Lens of the Lioness A Profile on Virginia Becker By Nora Donovan
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magine a young girl, one with an amazing light in her eye. This girl has had that light dimmed from having two mothers, one loving and kind the other a monster who should have never had kids. Unfortunately this mother is one in the same; she had dual personality disorder. The young girl had issues with school and learning, she hated it with a passion, and she had no encouragement and no confidence to pursue what she loved. What if I told you that this broken down girl
blossomed into a woman with a confidence that showed in her eyes with that same light that was gone for years. Virginia Becker was the small cub who was left alone, but became stronger through every experience and every fall that she had. Now, many years later, she is a strong and powerful lioness, who is protective and caring, with an ability to think of everyone else first before herself. irginia is a hard working woman who has made a major impact on the community
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with her photography, and with her ability to inspire others through teaching. Virginia is a teacher who shows us what is really important in how she educates others who hated learning, as well as bringing awareness to causes that bring people together.
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eeting Virginia Becker for the first time was an experience unlike any other, I had first met her when I was 7 years old. It was a sunny spring day, and my dad was holding one of his photography workshops, this one in particular was for portraits. My dad was telling me about Virginia in the car, and said that she had a natural talent for portraits. As soon as my dad had cut the engine and we were bombarded by this woman. She appeared as if she had dank 20 cups of coffee, and ate about a dozen pixie sticks. At the time I thought she was a bit insane, yet there was something very intriguing about her. Later on as I got older, I started thinking about how much she has accomplished in her life, with her nonprofits and other adventures. I still saw her in the same way for the last 10 years, a
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kind of crazy, fun and outgoing person, who loves people. I got to talking with her and I had realized that she had grown up in a way that none of us could even contemplate, her life was never what I thought it was, all of the sudden my niece mist was b l u s t e ring away and I truly saw her, all of her pain, and hard memories. One in particular stood out to me, where she was coming home after school, her older sister was sitting in her room, and was avoiding something. All of the sudden her mother, who was in her bad self, came onto her and took out all of her anger and frustration on Virginia. This was a norm in Virginia’s life for years, until she graduated high school and went onto college. This is just one of the things that I never had imagined. Its because of
her experiences at home that have made her have this selflessness about her that keeps others from really knowing her. I was lucky enough to get her to actually talk about herself something that I had never experienced with her before. She opened up to me, and in the beginning of my interview with her; she wanted to know how I was and how things were going on with me. I finally opened the floodgates and got her to share where she came from and why she is the person that she is today. irginia grew up near Berkeley California, with a mother who had dual personality disorder, one was loving and the other “... an absolute monster who should have gone to jail for what she did…” Her father left her and her older sister when she was 12. Her experience with school was represented by how the schools only taught one learning style, and it left those like Virginia in the dust, struggling to get through. She hated going to her classes, although one day she found some relief in acting,
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said, “I LOVED teaching, I absolutely loved it, I loved teaching special ed and teaching kids that didn’t like to learn because I unde r s t o o d “I LOVED teaching, I abso- of all people what lutely loved it, I loved teach- it felt to ing special ed and teaching kids not like that didn’t like to learn because to learn. They hatI understood of all people what ed school it felt to not like to learn. They and so did I.” Virginia hated school and so did I.” has em-Virginia Becker bodied the growth mindset that psychologist Carent teaching degrees, all ol Dweck, who has been focused on helping those studying ;”When people who hated learning. She drop the good-bad, strongwas a teacher for many weak thinking that grows years, until she adoptout of the fixed mindset, ed her son. She met her they’re better able to learn husband Albert in 1980 useful strategies that help through an adult soccer with self-control... It’s a releague. They have created minder that you’re an untheir own family and have lived very contently with their life. For many years, Virginia has been an entrepreneur by starting up many businesses (File It, Jazzy Hospital Gowns, a tattoo parlor, and a portrait company) , along with her non-profit organizations (The family album project), but most importantly she has taught kids who hated learning. She acting then became a huge part in her high school experience. She went to San Jose State University and earned three differ-
finished human being and a clue to how to do it better next time”(158). With her work as a teacher ending because of her son, she and her husband Albert became very interested in photography, specifically the post processing aspect of it. Albert says, “Well, I was very interested in photography and always have been for years, I mostly did landscapes, soon I gave Virginia one of my old cameras, and she just couldn’t stop taking pictures of people she absolutely loved it....” hey signed up for Nate Donovan’s classes and workshops that was a combination of both photography and post processing. Nate has been teaching for over 20 years, including high school and adult education.
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In his years and experiences, he noticed something about Virginia “Many people think that portrait photography is all about the camera, it really isn’t… about 70% of it is about
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had the privilege to accompany Virginia and Albert to a Santa Cruz Red Cross Charity Gala, where I got to observe Virginia at work. She appeared to be
“...Virginia has this natural gift to her with how she interacts with others; she can get them to give her the expression that she wants and have them look natural and not forced.” -Nate Donovan how you communicate to others...Me being a man who is 6’4” makes it a little harder for me to get a good first impression, but Virginia has this natural gift to her with how she interacts with others; she can get them to give her the expression that she wants and have them look natural and not forced.” Other than a love for photography Nate, Virginia and Albert all had similar issues with school and learning. Nate and Virginia both briefly lost that love of learning, but quickly regained it by trying to teach others and encourage them to enjoy learning. 4
managing the photo booth that she was in the middle of setting up in controlled chaos, running around like a headless chicken. It took about twenty minutes for
her to get everything staged a n d ready for the guests to enter. As the event began, she went into this mode where she was laser focused on each person and the kind of photo she wanted; some were goofy and others were more formal. Over the course of the three hours, we took over 300 pictures, thats about 1 photo per minute. I was amazed at her grace: as she was hunting for that perfect shot, she positioned herself and the subject, took her aim and pounced over and over, pouncing at every opportunity, her movements so fast the the flashes couldn’t catch up. She had a light in her eyes as she went through one person at a time. Getting the most out of every shot, she was determined to make everything perfect. However she knows that the perfect shot won’t always come, and pushes for learning from each scenario that she comes across.
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irginia’s love of learning fuels her ambition, “I just want to carry out what I am doing for the rest of my life, and I want to be the one to do it, not anybody else. I really don’t want to expand, or to commercialize it, I just want to be the one to take the pictures and do my part”. She wishes to continue to carry out her work, and remain the primary photographer for her organization, and an important member of the Red Cross community, who enables
others to contribute and do their part. never had anybody to encourage me...and Nate saw something in me that I didn’t know that I had, and he said that I would make a great portrait photographer. I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn’t think he was right because I wasn’t very good technically with
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my camera, and he tried to point out that that part would come, that I seemed to have some ability to take portraits. And if Nate Donovan had not done that I would not have the family album project, and I would not have this enormous joy in my life.”
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