pascale wowak photoblog

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Just a short post to say Happy Long Weekend.  I am honored to shooting a wedding tomorrow (Sunday) here locally.  There's just something about weddings that instantly renews your faith in the power of love, you know?

My kids start school on Tuesday.  Gavin will be in first grade and Ellie will be in preschool two days a week. Bittersweet....

I couldn't figure out how to embed this video in my blog so I'm just attaching a link directly to it.  I just LOVE this song right now.  Its message really resonates with me.  I'm all about following your dreams. :)

Song is "Dreams" by Priscilla Ahn.  I've got the CD on order with Amazon and hoping I get it soon.  Should be very a very soothing and peaceful background to edit those wedding pictures to!  Weddings require many, many, many hours of editing so it may be a while before I get to posting those on here but I am sure I'll find other stuff to post in the meantime.

Enjoy the song, as well as the nice long weekend.  And to those of you in the public safety fields (fire, police, EMT, Paramedics, Military, Doctors and Nurses...) who don't get holidays off.... THANK YOU.  (I worked them for nearly ten years and my little family ends up celebrating Christmas a day early and thanksgiving a day late every year due to my husband's job as a firefighter, not to mention all the other holidays in between.)  I appreciate the sacrifice of all those who work in those fields.

Dreams Song Link

Jaxson

I had the distinct pleasure of photographing his mommy and daddy when baby Jaxson was in utero! He is now almost one years old!!  Mommy is a fabulous local esthetician (highly recommend her!) and friend.

We had really icky yucky light conditions for this shoot but we made the most of it. Jaxson was highly entertained by daddy's antics and mommy's very funny "nee-ner-nee-ner" song (which, thanks a lot Jenny, I was singing the rest of the evening...).

He is a super crawler on the verge of walking and was moving FAST and not all that interested in sitting still (typical of that age) so there was a lot of picking up and repositioning!

He lasted a really long time and when he was done he made it clear he was done!  Despite the lack of verbal skills at this age, they can most certainly make their feelings known!

Jaxson is cute as a button and when he laughs, he LAUGHS, very very heartily and it would make me bust up every time.  He has the most contagious smile!

Enjoy!

 

we were calling this his austin powers "one million dollars" pose! :)

Logan

This is such a great age to photograph!  Logan was soooo sweet.  He is a very alert, focused, determined little dude.  He was not remotely distracted by mom and dad's attempts to get his attention and was instead quite intent on getting just about ANYTHING in his mouth! Can you say "teething"? :)

Despite it being a rough time of day for this age, he did just beautifully, going from place to place, pose to pose.  We were graced with plenty of flirty little smiles and adorable expressions from him but no big guttural laughter.

It wasn't until the last few minutes of the shoot that I decided to pull out the last resort and do an all out tickle fest on the poor little guy to get some real big laughs out of him.  It worked :)

It was a pleasure meeting you all!  Enjoy your images!

I'm going to start calling this the teething fence!  

This tongue action is apparently his little "thing" he does - so cute!!

my favorite of the entire shoot is right below...

a behind-the-scenes look as to how these last images were accomplished.  Behold the gentle mommy-finger poking in the ribs and wiggling, see the daddy hands holding up the little guy who just wants to crawl away...  so funny!

Emma, Addie and Hallie (in utero)

Pregnancy and newborns are what I consider to be my *specialty.*   Even though I had two challenging pregnancies, I truly loved being pregnant and I go absolutely gaga over newborns.  Jung is pregnant with #3 and she exudes so much confidence it's nearly palpable.  Basically, it's confidence, sexiness and "been there, done that" all wrapped into one glorious package.  She was positively glowing.  We spent a great deal of the session bouncing back and forth between shots of her and shots of her girls and then back to her and then the family and then back to her and then back to the sisters etc..  It may have seemed haphazard to them but I have found that doing little mini 5 mn block sessions with kids and then letting them run around and be "free" for a few minutes is the best approach.  This also allowed me time with mom to really focus on her without the kiddos distracting her.  Dad did a great job keeping the girls entertained while mom and I did our thing, so in return Jung and I took some very spectacular (private) images of her.  :)

Emma and Addie were lively, energetic, playful girls and I felt right at home seeing as I have one of those myself! (My boy is the quiet uber shy one)

I give them a perfect 10 score for their synchronized skipping too!!!

We had a great time and stayed at the beach until we quite literally ran out of light!  I can't wait to meet Hallie!  Enjoy your images :)

Ryan, Kayla & Lindsey

Such sweet kids!  And they drove all the way from the north bay to see me, such an honor.  The whole family was just a total breeze to photograph.  Despite gorgeous weather all week, that day the weather was a bit iffy, windy, cold, super overcast... but we managed ok despite the weird and dark light near the end.  The kids all have such different personalities and are all in really different stages so it was fun to switch gears with each child when I shot them individually.  I really love interacting with kids alone and seeing what I get when I am 1 on 1 with them like that.  Mom and Dad were awesome because they really gave me that space to just do my thing and went along with all my kooky ideas.  :)

It was absolutely delightful hanging out with you all and I hope you love the results!  ENJOY!

my vision for these next two was to have them printed on canvas and hung side by side, so fun!

San Luis Obispo

So we took a little mini vacay with the family last week to spend a couple days down in San Luis Obispo.  I just love it down there, it reminds me alot of Santa Cruz.  Plus the drive is bearable (3 hrs) for the kids.  We had a really nice time and it was fabulous for me to be forced away from my computer.  I even debated about leaving my camera at home to really "disconnect" but ran back upstairs and grabbed it on the way out.   I just can't bear to part with it and knew I'd regret it if I didn't have it with me.

We spent one morning at Avila Beach and I grabbed a few shots of the kids playing around.  Of course, the light was at the worst time of day 10 am to noon with direct overhead sunlight (ugh) but despite the blown highlights on the edges, I still managed some fun shots.  Gavin LOVES the beach, he loves to jump over the waves and play in the wet sand.  Ellie, weirdly, does not like the waves at all.  My usually totally fearless child is very intimidated by the ocean.  So she hangs back with me in the dry sand and will ONLY go out to rinse her hands from the sand.  That's the other part - she does not like sandy hands (feet are fine, just no sandy hands).  You'd think she hate the beach but, au contraire, she loves to go, just on her own terms...  

First a few beach shots...

getting ready to jump a big wave...

except the waves were pathetically small! (he didn't seem to notice or care...)

 

flexing his muscles as he psychs himself up to battle another "huge" wave...

behold the "huge" wave...

normal Gavin...

freaky scary jack nicholson lookin' Gavin...

time for Ellie to wash off her hands.  She gingerly approaches the wet sand and gauges how far up the waves are coming to set herself up at the furthest point the waves will reach. NO need to be one iota closer to the ocean than she needs to be...

She then waits patiently for a wave to reach her (even if that takes a few waves) and quickly rinses her hands off before it retreats back into the ocean.

She then stands back up to inspect the cleanliness of her hands.  If not up to par she will wait for another wave to come to her... So funny to watch!

Making "sand" angels!

The food at this restaurant took entirely too long to arrive...

I don't mean to brag but the boy is gorgeous... :)

We then visited the downtown Farmer's market/fair and had a blast.  Ellie decided she really really really wanted her face painted by this artist so that's what we did.  It washer first time getting a full on face painting and she took it very very seriously.  It was almost dark at that point so my ISO was boosted WAY high and shutter speed WAY low to capture these and they are totally grainy but it actually works better for me that way.  It feels like an old photograph from an old time fair or something.  She looks so serious but she was so happy!  I just love this series, especially the ones at the end where she is looking at the results in the mirror the artist held up for her.  I didn't have time to set up the shot so I just grabbed it as it happened.

We offered Gavin to get a face painting too (she had boy themed stuff as well) but he was adamant about having something "permanent" (as he put it).  To him there is no point in getting something that will just get washed off at the end of the night.  And therein lies the critical difference between the two.  Ellie lives for the moment and Gavin is my little planner, my deep thinker.  She loves spontaneity and he loves to analyze things.  

When we walked by the portraitists he just about jumped out of his skin.  He loves art and has been taking art classes for almost 2 years now and watching someone create a portrait of someone right before his eyes was almost too much for him.  He could have sat there all night watching this.  Jason and Ellie took off (waaaaay too boring for them) while Gavin and I sat and watched and waited for his turn.  He then did a great job of sitting still while the artist did his thing.  I was very emotional watching this because my grandfather (who died right before I got pregnant with Gavin and to whom we gave Gavin's middle name: Marcel) was a very well known artist and architect in France.  I spent much of my childhood sitting still while my grandfather did charcoal pencil sketches of me and my sisters and my cousins.  I have numerous paintings of my grandfather's scattered throughout my house and am always amazed at his talent.  So watching an artist do something that is so deeply tied into what my grandpa used to do with me and seeing my son, his grandson, so deeply interested in this artform...well, it was alot for me.  I was near tears at the end.  I miss my grandfather so much and wish he could sill be around to take Gavin under his wing... :)

Ellie at the hotel room admiring her "princess" face...

We then hit the new children's museum in SLO the next day.

She was building a puzzle and I put my camera on the ground and pointed it up towards her as she built the puzzle to get a different perspective.

There was this one little spot on the third floor where you crawled into a tunnel and at the end of the tunnel was this little circular window.  The space was clearly intended for toddlers and yet I had a vision!  I crawled in there with ellie and tried to play off the dots in her dress and the circular shape of the window.  Due to the immediate drop off of light I knew it would be blown highlights at the face and then darkness all around but I still believed it would work.  I was going for something artsy and edgy.  

the end :)

my book :)

Is now available for purchase!  Just click on the "badge" link in the right hand column (over there) --------->

Thanks so much!

Pascale

P.S.  My next photography workshop class will be held on Saturday September 27th.  It is a 5 hr class covering ALL the basics of photography, including shutter speed, aperture, focal length, ISO, composition, understanding natural light, how to use all those features and buttons on your snazzy digital camera, different focusing modes, metering and all that great stuff!!  Class size is limited to 15 students, so if you want in, contact me ASAP!  

Courtney Chu - Part Six

My friend Courtney is at it again!  This girl is so talented, it blows my socks off.  She is starting anew line of long sleeved dresses in time for the fall and so I did a shoot using two dresses, one of her new long sleeved ones and one short sleeve one that Ellie personally picked out (ie: begged for and Courtney kindly obliged).  

It is no surprise that in our family Ellie is called "the character", because that's what she is, quite the character... She can pull out a dozen different expressions within the span of about 2 minutes.  She can assume the role of any character.  She is just a total kick in the pants.  Full of life that child.  Spunk, fiesty-ness and passion.  

When she's happy she's beyond joyful and charming but when she's pissed, watch out. Total scorpio, just like my sister. (I love you seraphine!)  :)

All in all, it was a very successful shoot.  I was able to take the kids at my favorite time (that last hour before sunset) for some magical light and my little assistant Gavin did reflector holder duty for me until he tired of it (about 5 minutes in...) and when Ellie gave me the "I'M DONE!" look, I whipped out the bubbles and got a nice little second wind out of her (mama knows her all too well).

I should point out that beyond minimal direction (such as stand here, or look this way, or put your feet/hands there) she pretty much does the rest on her own, I just engage her and chat with her nonstop and she plays off me.  We make a pretty good team :)

Courtney, you ROCK = your dresses ROCK = my photos ROCK. 

ENJOY! :)

so this next shot scares me a little bit.  it's like looking at a model on the cover of vanity fair, I mean, how does she get that "look" at ONLY 3.5 yrs old?  That's just not possible.  I'm mildly concerned at this point.  where does this attitude come from?! And she wasn't mad at all, she was just "being serious" as she puts it.... oy.

so I had all these ideas of things I wanted to do here at this log and then I got this:

oooookay. time for a wardrobe change and some bubbles...

I decided to play off the horizontal white stripes in the dress with the white horizontal fence.

so I say to her: "act surprised!" and I get this (comedic genius this child)

she's born year of the monkey, can you tell?

feet not even touching the ground!

gavin walked into my shot and I'm all "get out of my frame!" and he rolls his eyes at me and takes two big steps back knowing from experience that this will put him just outside the frame.  poor kid is so used to it.  but he's hinted at the fact that he may start letting me take photos of him again which would make me a very happy mommy!

Logan

This little dude could DANCE!   We were totally in stitches watching him boogie and get down.  The last time I saw them was a year ago so it's incredible how much he's changed in that time frame.  It is without doubt one of the best perks of this job, watching their little personalities emerge.  When I do shoots for them as newborns or babies, I can get a sense as to their disposition but their unique  personalities are not as obvious yet.  And then when I get to see them a year later I can without fail see that innate personality coming through.  And then a year later I get to see even more of it and I get to observe how it evolves through all the different developmental stages.  It's fascinating!  I've always been interested in child development and so this job gives me the ability to indulge in all that child psychology & observation.  It's so cool!

On a side note, it is TOTALLY unfair that the little boys are gifted with the most amazing lashes.  I need those!  Logan's eyelashes were unreal, when you see the close ups you'll see what I'm talking about.

We chased this little guy all around the gardens and worked around sunlight that was still a bit too high for my tastes but we had a happy little camper and that's way more important than superb lighting and a grumpy toddler!  

Such a pleasure seeing you guys again,

Enjoy your images!

This next one melts my heart.  He is reaching for his mom's hands and looking up at her with such adoration....sigh....

here mom and dad are trying to get their groove on and guess who shows up lickety split even though he wanted nothing to do with family shots before then!  He was not happy about anyone lovin' on his mommy!  My son used to scream "NO!"  everytime my husband kissed me!

the story behind this shot is soooo funny but I'm just going to let mom and dad get a good laugh here :)

Matthew

Such a beautiful family!  Matthew is two and two is such a particularly funny age.  They are so FAST and so wanting to do things their way.  It's a real blast working around their obstinate little nature and capturing their sweet, tender side.  Fortunately, Matthew is a little Cancer male which makes him extra sweet (my boy is too).  Plus, he is so stinkin' cute he'd probably get away with murder in my house.  Check out his little adorable mouth, I just wanted to squeeze his cheeks and kiss him! (Don't worry, I didn't).  Anyways, mom and I were so busy talking and laughing that we pretty much let dad do all the toddler wrangling (tee hee) but we did remember to take pictures too!  I loved the blue tones in their clothes so we tried to play off the blue as much as possible.  Matthew is half monkey (in a good way!) and was scaling up and down crazy high stuff and making my heart skip a beat with anxiety.  Good thing dad was there to keep the mommies mellow when it comes to that stuff... :)

Enjoy Christy!

so we told him not to poke his fingers inside the fence because of the chickens and then here on the next shot you can see his fingers are safely tucked into a closed fist as he suspiciously eyeballs the chickens! hilarious!

See what I mean?  Don't tell me you don't want to squeeze his cheeks and plant one on him too! :)

Announcement

I was gone for a couple days enjoying a mini vacation with my family.  But I'm back now and getting right into the thick of it.  I sometimes think I strive on the chaos of my crazy life! :)

That said, I will have two new shoots to post this week (one tomorrow night) plus some photos from our little escape to San Luis Obispo.

But the big news is that I am currently putting the finishing touches on an 80 page (yes, EIGHTY) instruction manual for photographers.  This book is like a combination of my beginner photography workshop that I teach which outlines in simple language all the concepts behind such terms as shutter speed, aperture, focal length, ISO and exposure.  It also addresses composition and how to approach different subjects within various categories (pregnancy, newborn, children).  I talk about many of the tricks of the trade I've learned over the past 4 years doing this.  I give out all the pointers I could think of to help a new photographer who is contemplating launching their own photography business.  I lay out all the steps I took (even the boring details regarding obtaining a fictitious business name and getting equipment insurance). 

I talk about juggling motherhood and running your own business.  I delve into the nitty gritty of exactly what I did that first year to get such amazing success so quickly.  I talk about everything that no one else would share with me when I first got started.  All the stuff I had to figure out on my own.

So the book is, in my humble opinion, pretty amazing!  I also, naturally, include a TON of photos illustrating different posing techniques and showing new angles that really work.  I talk about the various forms of lighting and how to use them to your advantage.  The list goes on and on.  We are talking 80 pages here! :)

This is basically the book I wish I had been able to find when I was starting out. Unlike most photography manuals that are written as if they were scientific course books using language that (for me at least) totally turned me off from the technical side of photography, this one is totally easy to understand.  Everything is laid out in such a way as to make it simple and clear and easy to grasp.

Plus, getting the background information on what templates I used to launch my first websites and what actions I use and what equipment works best for newborn photography (including some really great tips about easy and cheap backdrops). 

Man, It's like 4 years worth of mistakes (!) that you can avoid and go straight to the good stuff! :)  Honestly, I truly wish someone had written something like this when I was considering doing what I am fortunate enough to do now.  I know I earned all my stripes by going it alone but it would have been so beneficial to get all this great information and learning in one central location.

I've got my review sample book ordered and should receive it in about a week or two.  At that point I will make any last minute revisions that need to be made and post an announcement here on my blog about the book being ready for purchase through Blurb. com.

I put my heart and soul into this book so I really hope it helps all you budding photographers out there.  By the way, the book is also great for anyone wanting to just learn more about photography whether or not they want to launch a photography business down the road.  It's a great way to familiarize yourself with all the options on your digital camera and learn how to stray from only using that green box (automatic mode)!

I am probably a fool for giving away all my secrets but I am a firm believer that people should help each other out.  I may end up creating a whole new batch of competition in my local area with this book but while someone else can take all my ideas and tips, nobody can see things through my eyes.  My style will always be my own.  :)

Pema

Freckles!!!  I *love* freckles.  LOVE them.  Can't get enough close ups of kids with freckles.  Have I mentioned I love freckles? :)

Pema was such a bright, curious, playful little girl. She had mommy's eyes and daddy's smile!  Sweet as could be and cute as a button so even when she would turn down my requests with a "no", it was said in such a gentle, polite and innocent way that I just wanted to hug her!  Hilarious!

We had so much fun, perhaps too much fun because when the shoot was over and we were heading back to the car she started crying because she wanted to stay! Melt my heart why don't you?  I could have taken her home with me... but Ellie would not have liked someone cramping in on her "cute factor" territory... :)

It was an absolute pleasure meeting you all, ENJOY your images!!  

the flare in this one is perfect, when you look closely you can see the individual rays of light, especially along the bottom right - stunning!

Nathan

Nathan made his mommy and daddy wait a LONG time to finally meet him!  And he was worth every minute! :)  He was just THREE days old when I did this photo shoot.

Newborn sessions are my longest photo shoots by far and anyone who has done one with me knows the behind the scenes work that goes into it.  Plus, mom and dad are usually still in that fuzzy new parent mode where day and night overlap and everything is just a blur!  

So, while the end result of these beautiful images would make it appear as though the baby slept soundly for the duration of the shoot and we just moved him from one pose to the next, I can assure you that that NEVER EVER happens!

There's ALOT happening during my time with the family including plenty of downtime for nursing, rocking, soothing, changing etc...

What was particularly great about this shoot was that mom and dad were super relaxed and mellow even when things were not going quite as planned.  And, as it always does, a little bit of patience goes a LONG way. :)

Nathan fell into a deep sleep and was too cute for words in his poses (which he practically engineered himself!) and even gave us a super bonus treat at the end by calmly lying there and looking at me all bright eyed for several seconds; which is very rare at just three days old.

Little Nathan is as cute as they come and so very very loved by his family.  I had the pleasure to meet BOTH grandma's that day and they were taking care of everything for mommy so she could focus on her baby boy.  I told them I thought it should be a "law" that all new mommies have that "transition" time where all they have to do is nurse and bond.  Wouldn't that be great!?

And daddy was a superstar at getting Nate to sleep - total baby whisperer caliber!

I just love newborns and despite the "production" that goes into these shoots, they are so incredibly rewarding!   I'm seriously contemplating doing one year where I take a "sabbatical" of sorts and ONLY shoot pregnancy and newborns that entire year.  There is such an amazing energy around pregnant women and new mommies.  Plus, the added perk of getting to hold and snuggle a newborn is just fantastic!

CONGRATULATIONS Jean and Jeff!!! Enjoy!

Louie

I just absolutely adore this family!  The last time I did a shoot with them (with the exception of them being in the bridal party of a wedding I shot recently and me sneaking in some shots at that time!) was when Louie was a newborn.  And we're talking 10+ lb baby here (all hail to Allison!).  They drove all the way down from the north bay to hang out with me and boy did we have fun!

The weather was *perfect* and everyone did awesome.  The little John Deer tractor ones with the big real John Deere in the background are hilarious and the ones where he is peaking through the grape vines just melt my heart (stunning pocket of light there!).  I had to narrow it down for this post but there are a TON more on the CD's!  

Enjoy!!! 

this next pictures rocks my world.

this next one looks equally awesome in all the formats I gave them (color, B&W and vintage) so I randomly just picked B&W to show!