pascale wowak photoblog

Featured

My fellow photographer, and friend, Natalie Norton writes for an online Digital Photography School website.  I was one of the featured photographers in her latest article on Photographer Blogs.  Go check it out here.  Natalie is a total sweetheart and mama to the three adorable little boys.  Another busy mama photographer!  So, albeit a couple days late, in honor of Natalie and ALL the mom's out there who should be treating like queens every single day and yet still manage to wipe poopy butts with all the dignity in the world and manage everything they do: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!  Moms rock.  We really do. :) 

Just another day in the Wowak household...

Yesterday, while I was working in the home office and my husband was watching the kids (or so I thought, turns out he was actually sleeping on the couch) the kids decided to give each other haircuts, aka: chop off each other's hair.  I am not kidding when I use the word chop.  Gavin's was so bad that the hairdresser just had to give him a tight buzz cut to put an end to the madness that was his new 'do.  And Ellie, my precious little girl with long luscious wavy hair and perfectly trimmed sweet bangs... well the entire front of her head is now hacked down to the scalp.  All gone.  And the entire left side was chopped off at ear level.  Apparently Gavin thought she'd look swell with the new asymetrical look that is all the rage....  Except of course, it doesn't usually involve one side that is down past the shoulders and the other side now cut off at ear level.... and the back has big huge missing chunks.  HUGE.  And along the top too just for good measure.

First I shrieked, like scary movie shrieking scene kinda shrieking.

Then I screamed at them: "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??!! ARGH!!!"

Then I cried.  (Yes, I was very mature during this whole scene, can you tell?  No, I am not the zen chill mom who laughs it off and goes "nice haircut!"  That would so NOT be me....

Then I made appointments for Supercuts.  They could only do Gavin that day (by just basically making him look like he is ready to enter the military - Jason is secretly happy as he has always wanted Gavin to have a matching buzz cut but won't admit it because he is afraid I might kill him, and considering the results of his deplorable "supervision" he's already watching his back) and then the haidresser basically told me there was nothing she could do to save Ellie's hair, can't really "put it back", can't give her extensions!, and even a chin length bob would look ridiculous with all her chunks missing from the left side.  We ended up getting it "fixed" the next day.  By fixed I mean, we took everything to the shortest point which is her EAR level.... And she has NO BANGS at all.  Nothing.   It's very "modern"....

Ellie asked me last night when the dust had settled, and I was a bit calmer, when she could get her bangs back, that she was ready to get her hair back now, she was ready to be good and not cut it off anymore so could I please put it back now, thankyouverymuch.  Like she thought I could just magically make it come back somehow. 

The front is not even long enough for me to stick it up in a little barrette or anything.  Just a total hack job.   I couldn't even take pictures until dinnertime last night.  I was still too devastated everytime I looked at it. :(

Recap of what she looked like 2 days ago:

Eventually I realized that, as painful as it was for me to look at, I'd regret not having evidence of their "wonderful" little idea to give each other haircuts so I finally took some.  Here is what it looked like about 3 hrs after the "incident".

As you can see the bangs that went down to her eyebrows are completely gone.  The entire left side of her head has a new hairline that ends at her ear level and the right has a few salvaged stringy masses left over going down to by her shoulder...  She so has the look of a child who is in big trouble...

But then she gets over the "I've been naughty" state of mind and starts goofing off saying "OOPS!" to me and cracking up... great.  I was still not laughing.

And here it is this morning, looking EVEN BETTER might I add...sigh.  The only difference is that at this point I couldn't help but laugh because it looked so incredibly ridiculous it was starting to be a little bit funny.  Not funny haha like "oh, this is so funny, why don't you do it again soon!?"  Not quite.

Oh yeah baby, now THAT is morning hair.  Chopped off butchered morning hair.

And then here is the result after a trip to the hairdresser 24 hrs later.

She's really lucky she is so darn cute.

Dave & Kristy

I need to preface this post with the fact that Dave is a really good friend of mine, we go way back!  Dave, my hubby and I all attended a fire academy together about 8 years ago (OMG, EIGHT yrs... has it been that long?!) I don't remember anything really important about those few months other than being in the best shape of my life and laughing so hard my sides would ache every night.  That could also have something to do with the 100 lbs of hose I was lugging up staircases over and over again but I think it mostly had to do with the fact that Dave and my future husband had me in stitches most of the day.

Dave and his wonderful future bride Kristy came down for an engagement shoot this weekend.  I will have the honor and pleasure of shooting their wedding later this year.  I may be biased but they are the cutest couple ever - well, Kristy is the cutest thing ever, Dave is just cute by osmosis when he's next to her. 

I have to admit that I tried my very best to mess with Dave throughout the shoot suggesting (with a straight face mind you) all kinds of kooky things and darn it, the dude is so impossibly in love that he did not once look at me askew and ask WTF?!  Now THAT, that people, is true love because I know Dave and he did everything I told him to and I must say, I took great pleasure in bossing him around.  Not that I'm controlling or anything... :)

Basically, we had a total blast.  We even included their fabulous bulldog Bullet in some shots even though it meant waiting 20 mn for him to ever so slowly make his way from the car to the shooting spot!  Bullet has the most hilarious expressions, I was laughing so hard!

Kristy is perfect for Dave in every way and he one lucky dude to have her in his life.

Dave and Kristy, I love you two to pieces and cannot wait for the big day.  If you all think Kristy looks unbelievable now just wait til we get to see her in her wedding dress.  I, for one, cannot wait!

Much love.  Enjoy your photos!

and this next one was the very last shot I took and remains my favorite of the entire session.

Nadya & Ilya

Funnily enough Nadya tried to convince me that she was not comfortable in front of the camera.  I would have guessed she was a model in a former life but, hey, you be the judge!  Pregnant with their first child (a girl!) and just the cutest couple ever.   Nadya was GLOWING.  It didn't hurt that the light was this absolutely lovely pinkish warm tone, almost creamy, and postively perfect.  We did so many clothing changes (Nadya is quite the fashionista!) that I lost count but we certainly had fun with all the different outfits.  Nadya was particularly fond of the "bridges" at Natural Bridges so we made sure to feature them in many of the images.  She was also partial to B&W so I was sure to feature a good amount of the B&W imagery.  It was a pleasure meeting you both.  CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy your images! :)

 

Wilder Ranch

I took the kids to Wilder Ranch this week on a day off to play - and take photos!  I know, here I am with a day off and what do I do...take photos of course.  It was actually a 'scoping out' mission to see if this location would be a good place for me to bring my clients.  Turns out it is a photographer's playground.  A gold mine.   I dressed Ellie in one of her Matilda Jane dresses.  I didn't think about what Gavin was wearing because he never ever lets me take photos of him anymore.  Of course, that would be the one day that he actually was totally letting me do my thing - figures!  I didn't care, I was so happy just to have some recent and nice photos of my sprouting boy.  He may only be 5 yrs old (he'll be six this summer) but he is growing so tall so fast that he is already at my chest level and I'm 5'8.  Seems he grows another inch every month.  And my 'baby' Ellie, at three years old, is really not a baby anymore, I think I need to come to grips with that as well.... sigh.

Anyways, we had a blast and ended up being there two hours just walking around and exploring.  There is the world's GREATEST climbing tree down by the Ranch area and it was hard to pull them away from that but I eventually tempted them away with the lure of chickens, goats, horses, and abandoned cabins!

Ellie is my little tree-hugger.  She goes around hugging trees and saying "thank you for the air I breathe."

She's also my little monkey.  She's not yelling in this one but making "oo-ooh-ooh-aah-aah-aah" sounds.

Then suddenly a "don't take any more pictures of me!" mood came about.  So I stopped.  After getting in two quick last shots of course...

Before long she had granted me permission to start back up... Here she is doing her version of an Arabesque ballet move.

I *love* this face!

Here she is doing her "oh where oh where did my little dog go?" dance routine from her ballet/tap classes.  She LOVES her class and her fantabulously (I know that's not a word) amazing teacher Annie.

And my boy.  My love.  I think he's gorgeous.  Total mama's boy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So then we hiked down the trail a bit to this abandoned cabin.  I was so excited about the next series of pictures when I saw them on my LCD but when I pulled them up the indoor ones were terribly noisy.  Which really, really bummed me out.  My ISO was 640, my aperture wide open at f2.8 and SS at 1/200 because they were moving around and dancing.  I'm not sure why they were so noisy except that the meter was definitely thrown off by the backlit one little tiny window in a dark cabin setting and it messed with the camera and messed with me too.  But still, noisy at 640?  Grrr.  So these are not printable quality but still so much fun.  The kids had a blast dancing in their "spotlight" on the cabin floor.  I plan on coming back to this location and bringing either a reflector to bounce light back on them or an external flash for some very slight fill.  It's on my to-do list...

Gavin, who usually dances kinda sorta alot like Elaine from Seinfeld was actually busting out some serious dance moves.  It's possible I never appreciated his 'gift' before! :)   I just LOVE how the dress is beautifully lit up by that window backlight and poofs out perfectly as Ellie spins with it.  Magical.

 

It was sooo crazy windy the pinwheel tops blew off several times!  In this next shot Ellie finally notices that her brother has both his and HERS.  She is screaming "that's mine!" and running towards us at Mach 3 speed.

And with this last shot my memory card read "full."  The End.

Maggie and Conor

The last time I had the pleasure of photographing this family, Conor was still in mama's belly.   He ended up with the same remarkable piercing blue eyes and crazy long lashes that his sister also has.  Just amazing.   Poor little Conor was not his usual effervescent happy-go-lucky self but we did manage a few big toothy grins here and there.  My favorites are actual the very first set of images we took because I crack up every time I see the somber expression on his face compared to his sister's exuberance.   I love how you can see mom and dad smiling in the background even though the focus is on the little ones.  I'd been wanting to do a shot like this at this particular spot for a while.  I'm glad it turned out exactly as I had envisioned it.  Spectacular weather, gorgeous light and a beautiful family = great pictures!   Sweet.

Maya & Family

Maya is so full of life she is practically bubbling over with positive energy!  Just a really happy, loving, sweet little girl.  There was no "warm up" period required as she was holding my hand within seconds, but I suspect that had much less to do with me and everything to do with her effervescent and social butterly personality.  The one thing she was not interested in was sitting still - and who could blame her when there is so much to explore out there in the world!  We did the shoot at Quail Hollow (where her parents had gotten married!) and I just worked with her 'on the go' exuberance... and in turn got some really fantastic images!  I am so happy with the results, I think they really capture Maya's personality perfectly.

It was a pleasure meeting you all, enjoy your images!

courtney courtney

I took some photos for this mommy run company called courtney courtney.  The mama makes little outfits out of recycled clothes which I just LOVE and totally support of course!  check out this way cute little number on Ellie.  Sadly my little boo was not herself during this shoot and although you can't really tell in the pictures because she is such a trooper and was so excited about her new dress, she actually spent the rest of the evening with a massive stomach bug.  :(

I should also mention that in her haste to put on said dress she actually put it on backwards and that it was not until halfway through teh shoot that I even realized it was on backwards! Ooops!  It really looks just as cute either way, but if you were wondering, because perhaps you notice those sort of things, yes, the first few shots have a backwards dress on!  But she's still just as cute as ever my little 3 year old "model"....

Go check out Courtney's site!

 

To Mac or not to Mac?

That is the question!  I've used PC's for as long as I can remember.  I'm at a point now where I feel very comfortable with my PC and can manage most things on my own.  It's taken a while  for me to get to this point but I'm pretty much (generally speaking!) at ease with my operating system. 

And then every year I learn more and more about Mac's and I think: "WOW.  That is really neat.  It sounds so user friendly and so intuitive"  And no viruses!  But then I also hear horror stories of Mac's totally crashing and losing EVERYTHING and freezing up constantly and OY! I don't need THAT headache...

Naturally the system I would need is heavy duty and ergo the cost is totally prohibitive right now and well outside our budget so the big question is: Do I start saving now so that I can switch everything over in 2009?  Or just stick with what I've got and hope my old 'puter doesn't bite the dust...  The thought of having to totally switch everything over - reload all my many, many, many programs and applications and UGH, it makes my head spin just thinking about it.  That said, I do plan on taking 3 weeks off in late December into January so that would be the perfect time to do it if I do decide to go ahead and we are able to save up enough in the next several months.  Besides, there's no way, with my current workload, that I could attempt a switch right now anyways...

So, I want to hear the truth!  If you are a Mac user and had issues, please let me know!  If you are a Mac user and NEVER had a single solitary problem, I want to know that too!  Any particular system configuration you recommend for a professional photographer who needs several external harddrives for back up?  And how long is the transition learning curve of going from PC to Mac, is it something I could potentially figure out in about 3 weeks?

My current system has three external 500GB hard drives, two of which are completely full already.  The third one is 1/4 full.  This covers all my work since I started my business 3 years but I started shooting RAW in addition to JPG about a year ago and that takes up much more space.  I need lots of memory and RAM and space and speed.  Am I crazy for even thinking about switching over? Thanks in advance for any advice/guidance!!! 

Hakone Gardens

About a month ago I took the kids to Hakone Gardens to go see the cherry blossoms in full boom.  I'd never been there before so I ambitiously brought along my camera in the hopes of being able to take some really nice pictures of these beautiful trees (my favorite) and the surrounding grounds... Well,  the kids were too busy running ahead of me on the marked paths and I had to take each shot literally on the fly so there was no sitting down and soaking it all in and slowly deciding up one's composition... nope, just click and chase, click and chase.  Ellie (who dressed herself I might add if you were wondering about the sparly shoes, blue socks, hippy dress and nice white sweater combo...) was for some reason really gloomy and not a single smile came accross her that morning.  I'm not sure why, although it was the day before I was scheduled to leave for San Diego for my workshop and I *suspect* she was giving me the cold shoulder...  Regardless, I did grab a few images that I didn't delete :)

I am not sure if the Cherry Blossoms are still in such a gorgeous blooming state but if you have the time, go take the family on a visit to Hakone Gardens in Saratoga.  The kids could have sat and watched the koi fish for an hour.  Ellie found a little spot and just sat there watching them twirl around by her feet as well as keeping a watchful eye on the little turtles all piled up on the rock suntanning.  It's a really lovely, quiet, peaceful place.  Too bad I wasn't able to get into my zen groove with my rugrats in tow...maybe next time I'll go alone!

Brady and Sean

This shoot was set to happen at the UCSC campus but as I pull up they have cops doing security checks and only letting students in due to a big protest that was going on.  My first (momentary) reaction was to have my heart sink because the mom really wanted to do the shoot there... Luckily, I am really good at sweet talking and got permission from the police officer for me and my clients to enter the grounds for the purpose of completing the shoot! Phew!

Brady was such a sweet older brother.  He was so great about giving hugs and kisses!  Sean was so funny because he had this very "deep in thought" look on his face most of the time like he was just taking in the whole situation and wondering what in the world was going on! Like why am I getting so much love and not getting tackled to the ground!? :)

I have a series of three images from the boys in the doorway of the barn where Brady is leaning in to give his baby brother a kiss, it is the sweetest triptych EVER and I will be adding it to my home page triptychs on my business website in the next couple days.  You can see the motion of the kiss as it slowly unfolds and there is so much tenderness in that series of three images that it just melts my heart.  I just posted the final kiss image here to save space but the set of three will be on my home page soon!

Enjoy!

Vanessa & Nico and family

There was ALOT of energy in this shoot!  I think mom spent about 50% of the time chasing after little Nico.  No wonder she's so skinny!  At one point mom and the kids were dancing up a storm and it was such a kick to see little Nico totally bust out some serious moves.  Vanessa has the most luscious, thick, curly hair - to die for.  And they both had lashes that went on forever.  Sigh - what I wouldn't do for lashes like that.  Anyways, tons of great photos. My antics seemed to work fairly well as I got alot of laughter! We got lucky and there was a slight cloud generated diffusion in the sky which made for gorgeous light.  Usually the beach is just too bright and harsh at this time of day, but the thin cloud layer made all the difference. Great stuff! In that last set of family photos, after convincing dad to take off his shades - but no luck with his jacket, the kids weren't paying any attention to me at all so I had to bust out my "how dare you not look at me" face which always generates quite a bit of giggles, especially from the parents! See for yourself... :)

 

vintage cards

I just purchased this set of STUNNING vintage cards with a birdie theme.  When I saw them I had to have them.  FOR ME.  I just swooned as soon as I saw them!  And although I will share them with clients, they were mostly purchased for my personal purposes! :) 

You can do anything with these cards, they could be birth announcements, birthday invitations, thank you cards, get well cards, party invites, ANYTHING.  They can suit any need and they rock my world.  I love them. 

Here are the samples for the five different versions, I left the wording exactly as it was designed by the graphic designer/artist but I am free to change it to read anything you wish within the space allotted or in the "empty" spaces as well.

The cards totally have that classic vintage textured feel to them with soft pastel colors and are just beyond adorable.  LOVE LOVE LOVE 'em!

I used only B&W images that I recently took of my daughter but I'm sure color would look just as nice.  I'm just partial to B&W with this format/style.

enjoy!

   

When left to their own devices...

So, as tends to happen in our house, I try to get in a few hours of editing every afternoon after lunch and let the kids play around the house.   I am really fortunate that *most* of the time they play really well together.  This doesn't preclude them from interrupting me every 2.2 seconds for a request or question but generally speaking they don't argue or bicker during afternoon playtime.  Of course, there are days when they will try to kill each other over a "pretend" bowl of jelly beans but that's a different story.... And don't even get me started on long car drives....... ARGH.

Anyways, the other day as I was trying to make some progress on my work that was piling up I could hear them giggling and giggling and giggling.   To be honest, there are few sounds I enjoy more on this planet than the sounds of my two kids playing nicely together and making each other laugh.   It warms my heart.  that said, it also strikes fear into my heart because that much laughter can only mean one thing = TROUBLE.   

So that's when I start  having this internal debate...  Do I get up and go see what's going on or just leave them be?  If they are playing nicely and not doing anything they shouldn't be doing then me interrupting their little game will undoubtedly remind them of my presence and most likely generate a thousand requests (i'm hungry, i'm thirsty, can you fix this, etc...) or, worst yet, break the magical 'playing nicely' spell and cause them to start fighting with each other.   On the other hand, if they are doing something like, say, drawing on the walls, the sooner I intervene the less scrubbing all three of us will be doing.... Sigh.  So as the laughter gets louder and louder I am getting more and more anxious (when I should just be enjoying the lovely beautiful sound of my happy kids right!?)...  What in the world could be causing such exclamations of unbridled joy??!!

Finally I can't take it anymore and holler out: "What's going on in there?? What's so funny?"

Which of course only makes them laugh louder.  Now I'm wondering if I am perhaps the butt of some joke.  Has my five year old drawn a picture of me and they are "decorating" it by doing god-knows-what to it....?

So, my curiosity gets the best of me (as it always does) and I walk into Ellie's room and see them playing a fun little board game and they were really just laughing about the board game, but Ellie....  My little girl, for some reason, has a pair of her underwear on her head.   This, apparently, was all her idea, but Gavin did nothing to dissuade her. So the laughter was due to the board game but with the added benefit of how ridiculous Ellie looks with her Hello Kitty undies on her head.  I, of course, cannot even bother stifling my laughter and ask her what's on her head (just to hear what she says).  She says:  Silly mommy, it's my HAT!"

Silly me indeed....

So here is what I saw and what happens when my children are left to their own devices...  I felt like I was taking mug shots of her while taking these pictures, face to your left, face me, face to your right... :)

In case you were wondering, she kept her hat on all day and I  must say, I think she really rocked the undie-hat thang pretty well.  That girl has her own sense of style.... :)

Sophia & Madeline

What sweet sisters!  These two could not have been more different in terms of reaction to the camera.  Sophia was definitely more on the shy side but would light up anytime she was around her baby sister.  And then you had Little Miss Madeline... I have never, EVER seen a 16 month old work the camera like this little one.  It absolutely blew me away.  Honestly, it was that amazing.  She would strike a pose and then, not quite happy with it, would shift her body position ever so slightly and adjust her smile to get everything how she wanted it to be.  I mean, really, it was that funny!  She had no problems with my camera being 2 inches from her face and would just keep assuming different poses and smiling her heart out as I snapped away.  It wasn't a matter of me engaging with her, SHE was engaging with me! Unbelievable.  I think it is safe to say she is a natural in front of the camera...  Another delightful family with whom I had alot of fun!  It was a pleasure meeting you all and I hope you enjoy your images.  I have quite a few in this batch that just rock my world! :)