pascale wowak photoblog

Kevin & Jason

It is always such a pleasure to do a photo shoot with a family I've worked with before, especially when they just let me do my thing and trust me.  When that rapport and ease has already been established (even if it's been a year since our last shoot), it's still just a really fun process.  Plus, we have a small community (which is why I love living here)  and I see all these moms around town, our kids attend the same activities, we all go to the same events.  Not a day goes by that I don't run into a client/friend of mine somewhere around town!  Naturally, I happen to think I have the best clients around because they are all ladies I could totally hang out with any given day.  I just love that!  I feel really blessed and grateful for all the support and encouragement I've received over the past 3 years from the families in this community.

Plus, it's such a treat when the dads show up to the shoot with a great attitude, a desire to get some wonderful family photos and a willingness to have fun with the process.  Ladd went all out on this shoot, in fact, I think he might have temporarily thrown out his back while doing some wild and crazy antic for his kids!  So, I just want to say THANK YOU to the daddies who show up with a smile on their faces, I've had so many enthusiastic daddies lately and it really makes such a huge difference.   

I just love the light at this location, very warm and golden.  Perfect for those who prefer color images.

Oh, and before I forget, I'm in the final phases of launching my brand new LOGO (yipppeeee) which I will share with everyone once I get the CD.  It's just so "me".  The designer really "got" what I was envisioning so I'll be sure to share all her info too for those who have designing needs.  She's GREAT!   Naturally, that means I have to redo ALL my forms and ALL my packaging and my website and blah blah blah.  A ton of work and money, but it will get spread out over the next few weeks to make it more manageable.  I can't wait to show it to you guys!

Gina and Ladd, ENJOY your images and I'm sure you both slept hard last night!! :)

don't ask me why, but this last shot is hands down my favorite one of the shoot and it was also the last one I took!

Connor, Michaella and Isabelle

The last time I photographed this family, mama was very pregnant with Isabelle.  I remember we had the most dreadful weather conditions and despite this, the family was laughing with me (at me?) the whole time!  They just made the best of it.  Not much has changed, there is just a whole lot of love and laughter in this family.  So it was with great pleasure that we got to hang out again, this time with the newest addition to the family who is now a year old.  

I have to mention that all these fires, besides causing horrible air quality, has also been adversely affecting the quality of light out there.  I'm sure that for landscape and nature photographers it is with great joy that they are experiencing some really funky toned sunsets etc. but for us portrait photographers, this yellow tinted dark haze is a nightmare.  Thank goodness I shoot in RAW format and have much more latitude when it comes to my white balance but even with the ability to make certain changes and adjustments, the yellow tint was hard to completely eliminate.  Fortunately, with a family of little blondies it worked out in the end.  Still, I will be glad to get my normal outdoor sky/light colors and tones that I prefer working with.

Pam & Josh, it is always a pleasure and I'm so glad that Michaella was so amused with my goofy faces.  If only it worked so well with all kids!!! :)

p.s. I added all those movies to my netflix queue, thanks for the recommendations! 

Michaella sang me this awesome song about monkeys in a tree and a hungry crocodile that had me in stitches!  She is just 3 weeks younger than my daughter and they have hugely similar personalities.  Such funny little girls!

Courtney Chu - Part Five

My friend Courtney is at it again! New dresses and styles!!  These seriously rock!  If you saw the video that I posted of Ellie in my last blog post she was also wearing an original Courtney Chu design.  Did you see how that thing moved with her?  She also wore one on the plane and was as comfy as if she were wearing pygamas.  I really can't say enough about these outfits.  The one Ellie is wearing here has a little flare built in at the bottom, perfect for those girls who like to twirl!  Would you believe this child of mine was up ALL NIGHT with a crazy fever of 103???  I can assure you that I look like death warmed over between my own battle with the flu and her keeping me up all night but somehow she just powered right through the day and has apparently recuperated quite nicely from her bout with the plague.  I, on the other hand, need some serious sleep....

I even threw in a couple photos of Gavin lest it appear as though Ellie is an only child or something! :)

They say it's your birthday...

it's my birthday too yeah...Yup, I turned 35 this weekend and went down to San Diego with my family to visit a good friend I've known for over 20 years.  I just love her to bits.

I should mention that after we got through security with very little fanfare (I just remember how it used to be such a tremendous hassle to get through security, gathering the kids, taking off their shoes, folding down the stroller, emptying the pockets blah blah blah) my husband and I nearly hi-fived each other out of joy for having been so quick and efficient getting through the security mess.  It wasn't until we were boarding the plane that we realized why it had gone so smoothly and easily...we had left the kids car seats in the car!!!  OOOPS!  No wonder we were not bogged down and not struggling to juggle a ton of things... tee hee!  We had to pay to rent carseats at the rental car place and they were DISGUSTING and OLD and we'll never forget the carseats again.... 

Anyways, we had a great time.  My birthday was wonderful.   We all went to the beach and the hubbies watched the kiddos while she took me out for my first time of Boogie Boarding.  I had a blast and was totally exhausted after only an hour but couldn't believe how quickly the time went by!  I was a competitive swimmer growing up and so was not afraid of the waves but a few times I did get caught in the rumble of the crashing waves and got flipped around a few times and distinctly remember that I had NO IDEA which way was "up" and could feel my heart beat a bit faster wondering how long I'd be able to hold my breath before figuring out which direction to go to get some air!  It was a blast though and I wish our water out here was warmer so I could have fun doing this more often.  I'm a total woos when it comes to cold water!

Then later that afternoon the family and I went Kayaking at the Oceanside Harbor which was so much fun.  I love being anywhere near water so it was a great way to spend my birthday.

We also hit Legoland with the little ones and I do believe that was their highlight of the trip.

Sadly, I got sick the next day and ergo I then had to fly home with a massive case of the flu and two very cranky "also getting sick" kids.  I am feeling like death warmed over today and really hoping to start feeling better soon.  Nothing is working to make me feel better and my husband is back at work for a few days... I really hope I kick this nasty bug in time for my next shoot.  Plus I just took my daughter's temperature and it's a lovely 102.8F so I'm guessing I won't be getting much sleep tonight either!

I brought my point and shoot for this trip and so the quality of some of these images is TERRIBLE.  Please bear that in mind when you look at them.  You can easily tell which images were taken on the good camera and which were taken on the P&S. 

Anyways, here are just a few quick snapshots from our trip down south for a couple days.  And a video of Ellie at the end.  The kids were enjoying an ice cream cone after our Kayaking and Ellie spotted her reflection in the mirrored glass of the restaurant.  They were playing music outside the restaurant on the speaker system.  That's all she needed to "get down".  I only caught a couple minutes not wanting to waste space on my memory card but who knew that she'd go crazy with Big Audio Dynamite blasting in the background.  To further age myself I should mention that I actually saw them in concert in S.F. when they were at the height of their stardom...  I know...I am a total child of the 80's, what can I say!?  And yes, I fully intend on doing something completely ridiculous to mark my entry into my status of "middle aged"... ideas anyone??? :)  

Here's Mr. Moody waiting for his lunch.  He has been so incredibly challenging lately... he's lucky I love him so much!

Miss Personality sitting directly across the table was in a totally great mood as usual...

a ride on the carousel

We then let the kids run around in the backyard with the sprinklers going, which sadly lasted all of 2 minutes because all three kids stepped on bees AT THE SAME TIME!  Can you imagine the pandemonium that ensued??  Yeah, so they all got their first bee sting at the same time and fortunately there was one adult per "victim" to tend to their injuries...

So Ellie cracks me up with this little habit of hers of holding her hat when she walks towards the ocean.  She is convinced that the strength and power of the waves will blow her hat off so she holds it down as she walks towards the ocean and then runs back towards us as fast as she can after she has collected her water.  So funny!

So Gavin may appear to be a boogie boarding dude in this next shot but it took about 2 hrs to get him to even lay on the thing!  And I had to be right next to him, holding the strap and pulling him with it...  He wouldn't go further than shin depth.  But after 2 hrs he started getting more comfortable with it and was willing to go KNEE deep,, alone, and ride the bitty waves in... hey, it's progress!

Eating ice cream is VERY SERIOUS business. Whatever you do, don't smile.

uh-oh, you smiled!

he almost didn't get that ice cream.... yeah, he's been driving me crazy...anyone else have a very moody almost 6 year old?  Or is it just me!?

Legoland

I timed it so I could get both of them together in this next shot even though they were at different parts of the ride.  I'm pretty proud of this.  Hey, it was a really hot day and that required ALOT of my brain ok?

Lest you think I am actually enjoying this ride (possibly more than my two kids sitting in front of me), I should explain that the arms in the air is not out of excitement over the ride but rather me celebrating the fact that I was able to get my derriere to fit in that teeny little plane.  You have NO IDEA how small that seating was back there!!  That actually ended up being their favorite ride and they had to do it three times in a row.   

A quick Kayaking shot.  The kids loved it and I had a blast reading all the names on the boats in the harbor...you can really tell alot about a boat owner based on the name they pick.  Very interesting stuff!

So, what do you do when you are stuck in traffic on Interstate 5???  You tell the kids to make silly faces and document it for them to look at on the LCD.  Cheap entertainment folks and prevents meltdowns, trust me.  I even saved a few for the fun of it and deleted the other 300...

This is the day we left and we were all coming down with the plague.  I had it the worst.   Good times people, good times...

Don't ask how I got this smile, I haven't the slightest clue...

Behold how I tricked them all to carry/push everything for me... haha!  Must be the wisdom that comes with turning 35...

I seriously love this shot

Gavin, naturally, LOVED take off and landings the most...  I had to put the camera down in front of him and shoot up at him without even knowing what would be in the frame and used my thumb to depress the shutter.  There were alot of rejects to say the least but I did snag a couple I liked.

Untitled from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

Samara

Isn't that the most beautiful name?! And such a great story behind it too.  This is my second time playing with this family and we all had a run for our money chasing around Miss Samara who knew exactly what SHE wanted to do, WHEN she wanted to do it and HOW she wanted to do it.  She was basically a younger version of my daughter so needless to say, I felt right at home!  It was also sweltering hot and I think we all lost about 5 lbs of water weight by the time we were done! :)  Mama has taken my photography workshop and has a real appreciation for great photography so it is quite an honor that they choose me to document their life for them.  I can't wait to see them again later this year.  Enjoy your images!!! :)

Andrew

Oh Little FOUR DAY old Andrew... Andrew is the new title holder of SEVERAL Pascale Wowak Photography "records"!!  Mom and Dad will get a chuckle out of that one I'm sure! :)

Andrew, as fresh and pure as they come, was utterly adorable.    It's so amazing to me that I get to photograph these little ones so soon after they are born.  I look at them and just shake my head thinking "you're SO brand new!!"  I even grabbed a couple shots of the uber cute toddler big brother before he took off running and we were thereafter a tad bit busy with Andrew...

I even did something rather unconventional this time when we encountered a few challenges but I think it really worked for us so I'm glad we did some "outside the box" thinking.   I also got a bunch of REALLY nice nursing shots that I did not post but mom will surely love.

Mom and Dad, you SO earned these, I hope they make you smile! :)

Cameron

This was such a delightful shoot!  Cameron is a 2 yr old boy with TONS of "boy energy" but also a very sweet, gentle soul, which is the most endearing combination! I thought my daughter was the only "talk-a-holic" toddler but Cameron had so much to say, it was like hanging out with my own little one!  I was really enamored with the little fellow.  He refused to do anything I suggested but he was so polite and sweet about it that I couldn't help but laugh!  I'm glad we just followed HIS agenda (which is really all you can do with that age range anyways!) because it made for some really amazing images.  Cameron is going to be a big brother in the next few months, you can't really tell since mom is so tiny, but there's a little baby growing in there! 

The love, tenderness and soulful connection I felt within this family totally warmed my heart.  It was a pleasure capturing theses images for you all, ENJOY!

p.s this first one cracks me up,  Dad is trying to convince Cameron to get on the horse and Cameron is just laughing his head off watching dad ride the "horse"... You can't really see his priceless expression in this small size format but this image DEMANDS to be printed out LARGE, it's one of my favorite all time shots.

Eliana Ballerina

I have not taken any photos of Ellie at her ballet classes in AGES.  SO feeling like a BAD mommy photographer, I finally grabbed a few this week.  The light in there is a frustrating mix of fluorescent, tungsten and natural light which throws my white balance TOTALLY off no matter what setting I choose and I was shooting wide open at f1.8 on a fixed 50 mm lens so had difficulty getting sharp images with girls running, jumping, twirling with a shutter speed of only 1/160 (best I could do!).

Still, a few passable ones.

By the way, the teacher is my good friend Annie and she rocks. Totally amazing teacher and wonderful with this age range of little girls.  She will be teaching a summer dance session through the Scotts Valley Parks and Rec program which will most likely fill up really fast so go check it out!  If you want to know the name of this place email me privately and I'll give you more info.

  

Plus, at the end I posted a video of Ellie that I took this afternoon.  I'm lucky that she enjoys my musical choices seeing as I play music constantly around the house and in the car.  Her favorite song right now is Fiona Apple's extraordinary machine.  In teh car she will sing it at the top of her lungs and at home she will do a whole choreographed routine.  It's pretty hilarious.  She was more subdued in this version because the camera was rolling but still SO FUNNY!  The best part is she fudges so many of the words.  For example, the line "or treat me mean" turns into "or treat me meat" and she just mumbles where she forgets the words and still, remarkably, has the majority of the song memorized down pat, at THREE years old.  This kid is such a natural entertainer.

enjoying the fan! It was hot!

Untitled from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

Lily Noel

Lily is such a cutie pie!  Total Gerber Baby.  I just kept wanting to gobble her up.  This is hands down the BEST age to photograph and even more so when you have a delightfully happy little one like Lily.  Her expressions were so adorable and those rolls, those thighs, that chub factor was insanely cute.  Honestly, I couldn't get enough of her.  And since I know I'll get emails asking about this: no, I did not use any artificial lighting or flash at all.  I accomplished those killer catchlights using window light for the indoor shots and a simple round reflector for the outdoor shots.  That's it!  No studio needed, folks, all you need is a really cute baby!  [oh, and me, I guess]  :)

  I hope her mom enjoys these, we certainly had such a fun time getting these images!  It was a pleasure meeting you both, ENJOY!

Gift

I had a shoot last night that really reminded me about some important things about life.  I won't be posting any images from it when I get through all the editing because the family has asked that I keep it private due to the emotional sensitivity involved, and I will gladly respect their wishes.  

I will say this though.  Try to appreciate every day.  Try to maintain some perspective on what really constitutes a "bad" day.   I am guilty of sometimes getting caught up in the stress of the daily grind and just going through the motions to get through the day.  When I have a day where everything goes wrong and I'm just completely at my whit's ends... well, I do need to be reminded of one of my favorite quotations of all time, which is:

" Yesterday is history,

Tomorrow is a mystery,

TODAY IS A GIFT"

By Eleanor Roosevelt

Truth is you don't know what tomorrow will bring so be grateful for the lives of your loved ones TODAY and EVERY DAY.  Now, go hug someone you love and tell them how much they mean to you.  

Courtney Chu - Part Quatre

My friend Courtney sent this ADORABLE skirt.  Seriously, how cute is this?  So I did a minishoot with Ellie in a stairwell across the street from where big brother Gavin was having his art class.  But first we hit the jamba juice for a quick pick me up.  Today was a gorgeous, mellow, easy day.  I have not had one of those in a while.  Although I am home all day with my kids (for the most part, except when I'm actually out on a shoot of course), I primarily do most of my work from my home office which means I am sitting at my computer much of the day and then (quite) frequently interrupted by requests for this or that or "watch this mom!" or "wipe my butt!"  You get the picture...   But I was actually caught up on my 'priority' work today and so I was able to just hang out with my kids without thinking about (make that obsessing) my "work" to do list.  Such a treat!  Of course my "home" to do list is a mile long but hey, that one I seem to be able to set aside, the work one I am vigilant about taking care of promptly.  So we hung out.  I enjoyed my kids.  They enjoyed me.  Sweet. :)

Ellie, as you can see, was in a particularly goofy mood.  My effervescent little dancing queen.  

And before you go "stairwell"??? What was she thinking?? Yes, it's a grubby old stairwell in a commercial building complex but it had this PERFECT pocket of gorgeous diffused light falling in right on the second and third steps, like a magical opening of light.  When I saw her eyes bouncing with catchlights as we walked up the stairs I was like "that's it!!"  And so that's where we did the shoot... and it totally worked. Enjoy Courtney!

Gavin goofing off in the background... I so love this shot!

I've always called her my little monkey...

Cracking herself up...

dramatic ballet/dance pose below...

ta-da!

Archer & Ava

Archer & Ava are 2 1/2 yr old twins who have the biggest doe-eyes ever!   Little Archer was not feeling so hot that day and thankfully I managed to get a few big smiles the first 2 minutes of the shoot because those were the last smiles I was able to get from him.  He went from feeling yucky to completely besides himself.   Mom later told me that the poor litte dude threw up in the car on the way home.  So, although I wasn't able to get as many shots of him as his sister or any shots of the twins alone together, I still think we managed remarkably well.  So much so that I think mom and dad are going to be a bit amazed that I managed to get ANY good shots! :)  But there are always little moments and pauses in between the fussing and that's when I go for it.  Teresa, I do hope you are pleasantly surprised!  ENJOY!