pascale wowak photoblog

Easton

I. LOVE. NEWBORNS.

I really really really do.  Sigh.  So this little dude was as cute as they come.  Bluest blue eyes.  A little squirmy worm for the longest time and totally not wanting to sleep!  But eventually he did finally conk out and was sooooo OUT that we were able to really have fun moving him around and holding him suspended and just basically goofing off around his little sleeping self.  So much fun!

I believe this is the family I have had the most shoots with and it's gotten to where I pretty much just know exactly what their vision is and what they want from me.  I don't even have to consult with them anymore about what their focus or priorities are as mom has a list ready for me when we get there and we are all good to go!

Big brother was not remotely interested in the process, which is pretty standard for a 2 year old!   During a nursing break I tried to get some shots of him sitting in their stairwell... and sadly was quite unsuccessful.  I believe I told mom when we came back down: "I think I have ONE. Maybe."    Well, I was right, I only got one, but it's such a sweet image that I hope it makes up in quality what I was lacking in quantity for AJ! :)

We also tried a few times to go outside for some shots but kept getting rained out after a couple minutes.  We did manage a few stellar outdoor shots but for the most part, everything we did was indoors using natural light only.

I love the wedding ring shots because we did very similar shots with AJ when he was a newborn where we put their wedding rings on his toes.  This time we put them on Easton's fingers so we could have the same theme but with enough difference to honor their individuality.  Just so cute!  And the upside down heads up shots at the end are also a play on similar shots we did with AJ as a newborn.  It's fun to start photographic traditions like that and I really enjoy being a part of the history and process.  So thank you for letting me continue to chronicle all of you over the years!

Russell & Mommy

I was supposed to do a big family shoot with Russell's parents and his two older siblings but we were unfortunately rained out... big time.  So, we decided to improvise and make the best of the situation.  We did an indoor only shoot in a fairly well lit (natural light) room (due to a large bay window) in honor of Russell's upcoming first birthday and got some shots of him alone, as well as with his mommy :)

Now, little Russell here is quite possibly the most sociable little guy ever!  And a total ham at that!  He was actively seeking out the camera and happily posing/smiling when he looked at me.  He was also "on the go" quite a bit!!  But despite the "age of mobility", he was incredibly cooperative and tolerant of all our agendas and really went with almost everything we were attempting to do.  Pretty remarkable thing at that age!

The images of him reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar are particularly meaningful as mom has professional photos of his older brother at that same age reading that same book, how cute is that!?  What's even cuter is that the two boys look IDENTICAL!   

The last piano images I posted I grabbed on the fly.  I had actually set my camera down and we were all done and the light had all but disappeared, and that piano area in particular was incredibly dark.  Russell was sitting there playing and I grabbed my reflector, quickly boosted my ISO to 640 (very high), opened my aperture to F1.4 (super wide) and opened the front door to let in a fraction more of light and quickly snapped a couple images and they are, of course, my two favorite shots of the day.  Never fails!

 

Jamie Rae Hats

I have been asked to do some photography work for Jamie who is the incredibly talented lady behind Jamie Rae Hats.  She sent me a fantastic assortment of hats, flower headbands, seedling sets, onesies, and barrettes.  All stunning.  All beautiful.  All mine! :)

And I have been sitting here waiting for the rain to let up so I could get started on this little project, to no avail.  Today was another miserably wet and cold, dark and dreary day.   Don't get me wrong, love the rain, know we need it...  Don't like being a "mostly" SAHM when you have two completely stir crazy monkeys with energy to spare and you yourself are starting to feel like a caged animal... so I can only imagine how they have been feeling.  Blah!

So I decided to just make it happen and work indoors, using the light I had in my kitchen (like last time for Ellie's ballet photos) except this time I needed to also add two reflectors to provide even more boost since it was so dark.  I commissioned my 5 year old to be my assistant (ie: reflector holder; paid in stickers) and a chair to be my second reflector holder (no pay) and was graced with the massive good fortune to have a little three year old daughter who was besides herself with glee over the prospect of modeling those "bee-yoo-tee-ful" hats.  So cute!

So, although I took a ton, here are just a few favorites and the B&W's at the very end are personal shots I took just for ME (smile!) that I managed to squeeze in between the "required" shots as there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to get some adorable images of my girl when she was "on fuego" doing her thing... :)

I've also set up a date with some other gorgeous younger models to take images of the teeny tiny super cute seedling sets and stunning smaller sized baby hats that obviously could not fit her 3 yr old head!

If you like what you see, go check out www.jamieraehats.com !!!

 

Juliette and Adrianna

First off, I know this post is ridiculously long. I apologize, but I couldn't narrow down the images any more than this...

Juliette and Adrianna's mommy is a dear friend of mine,  in fact Juliette and my daughter Ellie were  born just a couple weeks apart and have so much fun together.  Unfortunately, they moved a bit far away so the girls don't get as many opportunities to play as before.  However, I am lucky that I still get to chronicle this beautiful family!  The last time I saw Adrianna she was just a little newborn and this week she celebrated her first  birthday.  Check out those pearly whites! It's truly amazing how quickly they change...  And Juliette was willing to go with me and try out all my posing ideas, it's always so much fun to be able to take the child away from the parent and engage them without that parental influence nearby.  I have found that kids act sooooo differently when their parents aren't around (especially mom!) and I can get them to really pretty much do whatever I say, and they are so focused on me that they laugh at my silly jokes (ergo REAL smiles) and let themselves just "be" without thinking of "acting" (or acting out!) for the sake of their parents.  And this has nothing to do with the parent or the child but rather just the dynamic that naturally occurs at this age when a parent is nearby.  It's not usually something I do during the age of peak separation anxiety but rather something that seems to work best around 2.5 years and up.  So if I ask to take your little one aside, don't worry and don't take it personally, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results, I promise! 

I do have to say this as well:  give me a girl, a tutu and some window light = me swooning.    It's just the perfect recipe for gorgeous images.

Mama is pregnant with baby #3, a little boy!!!  Deborah, it was great seeing you all and I am looking forward to meeting the new arrival in April!! 

Che

Oh my!  This is my 3rd time photographing Che and the little dude just keeps on getting cuter and cuter! Those EYES!!!!  This time was particularly fun because his little personality is really starting to shine through.  He is also in a huge developmental milestone with him taking his first steps!  That's why I'm particularly in love with the last textured image where little Che is taking his adorable "drunken sailor" steps away from mom and off towards the big world, just toddling away, totally confident despite the balance checks...  The image is so representative of that time where they are still so little contrasted against how far they've come and how far they will go.  From this point forward, they will just continue to seek their independence, stretch their wings and get ready to fly.  For me at least, those first few steps were hugely emotional and I'd be both deliriously happy (Yippeee! I don't have to carry you 24/7 anymore! woohoo!) as well as incredibly forlorn (oh my god, you're growing up too fast, where's my BABY!?).  The wonderful thing about Che is that he is always, and I mean ALWAYS, happy beyond belief.  This little guy is all smiles ALL the time.  Happy, mellow, funny, easygoing little dude.  Such a dream.  I was joking with his mom that if I could guarantee that my 3rd would be that "chill", I'd have another in a heartbeat.  However, my husband and I's combined genetic make-up does not apparently produce such sweet and mellow little angels!! :) 

As a side note, I did get permission from mom to post the last few shots and rest assured, should I ever get any "naked butt" shots of your babies I will always check with you first before posting them.

Olin

Olin just turned 3 years old.   I was pregnant with Ellie at the same time Evi was pregnant with Olin and we attended prenatal Yoga classes together.  I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by!  Olin is a bright, happy, curious and musical little boy.  Evi and Karen wanted the emphasis to be on color candid images so that's what I did.  They brought along their musical instruments and I was able to document them doing an activity that they all enjoy together.  It was a great way for Olin to warm up to me and my camera all the while having fun and doing a specific activity that makes him happy.   We then progressed to climbing and "sawing" logs, sitting on a tractor, walking on a trail, visiting some horses, swinging through the air and then topped it all off with a round of bubble blowing! Phew!  Kids have so much energy!  I just love the last series of images where Evi & Karen are swinging Olin in the air.  We were losing our light by then but in a few shots you can actually see his rainboot coming off and careening towards me as he is flying through the air! Hilarious!  It was great seeing you again and meeting Olin, I hope you enjoy your images. :)

a girl and her tutu

Ellie, my 3 yr old diva, had her very first dance/ballet/tap combo class Tuesday.  She was instantly hooked and has been wearing her tutu outfit and ballet slippers every single day since then.  When we got home from running errands today and picking up her brother from Kindergarten she said to me:

"I have a GREAT idea mama, why don't you take pictures of me in my new ballet outfit?!"

Only a fool would have turned down that request!! With lightning speed, I set up my simple black velvet backdrop and placed her in front of the sliding glass doors in our kitchen and got these perfect little gems using only natural light in about ten minutes of time.

I am DELIRIOUSLY happy with these images.  They are just so Ellie in every way.  I should mention that the ones where she looks sad +/or angry are just her being completely dramatic.  I asked her why she was making that face (all the time snapping away of course) and she said to me, with great comedic maturity might I add:

"mama, *insert duh sound*, I'm being seee-wee-us (aka serious) for some of them."

Followed immediately by the heavy sigh of a child clearly in the hands of an amateur...

I want to gobble this kid right up. 

Big Storm = No Photo Shoots

This has been a pretty intense storm to say the least and naturally resulted in the cancellation of photo shoots.  So, rather than ignore this poor little blog for another week I decided to share a little story and add some accompanying images.  My husband was sick last week.  So sick in fact that he came home from work, went straight to the bedroom and remained there for the next 48 hrs.  No kidding!  He slept for 2 days straight.  When he finally emerged from his stupor I teased him mercilessly about being the "weaker" sex and that he must have suffered from a "man cold" (anyone familiar with the you tube british skit knows what I am talking about).  I laid into him pretty good....  One word = Karma.

After dad had recovered with his bout of the flu, my daughter Ellie has a really nasty fever one night spiking at 105 around midnight resulting in me doing this "watching over her all night in my arms checking her temperature every, oh, 22 seconds" vigil.  Despite Motrin and cold washcloths the fever doesn't break until 4 am at which point we both finally drift off into some deep and deliriously exhausted state of lala land.  The next day she is mellower than usual but much better with just a slight temp of 101.  I'm thinking we got through the worst of it.  I even convince her to let me take some photos of her because her hair, being mixed in with sweat from the fever and curled up against my body all night, is doing this hilarious farrah fawcett thing that I couldn't create on her even if I tried.  I kept looking at her hair and laughing because it just looked so funny sticking straight out like that.  I had to get pictures of it.  You can see from the first image that she is still not feeling 100% and really wondering why in the world I would torture her with this request to take "just one picture of your hair, ok?"  Poor kid!

But then she starts warming up (such a ham that child!) and goofing off for me.  I snap away because I don't know which ones are going to turn out based on the dark lighting conditions (beginning of storm is starting to pelt us).

Seriously, check out the fever induced crazy 'do!

Even though she is smiling you can totally tell she's not feeling so hot.

   

Then I get my cue that she is all done with this so I put the camera away.

A few hours later her fever starts spiking again and she gets totally lethargic.  My son also develops a fever and I'm having these really weird body aches which I initially attribute to having worked out for the first time in nearly 2 weeks.   But they get worse and then my BONES start aching.  And then I start having hot flashes immediately followed by cold chills and then BAM my fever comes on too. 

Yup.  We all came down with it.  And whatever IT is/was, IT was a nasty chemical warfare kinda viral thing that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.  And our power went out due to the storm.  At some point, in my fever induced haze, I realized that I was home sick with two little very sick kids and no power (ergo no videos to entertain them while I wallow in my own misery) and that this was just NOT GOOD.

Rather than go back and forth to each kids' room checking on them constantly, I grabbed both kids, plunked them down in bed with me and we slept (albeit fitfully) the day and night away, slipping in and out of consciousness.  I honestly cannot remember most of the day except that we would all be kicking off the sheets during the hot flashes and pulling them back up during the cold chills.  And that there was alot of moaning.  And snot.  And delirious 'fever talk' like : "mama, I see stars all around me!'  Oy vey!  I've had my share of flu's but this one definitely was a doozy.

I'm on day FOUR now and still get dizzy everytime I stand up and the kids have spent most of their days lying on the couch in and out of sleep, miserable and achy.  No fun!  At least we have our power back and I have been able to distract them from their predicament with videos and I have enough energy to read books to them but even that wipes me out.  Which is hilarious because I am very very high energy person and if you told me that I would need a nap after reading two books to my kids I would have laughed.   Anyways, it has been pretty yucky over here at Casa del Muy Sicko-Wowaks and I'm really hoping that we all turn a corner and start feeling better tomorrow.