pascale wowak photoblog

Firecracker Race & Happy Fourth of July!!!

Three weeks ago my BFF Christy (who is an AMAZING long distance runner) convinced me, in a moment of sleep deprived weakness, to sign up for the 10k Firecracker Race in Pogonip Open Space in S.C. on July 4th.  I'm not a runner.  I don't even LIKE running.  I basically avoid it at all costs.  So, even though I work out regularly (tae kwon do, cross fit, kickboxing and now Zumba), I do not run. But, here I was signing up for it anyways and thinking about how I was going to go from not running at all to running a 10k in LESS than 3 weeks.  

Yeah, I'm not sure what I was thinking.  But I set up a running schedule that started out on the treadmill at the gym doing first a 2 mile run, then a 3 mile run, then a 4 mile run the first week with no regard as to the time it took to do it, but rather just making the distance.  The second week I hit the trails at Henry Cowell and ran around the .8 mile loop there starting to track my time/distance ratio.  The second week I worked up to 8 loops which was equivalent to 6.4 miles.  I was averaging about a 9-10 mn mile.  I was getting in 2-3 runs a week.  This last week I only got in 2 runs and felt really lackluster both times.

Last night I kinda panicked.  The part that concerned me the most was that I had trained on exclusively FLAT territory the entire time and they call this race/course "The Hill" for a reason.  Basically, the whole middle part is all uphill.  I got NO sleep last night tossing and turning stressing out about everything that could go wrong, wondering what to expect (I've never done a race before), imagining myself tripping on my laces, stumbling on a rock and twisting my ankle, passing out on the hill etc...  I'm a total worry wart.

But there was no turning back because I had also signed up the kids to do the 1k kid race and they were really excited about doing their first race too.  Sadly, my friend Christy seriously injured her leg and couldn't do the race which was a total bummer for both of us. 

I somehow managed to get the whole family up this morning at 6:30 am, which considering it was a day off for everyone was a feat in and of itself.  Had a cup of coffee (BAD idea, with it being a diuretic and all, now I know....) and an energy bar and off we went.

The kids race was first and so stinking cute.  Ellie, as expected, ran faster than her big brother but that girl outruns most kids twice her age.  She has AMAZING natural runner's form.  Such a thrill watching her sprint down to the finish line and see the pride on her face.  Gavin and his BFF Nate (Christy's son) were right behind.  They looked exhausted but equally proud to have made it.  We had so much fun cheering for them!  Here is a short video of the kids coming across the finish line!

Password:  1k

firecracker 1k kids from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

Then it was my turn to take off.  Feeling the energy of the crowd of runners was very cool albeit I had a hard time initially finding "my" pace amongst all the different paces out there especially since I had trained alone these last three weeks and wasn't used to running with a group or even another person.  Eventually I found a gal in blue shorts ahead of me that seemed to be at what I thought was my pace and just decided to keep "trained" on her and not worry about anything else.  I had a GREAT playlist on my IPOD and just got into a groove.  The hill did nearly kill me though and at one point was SO STEEP that I had to walk up it as fast as I could because there was no way I could run up that one particular spot.  Then I had to find my pace again because I had lost my "rabbit" so to speak.  I was soooooo happy to see the finish line approaching and dug deep to really hustle down those last 100 yards.  My final time was 53:30.  Which ended up being just slightly faster than my usual time!  

Best part of the race? Seeing my kids and husband cheering me on at the finish line.   Second best part?  The popsicle they gave everyone who ran.  :)

I used my little point and shoot to catch the video of the kids running but the camera was going on the fritz on me and not allowing me to get any pictures of the kids which was driving me crazy.  This little P&S is only a year old and should not be doing this so I'm hoping it was a one time problem and will not happen again.  Grrrr.  I had no idea if the video portion would even come out but it worked and my hubby even filmed me coming in at the finish line for me which was a nice surprise!  Here's my finish!  Wooohoooo!   I ended up coming in 5th in my division.  For a first time runner who only trained for 3 weeks I'd say that's not too shabby!  I just may have to do this again....  (by the way, I'm still not a natural runner and it was absolutely painful and challenging with every single step, this was NOT an easy run and I had to WORK for it...I envy all those gazelle like runners out there who weren't even breathing heavy whizzing by me as I was huffing and puffing and drenched in sweat!)

password:  10k

Firecracker 10k from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

So, a great way to start of the 4th of July and celebrate our country's independence.  We are going to go see the Fireworks show in SV tonight so if you are there and see us, swing by and say HI!!! :)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!

Miss Lily

Ah, little miss Lily!  When I last photographed her she was just a few months old, NOT yet mobile and as accommodating as they come.  Fast forward to yesterday....  What a difference a year makes!  That little girl is FAST and FEISTY and determined NOT to look at the camera.  Mom, dad and I were chasing her all over trying to redirect her in the general vicinity of my lens and she would intentionally run the other way.  If she saw me she would deliberately turn her back to me with a mischievous little smile on her face.  She only stopped moving on one occasion and that was so she could poop.  So funny!  We tried every trick in the book to grab her attention and get her to slow down for a second and she was on to us every time.  She just threw her head back and laughed at us silly adults and shook her head saying "no! no! no!" in her playful and taunting little way.  I swear it was like Ellie all over again.  At one point I accidentally called Lily by Ellie's name, that's how much I was transported back in time!  I was really struggling to get her to stay in the light I wanted her to be in too and was astounded at her "energizer bunny" nature where she just kept running away without once looking back to see if any of us were even remotely closeby.  A super independent and determined little soul in that girl!  In the end, we prevailed, but I think the adults involved all collapsed on a couch when they got home! :)

Ginger and Art, thank you so much for driving so far to come see me and chase Lily around!!  She is a very bright, charming and delightful little girl!

Here is the one second she stopped moving to attend to other business.

For these, I'd get exactly ONE shot and then she'd literally launch herself off the bench, dad would scoop her up, put her back, I'd get ONE shot, she'd launch herself off again... you get the idea.  I have never seen a toddler move that fast in all my years of doing this!

She is actually still moving in this next shot which I caught as she momentarily, and accidentally, glimpsed at me.  HA!  I had my SS set to 1/640 instead of my usual 1/250 or 1/320 that I use with toddlers.  

I love this classy, simple denim dress with bloomers by the way.  It photographs beautifully in both color and B&W and keeps all the focus on Miss Lily.  Beautiful choice by mom!

HAHA! GOTCHA!

I quickly figured out that the best thing to do with Lily was NOT suggest anything.  So rather than ASK her to sit in the chair, which she would have politely refused to do, I quietly moved the chair into a location I liked, silently stepped away from the chair and casually squatted down a few yards away.  Then we all looked AWAY from the chair like it was the LAST place we wanted her to go..... and wouldn't you know it.....

Do you see her eyeballing me on the last frame? Trouble with a capital T that one... That's about when I started calling her Ellie.

Look at that determined look on her face!

Then, at the very end, I got these last two shots back to back and when I got them I told Ginger: "That's it! I got what I needed"  And we both let out a big "wooohoo!!"

Next year I'm wearing my track shoes.

Back in the day...

Ok, OK.  I aim to please my readers....  And many of you have been asking for a picture of me 'back in the day' when I was doing the only career I honestly thought I was MEANT to do, the one that came so naturally, easily and that I loved with every fiber of my being...  The one I had worked towards as my goal since I was a pre-pubescent teenaged girl.  The only career I every thought I would have.  Funny how life can throw you curveballs huh?  Luckily, I was able to enjoy 10 marvelous years doing this so I'm not complaining.  And I've been beyond fortunate to have found another calling that makes me equally happy and engages a totally different side of my brain/personality.  It's been very enlightening on so many levels to be doing something now that is so different from what I used to do.  It's like I've gotten in touch with a completely different side of myself.   While looking for a picture of that monumentally important, personality shaping, decade of my life, I came up surprisingly empty handed.  Turns out I only have a very small handful of pictures of me in uniform.  The reason for that, of course, is that cops don't go around taking pictures of each other in uniform, and I hated having my picture taken as much back then as I do now.  Probably even more so.   This one shot I will be sharing below though has a lovely story behind it.

During a few years while working up in the East Bay, I was neighbors with a little old lady who lived alone in her home.  She didn't have any family in the area and was the sweetest thing ever so I would frequently stop by to quickly say hi and check in on her whenever I could on my days off.  Sometimes I would stop by in uniform when things would slow down enough to allow me to do that.  She always got a monumental kick out of seeing me in uniform.  Even though she was frail and tiny and soft spoken, there was always a spark of feistiness behind her demeanor and I could tell that "back in the day" she must have been quite the little trouble maker! :)

One day while I was stopping by on duty to quickly say hi she asked to take a picture of me.  I relented because I knew how much it meant to her and stood outside her front door as she held up her little disposable Kodak Film Camera and, with shaking little old hands, took the shot.  One shot.  I fully expected my head to be cut off or the image to be sooooo blurry (from the shaking) that I would be indiscernible from the door.  But I knew she probably wouldn't care so I didn't bother to ask her if she wanted to take a second shot "just in case."

A few days later there was a little note on my door, with a copy of the picture she had taken, and the words: "one day you'll look back fondly on this time in your life and cherish this image."   I laughed and, "knowing" that I would be doing this until I retired, ergo 30 years of it, figured I'd never know any time in my life when I WASN'T doing this seeing as I was sent to the police academy at the ripe old age of 20 and a half years old after having already been a police dispatcher for 2 years and a police cadet/aide for a year prior to that.  (Yes, I started out in Law Enforcement at 17 yrs old).  This was all I'd ever known.  How could I ever feel "disconnected" from it!?  It's all I was ever going to do!  I tucked the picture away in an overly stuffed, disorganized photo album and never thought twice about it, until this week as I was frantically looking for images of me in uniform.  

Of course, she was right.  I let out a little squeal when I saw the image and a flood of memories came rushing back into my head and my heart was overwhelmed with emotions.   Truth is, I *do* miss that career every single day of my life.  But I am in a different place now.  I'd venture to say I'm in a more challenging (and yet fulfilling) place, which mostly has to do with the fact that I am a mother now! That time in my life back then was so carefree.  Even though I'd work (with overtime) an average of 60-80 hrs a week on the GRAVEYARD shift no less, I was never as sleep deprived as I have been the last few years.   It almost seems as though the life I had then cannot even be real because it is so far removed from my life now.  It's amazing how things change. How I have changed.  And even though I miss that phase of my life (intensely at times), I'm truly thrilled to be where I am now, along with my much more "demure" life, void of any adrenaline rushes and that amazing work camaraderie.   Everything in life has its pros and cons and there are definitely things about my old job that I DO NOT miss.

So, I tried my best not to get too sentimental when I saw that picture and instead tried to recall and focus on the aspects of the job that were less appealing to me than the exciting and rewarding ones.  I believe everyone has a path to take in their life and that plans change.  Life happens.  And, ultimately, everything happens for a reason.  

  

So, that was a pretty long winded way to introduce one measly photograph don't ya think!?   I have immense gratitude to the sweet little old lady neighbor many many years ago for taking this shot and knowing then what I did not yet know.  Knowing how much it would mean to me to have it and mischievously convincing me to take it on the premise that SHE wanted it for herself when all along it was a gift for me. :)

I was just reminded of a funny story.  When I was first fitted for the bullet proof vest we wear under our uniforms the guy in the store "kindly" suggested that because I was so flat chested (um....thanks?!), I would probably not need the "women's" bullet proof vest (that comes with darts built in to accommodate the breasts) and would probably be more comfortable wearing a guy's vest.  Ugh.  Talk about embarrassing.  But, he was actually right, the men's vest fit me MUCH better and by not having the darted vest poking out I was able to put a whole ton of stuff (papers, pen, cards, resource materials, nystagmus chart etc..) in my front pockets which was sooo handy and my few fellow female officer compatriots could not do because their big breasts kept making their paperwork/pen fall out!  So, score one for the little boobies!  Also, because I am all legs and no torso I was able to get an old fashioned "drop" holster on my hip which made me the fastest draw in the department, loved it!!

A "numbered" Courtney Courtney Design

When Courtney sent this "little number" (pun intended!) to be photographed Ellie initially balked at it.  WHY?

"But mom!! I'm 4 and a half!! I'm NOT five, how can I wear a FIVE dress???!! Also, does that mean that when I turn five I can't wear my FOUR dress anymore??? I LOVE my four dress???" and she started bawling.  BIG tears.  I guess growing old is hard on us all! :)

I assured her that she could continue to wear her Courtney Courtney number "4" dress as long as she still fit into it even AFTER she turns five.  I also reassured her that she could wear this "5" dress even if she was only 4.5 years old because there were NO laws prohibiting this.  She was honestly concerned that we were breaking some rule somehow.  

Once she realized that we were not criminals and that she'd get some M&M's for all her "trouble" we were good to go.  Also, it helped that Courtney had sent along a new hat to compliment the outfit and Ellie LOVES hats.  So we were set.

If you have a little one with a birthday coming up you have GOT to check out Courtney's unique and original "number" dresses, they are superb!

The light was gorgeous and within seconds she was totally rocking it, full of life, joy and that unmatched Ellie energy that I wish I could bottle up for myself.

Having said that, before you all think my child is just sweet as cupcakes or a dream to photograph ALL of the time, let me show you what I get when I put her in a location that she is not quite "feeling."

OKEE DOKEE.  So, I let her pick where she wanted to go and wouldn't you know it? She picked a place with SUPERB light.  And she said: "This is good, we can have the light to my back, you know, how we like it."  How cool is that?

 

Working with Ellie can be a bit challenging insomuch that she will only stay in one spot for about 5-10 shots and then is off running to find a new location.  If you didn't get what you needed in those limited shots, fugetaboutit for that location, she won't come back to it.  So I've learned to move FAST and always be READY for her and act quickly before she darts off to a new location.

Imitating the bubbles on the dress.  Or, as she put it: "Look, I'm a bubble too!"

Off to the fence she goes.

No, she's not asking me to stop, she's showing the number 5. :)

Then in the parking lot, my favorite shot of the day.

Blowing kisses to Courtney. :)

And then a little Iphone video in the car right afterwards.  She is sooooo funny!

No password needed, it's 2 seconds long. :)

I rocked it! from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

My second sewing project!

OK, so I debated about even posting this since the more I look at the outfit the more I see mistakes/problems/changes I'd like to make but I figure it's good to show the PROCESS, warts and all.  

I spent yet another ridiculous amount of time creating this.  I won't admit HOW long but let's just say I didn't turn off my sewing machine until nearly 3 am.  Yeah.  Julie keeps reassuring me that I will get better/faster with time.... Hmph. 

This was an under 5 minute shoot with Ellie just before bedtime and I hardly had any light to work with and the light I had was flat and ugly and blah and basically these images totally suck but whatever, it's just to show the outfit, nothing more, nothing less. 

By the way, Julie has a bunch of new items in her store as well as sale items from the big Fashion Show she did this past weekend.  You have GOT to check it out.  Also, she will be temporarily shutting down her Etsy store for a couple weeks very soon and not accepting any orders during that time so if you want something from her store, get it now because after that when it re-opens it will all be the new Fall Line on display....which, might I add, even has a collection named after my little Eliana.  Only kinda sorta TOTALLY tickled pink about that!! :)  Click on her name to go directly to her ETSY store!

Here are a few shots.  Like I said, if I were to do it over, I would change the way I did the ruffle bottom, maybe make the skirt a bit shorter and the T shirt applique would be MUCH smaller.  I guess you can only learn your mistakes by doing so I am definitely learning!

This is a close up of the fabric.  It is just so stinkin' cute.  I love owls so I fell in love with it.  So whimsical and cute.

You can't really see the "E" here and I used the bottom of the skirt (ruffle part) fabric to do the E and match it up but it's not as visible as I'd like.  As I said, I see clearly what I will be doing differently next time.

Another summer playdate shoot!

This playdate was scheduled as a morning session which was quite a fortuitous thing since it was expected to hit 103 degrees that afternoon and even though we got started at 9 am it was already SWELTERING.  Because of the heat, I decided against venturing around to different locations on the property and instead just stayed in one spot.  There was very little shade and I was not about to put all of us out in the hot sun.  The spot I picked was in shade facing a brightly lit parking lot area and provided beautiful light and the kids liked it so it worked out quite nicely.

The first set was little Delphine and her big brother Gabriel.  I had already gotten solo shots of Gabriel when I did the big shoot for the IAD Dance Center that he (and my daughter) attends so we just did solo shots of Delphine and then sibling shots.  The dynamic between Gabe and his little sister reminded me SO much of my two.  Gabe is the sweet, tender, loving older brother (just like my Gavin) and Delphine is the feisty little sister (just like my Ellie).  Watching them interact was just like watching my two.  Super cute.  I'm just totally smitten with sweet, gentle older brothers!

I love how kids are slightly apprehensive at first and then warm up fairly quickly.  These shoots are super quick, just under 10 mn per child, so I have to get them comfortable in a very fast time frame.  Fortunately it always works out.  That said, I am able to accomplish so much more on my regular (and much longer) sessions because I have so much more time to just play and interact with the kids without any of us feeling rushed.  I am lucky that the little ones I have photographed at all these mini sessions have all been so adorable!  Here are just a couple favorites from each set.

those eyes!!

Gabe is such a little sweetheart, love him!

I know you can't see her smile under there but there's something about this shot that totally works for me :)

Then I got to take pictures of little miss Re'mi.  She looks so much like her big sister whom I've photographed before but with a very different personality. I love how siblings can be soooooo different despite having the same DNA source and environment they are raised in.  Speaks volumes in favor of the nature argument in "nature vs. nurture"!  I love how you can see her two little bottom teeth in this next shot.  OMG SO CUTE!

look at how blue her eyes are! wow!

Then we had Chloe, the little sister of the Cameron-Chloe duo!  This age is just THE BEST age to photograph.  Just sitting up on their own, not yet crawling away and generally very happy.  I absolutely adore photographing babies this age.  And look at this little bundle of joy, how could you not?!

the chunky thighs.... the chubby cheeks....sigh

this next one rocks my world!

Then we had big bro Cameron who was not *quite* as interested in the experience as his baby sister but had us all in stitches when he announced exactly HOW he'd like to pose thankyouverymuch.  I was laughing so hard, mr. future gap model.

Cameron's "fake smile" here was CLASSIC.  Don't worry Jen, this one doesn't count!  But I had to include it because it made me laugh out loud.

And, last but not least, my man Mateo!  This little guy has a firecracker personality and although he needed some time to warm up to the process, once he was warmed up he was ON FUEGO! :)  Such a character that one.... reminds me a tad bit of his mother methinks... 

I honestly could gobble up this child whole.  LOVE.

ENJOY YOUR IMAGES!  Thanks for the fun! :)

Mini Vacay

Well, since weeklong vacations in Hawaii are out of the question right now, I decided that we still needed to do something to celebrate the official arrival of summer vacation.  The husband was once again gone all week at yet another training school so I took advantage of the fact that I had set aside my birthday week to do something fun together.  Last month I had made reservations for a one night stay at a resort in Marina called The Sanctuary Beach Resort.  The plan was to spend two days and one night down in the Monterey area hanging out and having a bit of an adventure with my kiddos.  My photographic challenge to myself was to only bring two FIXED lenses, my "el cheapo" 50mm f1.8 and my new 135mm f2.0.  I don't care what anyone says about that particular 50mm being a super cheap lens, I'm always shocked at how fast and sharp it is.  For under $100 you just cannot beat that lens.  In fact, I used that lens for nearly all of the following images.

We spent the first day slowly making our way down to the resort and "killing time" at Target in Seaside while waiting for our room to be ready.  Once the room was ready we jumped into our swimsuits and hit the pool!  It was actually a fairly sunny day and we hung out at the pool a solid two hours.  I  left the camera in the room so I don't have any pictures of that (other than those taken on my Iphone!) but a good time was had by all :) 

The resort is surprisingly kid friendly despite being considered a "luxury" hotel.  It had a little kiddie toddler pool and a much larger pool with thte majority of it only about 4 feet deep and then a huge hot tub that literally overlooked the two pools so you could safely watch and monitor your kids from the comfort of the hot tub.  Some woman was the genius behind that design, I'm quite certain of this.

Another perk to the resort was that cars are not allowed on the grounds so they assign you your own golf cart during the duration of your stay and you just zip around in that golf cart to get to the pool, the beach etc...  I cannot even begin to tell you how many times the kids and I just went out to drive around on the golf carts during the 24 hrs we were there!!  OMG, hilarious.  We could have just done that the entire time we were there and the kids would have been on Cloud 9.

In order for us to be able to stay at the Sanctuary Beach Resort, I had to pack all of our meals for the 2 day trip which was really no different than packing for a camping trip, except without access to a stove.  I think I managed really well and we saved a bunch of $ by avoiding having to eat out.  The only outside food we got were a couple Starbucks runs which I would have done whether we were home or on a mini vacation!  

After the pool, I fed the kids dinner in our room and had them all set up in their jammies when they asked to go check out the nearby beach.  It was getting close to sunset and the fog was rolling in but I just threw their jackets over their P.J's and we all hopped in the golf cart for a little ride!

The path to the beach was GORGEOUS and the view once there was stunning.  I sometimes forget just how lucky we are to live where we live.    

Look at all the cute little bungalow type rooms at the resort!

My little OCD - sensory issues kids cannot handle sand in their sandals.... Sigh.  Look at Gavin's face, you'd think he'd just stepped in poop or something.

Don't trip on that lower lip!

My challenge here was to meter for my shadow so that my shadow would be dark and the kids would be the secondary element.  I wanted to showcase how annoying it is to have crazy curly hair on a windy day.

What good is staying at a hotel if you can't jump on the bed?  We were practically out of light at this point so I was shooting at ISO 1600 and wide open at f1.8 with a SS of 1/500 to effectively stop the motion.  Ellie just LOVES jumping on beds.  

Gavin is much more tepid and cautious in his approach :)

Still 1600 ISO, all direct window light.

Then we read books and crawled into bed and I let them stay up with me and watch "So You Think You Can Dance" on TV.  They are now officially hooked so I have to TIVO the rest of the season for them! HA!

The next morning it was cartoons in bed while I prepared breakfast.

Then they played a bit while I did dishes and cleaned up.  It appears Gavin's lego obsession is slowly being replaced by a fascination with Bakugans.  He even has Ellie schooled in all the "points" system and activation rules and powers and blah blah blah, oy vey!

And since I firmly believe that any good vacation should entail as much time as possible being spent in your pygamas we then headed down to the beach to play, while still in our jammies, until the pool was open for business.  It was pretty cold and overcast but they didn't seem to mind. :)

I seriously cannot believe how tall that boy is sometimes.  He towers over everyone his age.

Then we played in the pool until it was time to get ready for check out.  We waved a very sad goodbye to our beloved resort on our last golf cart ride but then remembered that we were heading to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!! WooHoo! It was, as expected, totally PACKED even for a midweek visit being that it's summer an all.  I only took a few pictures because it is hard enough to keep track of two highly mobile kids at that place let alone concentrate on trying to get good shots.  Also, the distortion from the glass was annoying and hard to work with.

I wanted to get the whole circle in the frame but it was too crowded to allow me space to do that and I had a nanosecond before people were all up in my shot.  But I got the spotted shark going by!

My absolute favorite sea life species are the Jellyfish and the Seahorses. 

The goal with this next one was to get one shot with Ellie's face clear of fish and one shot with Gavin's face clear of fish and seeing as the darn fish were swimming in a tight group ridiculously fast it proved much harder to accomplish than I had anticipated!!  But I got it! Yeah, baby!

After three hours they were fried.

So we got a Starbucks pick-me-up (coffee for me and honey yogurt with granola for them) and headed south down to Point Lobos for some tide pool exploring.  We had never been there before and I was taken aback at just how absolutely beautiful that area is.  Just WOW.  We started out with some tide pool exploration but Gavin got totally freaked out by the pinchers on the crabs and insisted we vacate the area immediately.  Can't say that I blame him entirely but Ellie kept wanting to get CLOSER to them.  That kid....

  So, we switched gears and proceeded to a hike to China Beach instead while still in the park.

Then we capped off the evening at Point Lobos State Park having a picnic dinner overlooking the view.  

It wasn't a week in Hawaii but it was definitely the next best thing packed into two days of PURE JOY.

---------------------------

* side note*  I was finally able to post that video of Gavin riding his bike for the very first time and my mom running after him and filming it on her phone at the same time.  SO FUNNY!  I'm so glad she got it on film since I wasn't there to witness it myself and it was such an important event in his life.  Go to the blog post two posts down and you'll find it if you are so inclined. :)

Quinn, Reilly & Tyler

This family was one of my very first "real" clients ever, as in not friends or family letting me experiment on them!  It has been incredibly rewarding to be able to continue to chronicle their family throughout the years including the addition of two little girls to the mix.  I'm so very fortunate to see them twice a year because I can really stay connected to them that way and watch the transformations (big and small) that the little ones go through such as going from crawling to walking or babbling to talking.  It's a JOY to witness!

I absolutely adore photographing this family and beyond being incredibly photogenic, they are just a really fun, easygoing, happy, down to earth family and that's what I always try to capture for them.

I ended up with an insane amount of great images and considered doing a two part blog post for their session but decided to force myself to narrow it down to a few (um, does 40 images count as a few?) favorites for blog posting purposes.

I wanted to get a lot of images of Tyler since the last time I took pictures of her she was just a few days old and they change SO much in just a few short months.  She is in full teething mode right now!

And yet still SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY!

Big brother Quinn.  His eyes are the most amazing shade of green.  

I'm surprised I even caught this shot as he was bolting out of there wicked fast!

And last but not least, little miss personality, the one I can never get enough of, Reilly.

This next shot is in my top 5 favorite sibling shots EVER!!!

I got a whole sequence of shots here that I just love. :)

This next shot makes me feel all kinds of wonderful when I look at it.  I just absolutely love *everything* about it.  

My long time clients have learned to expect me to ask them to do some completely ridiculous things and the reason why love them so very much is because they don't even bat an eye when I ask them to do stuff anymore.  They just let me "play" and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but at least I always try to do something "new" and different at every shoot based on what dynamic is happening at that moment.