pascale wowak photoblog

Courtney Chu - Halloween Edition

Courtney is at it again, this time with matching bat Halloween outfits for Gavin and Ellie!  I will fully admit to massive doses of bribery to accomplish this sibling shoot.  I rarely try to get pictures of the two of them anymore since Ellie hates sharing the spotlight and Gavin hates having his picture taken.  That said, I managed to get some really cute shots of them.  I'm really really lucky that my kids (for the most part) truly enjoy each other.  On weekend mornings they know that is mommy's time to sleep so Gavin will go and prepare two bowls of cereal and after getting breakfast for himself and his sister they will set themselves up in the living room and play quietly together for a solid hour allowing me some much needed extra sleep.  He's been doing that for a year now since he was 5 yrs old and it's the cutest thing ever.  They also clear their plates and clean up after themselves.  I've trained them well! :)

So when I see them together, playing nicely and cooperatively, enjoying each other's company, it truly warms my heart.  Sure they have days when they bicker nonstop but overall I've been fortunate to have kids who actually want to be around each other.  

I just love these bat outfits and Courtney has a whole selection of Halloween-y stuff in her store right now.  Click on her name at the beginning of this post to go check it out!  Also, the adorable hats were knit by Courtney's mother (I guess designing and creating talent just runs in the family) and totally complimented the whole outfit!

Ellie was being particularly goofy and even, dare I say, a little "ghetto" during this shoot.  At one point I swear I saw her flashing gang signs but since she's never seen anything remotely close to that I can't imagine where she came up with it.  She's just a little nutball that kid....

trying to be serious...

didn't last very long...

Keena Madison

Oh, how I love newborns!!!  Keena is such a little old soul.  A peaceful, happy little zen baby.  She let us totally manipulate her little body this way and that way.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many different poses we got out of her.  Absolutely unreal!  If she even fussed at all, it was just for a few seconds until she regained her bearings and then settled right back down. Amazing.

(I've heard that the third child is supposed to be really easy but I'm afraid I'll be the exception to the rule and after my two high need squawkers, I'm not taking any chances...)

Keena was a total little rockstar supermodel too.  Striking poses like nobody's business.  I could not get enough of her and her fabulous parents.  Her mommy is perhaps the most confident, relaxed and natural first time mother I have ever met.  She greeted me at the door nursing 6 day old Keena with one hand and opening the door with the other hand.  To have mastered the art of walking/talking/one handed breastfeeding within a mere few days of birth is unbelievably impressive. But to also do it with such natural ease, like she's been doing this her whole life, is mind boggling.  It certainly took me a few weeks before I was able to so much as entertain the possibility that I just MIGHT be able to nurse Gavin without my boppy, my water bottle, my pillows to support my back, and my other assortment of "accessories"!  I eventually got the swing of it and became a pro at the walking/nursing/talking on the phone/cooking dinner routine but certainly NOT within Gavin's first week of life...

So, needless to say, this whole family is just pretty chill, my kind of folks, and we had a really great time.  In fact, I got my all time favorite newborn photo EVER this shoot so that was an added perk!

StevieLee and Gabe, it was a real pleasure, ENJOY your images!!!

she smiled alot!

at just a mere 5 lbs, her feet were TINY!

I'm crazy about this next one

she's already a daddy's girl...

This next one really has to be seen in a larger format.  Totally unscripted moment, sooooooo much emotion and love, very powerful and moving.  I stared at it for 10 mn after finishing up with it.  My favorite newborn image ever thus far.

Kathy & Dave

I have always considered pregnancy and newborn imagery to be my specialty so it is during those shoots that I most feel my creative and artistic side shining.  Kathy & Dave are expecting their first child and Kathy definitely has that mommy-to-be glow and energy about her.  We were graced with some really stunning light and perfect weather.

I recently read a quote on a photography blog that had me chuckling.  It was on the site of a well known photographer who is a master at using flash and reflectors to "manipulate" light.  He said : "a trained monkey can take great shots in the open shade but to truly call yourself a photographer you have to SEE the light, you have to understand light and you have to be able to manipulate light."  And he's right.  Taking an image in the open shade is foolproof (given a basic understanding of exposure of course) and ergo a necessity with child photography.  But when dealing with adults I really love that I have the ability to fine tune my artistry with the manipulation of light.  I use my reflector (or flash if needed) as well as natural reflectors that I find where I am to position my subject in the best light, to bend the light in the direction I want it to go, with the strength I want it to have, to create the shadows and angles and shapes I am trying to achieve.  It was only when I was truly able to SEE the light around me, to almost visualize the light waves bouncing all around me and totally grasp the concepts of refraction, absorption & reflection that I felt I was worthy of the title "artist."

This shoot allowed me the ability and the free reign to manipulate the natural light we had however I so desired.  And the results are just lovely.  Kathy and Dave can attest to the fact that I did not use a flash at all this session, just my reflector and my trained eye.  I would have Kathy move 2 inches that way or look up a smidge this way and adjust and adapt and move her until the available light was doing what I wanted it to do on her face and body.  And she looked positively glowing.  We had a great time and took full advantage of the delicious weather.

I can't wait to find out this little one's name!  Enjoy your images!

The P. Family

Debbie, Don, Eric, Chase and Austin.  I love these guys!  Debbie, Don and I go way back, in the days of my previous employment - pre husband and kids.  Debbie and I hit it off immediately.  I loved her spunk, quick wit and slightly rebellious attitude.  Hers was the voice that could either allow me to finally have a lunch break or send me the case from hell.   So, at work, I both loved her and hated her all at the same time.  But, off duty, we were just pals.  Plain and simple. She even threw me a surprise bachelorette party I specifically had asked NOT to have.  With friends like that...  tee hee.

We all went camping together once when her boys were really little and played a little flashlight tag... let me just say SOME people cheated.  I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, it was a real pleasure finally getting to take pictures of the whole group.  We don't get to see each other very often at all so this was a real treat.  And there was only one person who didn't really want to be there....I'll let y'all figure out who that was on your own.. haha!  

The boys are all so much older now it kinda freaks me out.  Debbie & Don, I love you guys and I had so much fun.  I don't think I've been around that much teenage testosterone & relentless ribbing in a while... :) 

there's a gizillion photos so I just picked a few favorites.

bad news

I have terrible news.  I brought the kitten in at 10 am yesterday morning.  I explained to the intake person that I thought he might have a fever and definitely had an upper respiratory infection and had not eaten in a full 24 hrs despite me trying everything to get him to eat.  I told them he probably needed to be syringe fed and checked on asap because of his weakened conditions.  I had been calling them all day to see if they'd checked on him and find out his status.  They kept telling me how busy they are and how they haven't gotten to him yet.  At about 5pm I get a call from the vet who FINALLY got to him and says that his fever is so high now that he has suffered brain damage and that they are going to euthanize him.  I couldn't even convince him to TRY to give him antibiotics or anything.  They said he had stunted growth and would probably never be able to overcome this viral infection anyways.  I'm utterly devastated and have nothing but sadness in my heart because if someone had bothered to so much as check on him at 10 am when I dropped him off or anytime shortly thereafter they would have noticed how bad he was instead of putting him in a cage for 7 hrs and not even checking on him.   The thought of him suffering alone brings me to tears.  We do the fostering because it's a great way to volunteer to help animals, to get kittens strong and healthy and more adoptable by being socialized around kids but MOSTLY because it gives those kittens who come to us the opportunity to be in a warm, loving home during that time of growth rather than in a cold, sterile cage.  The kittens we foster get so much cuddling and attention.  Naturally, we grow quite attached to them but knowing they are going to end up in a good home makes it possible to say goodbye.  This, however, was just a really devastating ending.  We all have very heavy hearts right now.

* edited to add: I wrote a long letter to the coordinator of fostering to let her know about our experience and my concerns about their intake/care policies for sick animals.  She was very responsive and it would seem that someone totally dropped the ball in Minou's case.  Although that provides very little comfort to us (it actually hurts even more to know that he suffered needlessly due to someone's mistake), hopefully this means it will not happen again.  Of course, our hearts still ache tremendously.

Even when you're sick...

Yeah, so yesterday on my way out to meet some family from out of town for dinner (and while still personally battling this plague but prior to the kids getting afflicted by it) Ellie started singing this little ditty she made up.  Now, I fully realize that videotaping with a little point and shoot camera with one hand over your shoulder and driving with the other hand is NOT ADVISABLE.  I would like to mention, in my defense, that I have a great deal of highly specialized driver training under my belt, not that that that makes it o.k.  It was wrong.  Totally wrong.  I won't do it again.  Do I regret it? Not one bit.  I captured this little number for all eternity and it makes me laugh out loud.  This is Ellie in all her glory, 24/7.  Always singing and dancing.  Nonstop.  She cracks me up.  In case you don't understand her, the jist of this made up on the moment song is "mama, I love you, even when you die, I'll still love you, even when you're sick, I'll still love you."  It goes on to proclaim how she really likes nice people and how "even if you're a jerk, I still love you", she pronounces jerk "joirk"...  I cut and pasted out my favorite clips because this was a nearly 20 mn video of off and on footage.  My very favorite part at the end is a VERY exasperated and fed up Gavin saying "QUIET!!!!"  I will watch this video anytime she is driving me completely bonkers.  Enjoy :)

The password is : "even"

Untitled from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

Minou (pronounced "mee-knew")

So the little guy has a name.  Minou, which is a french term of endearment for a pet cat.

And I have a massive flu bug.  I have not had the flu in about a year so I guess I was long overdue but this one is a doozy.  I hope to be at least functional in time for my weekend shoots.  It is so hard to take care of your kids when you are this sick, much less anything else.  I think they will be having Trader Joe's frozen quattro pizza for dinner (again) and I'm going to try really hard not to feel guilty about that...

Two days ago, before this 'plague' hit me, I got a few more shots of the kitty with the kids.  He is such a snugglebug.  He just wants to be on their lap ad NEAR them at all times.  He is really really sweet.  It's, uh, going to be really really hard to bring this one back....  I'm not quite sure I'll be able to.....  We have a long ways to go though before having to think about that since he is with us another 4 delightful weeks.

Ellie was playing with her Disney princess stuff and the little dude was just hanging out on her legs.  Perfectly content just to be ON her.  Every once in a while she'd put her dolls down and give him some snuggles and then go right back to playing.  He was purring the entire time.    

and look, he poses for me!

Gavin is sooooo attached to him, he sleeps with Gavin every night.

 

*** Edited to add: BOTH kids now have the flu as well as the kitty who has so much snot coming out of his little nose that I am simply in awe.  Oy.  Poor thing.  So we will be off to the shelter first thing in the morning to get him checked out.  And then off to New Leaf to pick up some homeopathic meds for the kids to help them get on the path to quicker healing as well... Our whole family should probably be quarantined at this point! ***

Azula & Zia

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while now may remember the images I posted a long time ago of my friend Sumita before her double mastectomy.  She is still fighting cancer with everything she's got and she is still my hero.

The last time I photographed the whole family was right before she gave birth to Zia so it was a real treat to get to shoot the whole family again.  I absolutely love this family.  Zia was being very serious and doing the "drama" thing but we had alot of fun with it.  We eventually wore down her resolve!

In fact, as I was driving to our designated location (UCSC) I noticed a building with  a stone covered wall in the shade and a brightly lit white building facing it.  So, yeah, I stopped in my tracks, called her up and said: "DETOUR!"  Honestly, when I saw that building and light configuration it was as if the sky opened up and the angels started singing or something, I was in heaven!  So we started off there and then headed up to UCSC to complete the shoot.  I'm so glad she was so flexible, we got some great images at our impromptu stop!

Sumita and family, I love you guys.  Enjoy your images! :)

these next two need to be hung side by side, LOVE THEM!

love the goofy glasses and ensuing giggle-mania!

a taste of drama...

Che

I've been taking photos of Che regularly since he was a newborn and he is just the smiley-est (is that a word?), happiest little dude.  Although he is entering the world of the 'terrible twos', his innately happy disposition was still shining though.  We got some classic big Che Smiles.

The weather was cold and the light was icky but lucky for me, dad totally figured out what I needed from him in regards to being my "reflector holder" so we got some stellar images of Che early on thanks to him.   Reflector holding is actually a bit of an art onto itself and if done properly it's amazing what it can do for your images.

Then I used a slight pop (at minus 2 EV mode, just to fill in shadows and add catchlights, a necessity on overcast days like this) on my external mounted TTL flash for the rest of them.  And it worked out beautifully.  :)

I love this little guy and am looking forward to photographing him again in a few months for his 2nd birthday!

We started off on the swings since that is Che's "happy place."

Che is amazing with the ball and racket.  He throws the ball up in the air and swings at it with all his might and actually LAUNCHES it 8 out of 10 times.  And his eyes are closed the whole time he is swinging too!  Absolutely hilarious!

And this next one here, folks, is what happens when you have overcast weather and you know how to use a reflector the right way.  Without the reflector = YUK.

With a properly positioned reflector = MAGICAL LIGHT.

the load up....

the swing with a hit!

have I mentioned how much I love my reflector?

I captured the most delightful triptych of this kiss with the lead up to it, way cute!

yes, he really is this cute!

Hilarious!

Where am I?

I know, I know.... I'm sorry!  It's been a while.  Between the wedding, the start of school, a classroom photo project for Gavin's class, a husband who is gone for the week and life in general, I have not been able to update the blog with any photo posts.  Plus, today we brought home this little foster kitty.  I may have mentioned before that we are kitty foster parents for the animal shelter.  Our last batch had three kittens (siblings) in it and they were such a riot.

 

This little guy is cute as a button but TEENY tiny (only a couple weeks old) and so between me spending two hours today in full on ape-mama mode grooming him and ridding him of fleas before even bringing him into the house, and then spending the rest of the day cleaning up his nonstop runs (from being dewormed) and throw up.... sigh.  Poor little dude.  I've already called the shelter about his fragile condition (I'm, quite frankly, a bit upset that they didn't know or advise me of it) and we are giving him a few more days to see if he starts feeling better before bringing him back in for a check up.  He is very happy here of course and not lethargic (despite these photos which would suggest to the contrary!).  I got this next photo today after walking by Gavin's room and finding him cuddling the little dude where he had set up this cozy nest just for the two of them, so cute!

Gavin has been saying for the past year or so that he wants to be a "vetchenarian" (veterinarian) and he certainly has a way with animals!

  I have a shoot tomorrow so I should be back on track with photo posts soon! I promise!

Melissa & Jeff

What a delightful couple! This wedding was all about joy, love, laughter... and music! Melissa and Jeff, along with their combined five children, and all their family and friends were married at home in a very heartfelt and moving ceremony. Melissa and Jeff's personalities really compliment each other, very yin and yang.

 Plus it was a gorgeous day with perfect weather. I was only concerned during the ceremony when the smoke from the delish BBQ grill kept wafting into the ceremony hoopah area and creating a very fuzzy look to my images. I couldn't exactly ask the catering staff to stop grilling (or no yummy food!) so I just had to roll with it.  The smoke started to dissipate near the end of the ceremony.

 After the ceremony, everyone mingled and I had a couple minutes to do what I will call "not so formals", which consisted of me grabbing as many group poses as possible before everyone scattered away from me!  Formals were not a priority for them and besides, everyone was far too busy having a good time!

I also didn't include the "not so formals" in the slideshow because they were not what this wedding was about. It was about relationships, emotional connections and happy moments with friends and family. I picked a few select favorite images for the slideshow to really showcase how I saw the wedding day unfold.

 After the toasts, Jeff surprised Melissa by performing a song he and a friend had written just for her. It was just beautiful and the tears in her eyes said everything. A little later there was Irish Line Dancing (instructor included) and fantastic live music being played the rest of the evening! The perfect ending to the perfect day. :)

 Melissa and Jeff, I wish for you much joy and happiness. Enjoy the slideshow.

 Click below for a direct link to the slideshow:  

MELISSA AND JEFF

First Day Of School

It's been a very very busy week for me.  I'm editing the images from the wedding pretty much around the clock, the kids started school this week, my husband has been gone a lot and I'm just trying to get us all settled into our new routine, as I am sure many of you are doing too.  So, kinda crazy busy around here.

But I did bring my camera in an attempt to get some lovely first day of school images.  I failed miserably.  The kids were NOT wanting me to take pictures and refused to pose so I had to grab a couple on the sly, and they were so nervous about their new schools that I really had to put the photo taking on the back burner and just focus on their emotional needs.  So, I basically just managed to snap half a dozen boring photos.  :(   Oh well, I am a mom first and a photographer second and that's just the way it has to be!

Walking through the parking lot together:

Ellie at her preschool entrance:

waving goodbye from the window all sweet and cute:

and then typical Ellie goofing off:

Gavin at his first grade classroom, look at the apprehension on his face, poor little guy, he was a nervous wreck.  I had to pry him off me and wipe his tears as I left.  Broke my heart.  Unlike his gregarious, outgoing, social butterfly of a sister, he is painfully shy and introverted so this kind of stuff is really hard on him.  But, he was all smiles when I picked him up.

pointing to his name:

Ok, yup, so that was it, that's all the photos I got.  Totally lame.   

And I've been terrible about giving you any decent posts to enjoy this week too!  SORRY!  It's been hectic around here and the wedding photos are all consuming.  

Oh, if anyone is interested I have a 2 year old double jogging stroller with swivel front wheel that anyone who needs it can have.  Gavin has exceeded the weight limit on that puppy so I can no longer use it.  It's been sooooo good to me. All summer long I would take the kids on a double stroller walk or jog every night (that I didn't have a shoot) while they listened to "audiobooks" and it was just awesome.  Although it's not a top of the line (like the BOB type stroller), it's in really great shape and was perfectly fine for our purposes.  I could easily sell it on craig's list or EBAY but I'd rather just give it to one of my clients who needs it.  First come first serve. Enjoy :)