street at home the DAY AFTER the storm hit NY

Above: My street at home the DAY AFTER the storm hit NY

Above: My street in VA 6 DAYS AFTER the storm hit VA

Above: My street in VA 6 DAYS AFTER the storm hit VA

Above: My street in VA, finally clear, 10 DAYS AFTER the storm hit VA

Light Painting

2010-05-12T17:54:00.011-04:00

If any of you have seen my Flickr before, then the following post is old news! But I wanted to share this for those who haven't seen it.

Light-painting is a cool element in photography that I learned about while taking a film photography class while out in California (at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo). The teacher of the class was a cool guy and showed us some of his own work that he shot while in one of the national parks a few hours away. In a few of the photos he took at night, he used a long exposure (camera is open for a longer time, aka slow shutter speed) and used a large spotlight to literally "paint" the trees. He used color film covers to change the color of the light that he was "painting" the trees with light. I think this is a really cool intersection of PAINTING and PHOTOGRAPHY. Because it is dark out, the lens can be open longer and light is slowly let into the camera, thus you can manipulate it.

Above is an experimental shot I took while still at my house. So it wasn't perfect, but it gives the concept for what I was going to be doing. Because it was so dark, I have enough time to run in front of the camera, kneel down, and use a flashlight to literally paint the letters and/or image I am trying to create.

Hope you enjoy the photos! They take some time to get right, but once you do...it is very cool stuff.

TRY IT AT HOME!
Grab your camera when its dark out and give it a try. You can change the exposure time by going into the manual setting (cannot do on AUTO setting). My old point and shoot camera had the option to do up to 8 seconds - which is enough time to experiment! If you have a Digital SLR it is much easier. Two options: use the M (manual) or T (shutter speed) and set the time to either a few seconds, 30 seconds if it's very dark, or use the BULB setting if you know how to (I have a shutter release cable that locks - so I can do a long-exposure shot for an hour if I wanted)

If you don't feel like going out into the middle of a city after midnight and looking quite foolish to people, then try a dark room inside first and use a flash light - or even a cell phone.

It will look something like this if you do a circular motion...

Nets

2010-05-06T23:54:00.003-04:00

Well, since there are no more Haiti photos to share, I will be posting some of my favorites and some new shots as well. Sometimes I will give a pointer on how I like to take a certain shot, but sometimes I may just give a photo! So enjoy one or both of those things!

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 4

2010-05-04T17:55:00.009-04:00

This will be my last post for my Haiti trips and accompanying photos, that is until I take another trip! Which I will do. I hope you have enjoyed them all and that they have helped you make a connection to a people and place quite far from us, yet personally so close to my heart.

These pictures are from the second half of March 19th, on our trip into Port Au Prince. I posted pictures from the first day, which helped paint a picture of the damage. For those who got a chance to look at my earlier posts from my first trip, I had photos from Petit-Goâve and the damage to that city. It was getting dark out so I had to take the shots at a higher ISO (most are either 800 or 1600) - so I apologize for them being a bit grainy, I don't really like photos being grainy! If you didn't even notice, well that's okay too.

Keep praying for Haiti. For Port-Au-Prince, Petit-Goâve, and the small town of Pèsin...

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 3

2010-04-27T00:46:00.007-04:00

Sometimes I can't get over how beautiful and amazing these kids really are. I know photos help tell a story, but if you could just meet these kids...

If I had a Haitian son...this would be him:
Mikelme Tekodi. He won a special place in my life the first time I went down to Haiti this past January. He chose me. Out of the crowd of people, he latched on to me and found me everytime - hanging on to my hand, arm, finger, pocket, shirt, or whatever he could grab. A very loyal little friend with a little bit of jealousy mixed in - when another little boy or girl would try to hold my hand, he became a bit defensive. So there is room for growth! But I love him and miss him dearly.

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 2

2010-04-27T00:24:00.012-04:00

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 1

2010-04-27T00:09:00.010-04:00

March 18, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti

2010-04-20T23:48:00.015-04:00

A day filled with vacation bible school, reenacting Bible stories, games, and of course some work!

Enjoy the photos.

Let There Be Light Photography

Merry Christmas from Brett Becker Photography

Our Little Trip to Richmond, VA

Miami Food Trucks - Hollywood, FL - Arts Park at Young Circle every Monday!

RE: How to Take Great Race Photos @Healthontherun.net

Costa Family Portraits - Bal Harbour Beach, Miami, FL

Check out my Facebook page for more photos:http://www.facebook.com/BrettBeckerPhotography And my Website:http://www.brettbeckerphotography.com/

Less Time Blogging Does NOT Mean Less Time Photographing!

Some photographs of birds over the past month or so from our balcony...

A Friendly Visit from a Californian Friend

Highlight Photos from Last Weekend - Fort Pierce, FL

National Coffee Day...is TODAY!

Let Me Explain Myself When I Say "I Coupon..."

Announcing Brett Becker Photography!

New Domain! BrettBeckerPhotography.com

South Beach Miami - Paying to Park...for the Homeless

A New Camera, A New Photographer, A Not-so-New Model!

Some Magazine-Like Photography: From New York

Senior Portraits - Erin - taken in Sea Cliff, NY Part II

Senior Portraits - Erin - taken in Sea Cliff, NY Part I

New Blog Header...Yes It was FREE!

Thursday Means New York Bound! Long Island Technically...

Rain Photos into Video #2

Fun with Photos...and video?! And a business card?!

NEW Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital - Officially Open to the Public Today!

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration SATURDAY! JDCH Hollywood, FL

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration TODAY!

Summer Favorite's: Weddings and of course Food, Drinks, and Delicious Desserts

Folk/Christian/Acoustic Music - Nick Jones - With One Voice

Lauren's College Graduation Portraits

Lauren's Graduation Part II: Family Photography

Graduation Photography - Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, Florida - Part IV

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, FL Part III - Reception

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, FL Part II

Weekend Wedding: Palm City, Florida

Answer to Yesterday's Poll (AKA Night Photography) and Some Fresh Photos from Today!

A Quick Poll: What time of day was this photo taken?

Florida Favorites: My Favorite!

Florida Favorites: Water

Florida Favorites: The Great Outdoors

One post per day for 4 days.

Florida Favorites: Flowers

Boca Raton to Hollywood and Back

Been a while?

Less than 2 days...

Gathering City Wide Service

Gathering City Wide Photos...coming soon...

Transition Time

The Peoples Shoe Review

Gathering Services Start Again at GMU!

Candlelight

Night Shots

Haiti in November: Post 1

Fall's Beauty

Catching Some of the "old" of Old Town Alexandria (Part III)

Catching Some of the "old" of Old Town Alexandria (Part II)

Catching Some of the "old" of Old Town Alexandria (Part I)

Highlights of the Week

It's OCTOBER?!

Favorites from the Last Two Months! Post 2

Favorites from the Last Two Months! Post 1

Upcoming photos!

Reflections

Favorite Shots of Birds

Washington DC's Greatest Weakness

Light Painting

Nets

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 4

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 3

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 2

March 19, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti Part 1

March 18, 2010: Petit-Goâve, Haiti and Pèsin, Haiti

Check out my Facebook page for more photos:
http://www.facebook.com/BrettBeckerPhotography

And my Website:
http://www.brettbeckerphotography.com/