Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
11/4/11
Costa Family Portraits - Bal Harbour Beach, Miami, FL
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:
11/2/11
Less Time Blogging Does NOT Mean Less Time Photographing!
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
9/12/11
A New Camera, A New Photographer, A Not-so-New Model!
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!
8/18/11
New Blog Header...Yes It was FREE!
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!
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!
8/11/11
Thursday Means New York Bound! Long Island Technically...
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):
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!
8/2/11
Rain Photos into Video #2
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!
8/1/11
Fun with Photos...and video?! And a business card?!
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....
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!
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!
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!
7/21/11
NEW Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital - Officially Open to the Public Today!
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!
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
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.
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!
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
7/18/11
Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Grand Opening Celebration SATURDAY! JDCH Hollywood, FL
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!
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!
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!
he is mid-break on those little boards!
Hope you enjoyed!
Here are some follow up links and articles...
7/13/11
Summer Favorite's: Weddings and of course Food, Drinks, and Delicious Desserts
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.
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...
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!
Photo by Joelle Watt
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!
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