pascale wowak photoblog

Canon 40d for sale

Well, it's time.  I need to part with my Canon 40d.  It was my beloved second body/back up camera for the past year.  Barely used but when it was pulled out, it always produced great images.  I *heart* that camera.  I'm only selling the body so I am happy to help with recommendations for a great lens to go with it.  I don't recommend those horrible, cheap kit lenses that usually come with the cameras so that's why I always just buy the camera body alone.    I've attached some info below about what the camera's specs are and so on.  It's a professional grade camera.  If you are looking for a solidly built, reliable, practically new digital SLR, let me know. I'm selling the body for $800.  Includes everything that came in the box.  I'll cover shipping costs too unless you are local, in that case, I'll just hand deliver it and give you a little mini lesson on the menu configuration and what the main buttons do and how to find what you need to accomplish the basics.  This camera (like all my photographic equipment) was extremely well cared for.  I keep my cameras locked in a safe when not in use.  They are regularly cleaned and calibrated.  I am very good to my gear.  If you want more details/info let me know!

Owen

I have been photographing this family since their toddler Louie was a newborn.  Although to call him a newborn is a bit of a misnomer since he was over TEN POUNDS at birth and practically 11 lbs when I photographed him.  I kept laughing because he was not the typical itty bitty little newborn I usually get at a mere 4 days old...  I've been able to watch Louie grow since then and he is such a vibrant little guy.  I love this family and was so honored to be able to continue the tradition by photographing their latest arrival Owen.  Our shoot was rescheduled three times due to Owen having a serious case of Jaundice, me catching a nasty flu bug and us getting a dark storm on our last scheduled date.  But the third time's a charm because Owen was a CHAMP during our shoot.  A total mellow lover-boy.  I just couldn't get enough of him.  And so tiny compared to Louie at that age!  Louie was feeling under the weather but we still managed to get a few fun shots with the whole family.  I'll be seeing these guys again in the fall and can't wait to see how much they have changed and grown between now and then!

Allison and Louis, ENJOY your images!!

Note: I walked in and saw this spot in the living room with PERFECT light so I moved their dining room table out of the way and moved this leather chair into my chosen spot.  Set up my reflector where I needed it.  Allison didn't even bat an eye, love her!  They know me by now and just let me do my thing... :)  Louie was hesitant at first with the camera and gave me some choice looks that had me in stitches but quickly overcame that with a lively little game of peekaboo.  

i'm really loving these "feet while nursing" shots.

These next ones were fun!  There was not nearly enough light in the bedroom to do these without supplemental lighting so I put my flash on my camera, pushed it to +3 power, swiveled the head and had it bounce off the wall behind me to create a huge burst (with good spread) of light in the room, softened by the bounce effect to reduce the presence of shadows.  With a sync speed of 1/200 it was able to, for the most part, stop the motion in the throwing in the air shots.  Totally worked!

Back to my favorite little spot in the house.  I just really like the clock in this set up, it adds that element of "time", that reminder that the clock is ticking and these moments are all too fleeting...

so lovin' these

Pesticides and our kids' playgrounds....

A friend of mine sent me this email.  Please take a minute, if you can, to read the article and then follow up with signing the petition.  Below is her email with all the clear cut information and instructions on how to have your voice (and your protest) be heard.

I receive the Daily Green via email.  

I like this e-mag because it's straightforward and extremely informative regarding green living in general...   It's also free.  www.thedailygreen.com

I read an article this morning regarding the lawn pesticides used in our public parks, golf courses, and sold to homeowners.  The data is irrefutable...it does cause cancer and it is an endocrine disrupter.

Here is the article: (one page)

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=1285

The gov't is considering banning it.  The deadline to email your comment to the gov't is today.   

If you're interested, I have attached the link for your email submittal and provided the steps to get it sent.

http://www.regulations.gov/search/search_results.jsp?sid=11F5C1E1FBAB&N=8085+8099+8076&css=2&Ne=2+8+11+8053+8054+8098+8074+8066+8084+8055+8074

Once you pull up the link, follow these simple steps to make your voice HEARD and get this pesticide out of our environment.

1. click on the "send a comment or submission"

2. Organization name (your name or leave blank)

3. Organization representative (your name or leave blank)

4. Gov't agency type (select Federal)

5. Gov't agency (select Environmental Protection Agency)

6. General comments (speak your mind)!  

If you are frustrated and outraged that these pesticides are being used...and bought with your money...please leave a comment.

It takes one minute.   

Te'a & Re'mi

Wooooweeee! Calling Te'a energetic is an understatement!  This girl is so full of life and high spirited beyond belief.  Dad was wearing himself out keeping her entertained and was covered in mud by the end of the shoot.  In fact, we were all a pretty sorry-lookin' bunch walking back to the car, but it was certainly not in vain :)

The last time I photographed this family, mom was pregnant with Re'mi and we were able to really capture that special time for them.   Unfortunately, little Re'mi was under the weather and super tired this time so we weren't able to get as many shots of her as we would have liked but Te'a more than made up for it with her exuberance and ease in front of the camera!

It's pretty much all action shots in this family, not only because that's what they prefer but because that's just how they are, full of unbridled energy and spunk!

The flower field was really gorgeous and perfect for Te'a's bubbly personality.  

ENJOY your images!

yes, she is licking her baby sister.  that's what baby sisters are there for.

I love this next one, she and dad were racing and she didn't wait for him to say go, leaving him in the dust, she's cracking up and dad is the lone small figure way in the background going "hey!?"...

not afraid to tackle daddy....

this next one has me in stitches...dad was joking about how he knew exactly where he stood in this family full of girls....

Annie & Danny

Oh my goodness, my sides are still aching... this shoot was 90% laughing and 10% shooting but we still managed to get a whole lot accomplished in between all the ridiculous fits of laughter.  At one point two out of the three of us were in tears, all for various reasons, but we'll just leave it at that. 

I had the delightful experience of being able to capture Annie and Danny's first pregnancy on film and we had a blast in the process.  The synergy between these two is palpable and even though I was feeling weak coming off a really bad case of the flu, I was energized by their fun loving nature.

We took advantage of a break in the weather (seriously, you ask for a little rain and you get three weeks straight of torrential downpour??!!) and trotted off to Natural Bridges.  The light was GORGEOUS and Annie was STUNNING.  It took her all of, oh, 0.2 seconds to feel comfortable in front of the camera and maybe 0.6 seconds more to start working the camera.  Yeah, easy peasy.  I used either a large reflector or a large diffuser for all of these shots except the down on the beach ones.  And poor, poor Danny.  Oh we abused him so.....  :)

Congratulations you two, I'm so very excited for you!  Here's just a few images from your shoot...enjoy!

totally love how she is working the camera on these, watch out!

Ok this next one is very different from what I've done before with pregnancy shots but I totally got this vision of a yin yang thing in my head while we were out there and wanted to try it out.  I also wanted to create a sense of circular motion to accompany it.  I know it's pretty unconventional, especially for a maternity portrait and they may hate it, but if it's the only one they hate out of all the pictures I can live with that! :)  Personally, I'm really digging it but that's just me.  The message I get from it is that they are lost in their own bliss, about to undergo huge changes in their lives and they are hanging on to each other for support and in the eye of the storm it is all serenity and love.  I dunno, I just like it.

gratitude

I'm emerging from a hazy state of feverish delusion, body aches, snot and other various unpleasant side effects of the flu.  Not pretty.  I'm usually able to power through all colds and most flu's.   But this one, oh my goodness, this one decimated me.  The worst part was the fact that it was a three day weekend ergo kids out of school, my husband was gone for 4 days and I threw my back out lugging wood (in the pouring rain) to keep the fire going...  Were it not for my mom coming down Sunday to help me out for a day, I would have completely fallen apart emotionally and physically.  When Jason finally got home on Tuesday morning, I crawled into bed and did not come out of bed for a full 10 hrs at which point I drank a glass of water, used the restroom and then crawled back in for 14 more hours!  The hubby said there was a lot of mumbling and groaning and coughing.  I don't remember anything except that I thought I might actually be dying.  I'm only *slightly* exaggerating! :)

All this to say I am quite grateful to be on the upswing and functional again.  I definitely forget to appreciate every day without having some kind of health snafu until I am in the midst of dealing with one.  I need to remember to to be appreciative of my good health every day that I am blessed with it.  

As I was lying there in bed, unable to do much more than shiver uncontrollably, blow snot and hack up a lung.... I started thinking about all the hard events in my life that helped shape me as a person.  You know, to put things in perspective, to remind myself that this is just a TEMPORARY condition, just a flu virus and not imminent death... :)

I thought back to how when I was 16 yrs old, my eyes were burned and scarred in a chemical explosion.  Yup, my retina was burned and a dozen little shards of metal were projectile embedded into my eyeballs.  Excruciatingly painful to say the least.  In retrospect, I've been through a tremendous amount of painful events in my life (some self inflicted like natural childbirth...).  I'm starting to think I might be a tad bit accident prone.... I digress.

After finally being released from the ICU, I was given the scary prognosis that I might never regain my sight.  I had patches over both eyes and was encouraged to start looking into learning Braille sooner rather than later.

I am nothing if not stubborn and refused to believe that I would be blind for the rest of my life.  Part of that was denial.  Part of it was naiveté.   Part of it was belief in myself that I can overcome anything with enough grit and determination.

The weeks went on with no progress.  I still refused to have a cane and my sisters had fun re-arranging the furniture on me so that as soon as I got the lay of the land in our house, I'd be all banged up by noon.  My shins were perpetually black and blue.  I could hear them giggling from the other room.  In fact, my other senses were dramatically heightened.  It's amazing how my sense of smell and hearing and touch were ten fold what they had been prior to the accident.  Just watching my body adapt to its new circumstances was beyond cool, even though the new circumstances in and of themselves sucked.   Still, I refused to believe it would be like this forever and maintained that I would get my eyesight back someway, somehow.

And, miraculously, after a few months of living totally blind, my eyesight slowly did return.  Not to where it once was (I used to have perfect 20/20 vision) but good enough to use contacts to see perfectly and eventually to have laser surgery to complete the return of my vision in its entirety.  The fact that I am such a visual person could just be inherent in me, as I was certainly a visual learner as a child, but could also be attributed to the immense gratitude I have just to be able to see.  It is something I have never (and will never) take for granted.   

And in that vein, although on a clearly much lesser scale, I need to be grateful every single day that I am not being destroyed from within by some itty bitty teeny tiny virus coursing through my body! :)

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

me = fever of 103, body aches, chills, sore throat, runny nose

me = threw out her back lugging firewood in the rain

me = two seriously cooped up kids driving her crazy

me = husband been gone since thursday

me = tissues jammed up her nose to stop the snot faucet...sexy.

me = looking forward to having this all behind her really soon.

this is... bliss

Due to a last minute cancelled shoot on Friday and a rained out shoot on Sunday, I am enjoying a rare weekend off.  I am caught up on all my client stuff, editing and blog updates.  I am good with all my record keeping and business bookkeeping.  I have done everything on my business to do list... So I guess that means I should try to just relax and enjoy this unexpected time off huh?!

SO that's exactly what I've been doing.  I've been cooking (and eating....), keeping a fire going, hanging with the kids, running just a few short errands and mostly catching up on my huge stack of magazines that have been piling up since Christmas break!

I should be deep cleaning the house but can't quite muster up the proper motivation to get that done.  Must be the weather.  I just feel so puckered out.  Much rather sit on the couch for a change.... :)

Today, the kids were having a really great day playing together.  I wanted to grab a few shots, especially since I haven't taken any pictures of the two of them just "being" in ages.  I get so many of Ellie due to my commercial shoots but those are highly structured events.  And I'm usually so busy shooting during the weekend and editing during the week that I just never get around to documenting my own kids' lives, so typical!

The kids were on the kitchen floor (sitting on their favorite spot by the heating vent!) and Gavin was taking "special requests" from Ellie by drawing pictures for her.  She had pulled out her Disney Princess book (some of you may know my distaste for all things Disney....) and directing him as to what she wanted him to recreate.  They were huddled over the book, paper and pens and whispering conspiratorially.  I was a few feet away cooking something that smelled muy delicious.  The fire was going in the living room.  Rain pelting down in rhythmic chant.  Soft french jazz by Henri Salvador playing on the ipod speaker.  Kids giggling.  And I stopped for a second to take stock in the moment.  A NON frenzied, NON harried, NON stressed moment of PURE BLISS.  I wasn't rushing through something to get to something else.  I wasn't having high level NATO caliber negotiations with the kids trying to help them resolve some massive (and ridiculous) argument...  Everything was just mellow and chill and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.  

After soaking it all in I ran upstairs to grab my camera and cranked out a couple shots on the sly.  Kids noticed and glared at me.  But I promised them I wouldn't get in their way or interrupt them.  I got on the floor all commando style with a long zoom lens and my ISO cranked to 1600. I surreptitiously got some great shots of them playing together on a delightful, lazy, rainy Saturday afternoon.  Yes, they are in their jammies.  Yes, so am I.  We were dressed earlier when we went to the park before getting rained out.  When we got home and discarded our wet clothes, we all agreed that pygmamas would be perfect to lounge in for the rest of the afternoon. And they were.

I wanted to try a bird's eye view perspective.  You can see my fashion faux pas Ugg boots.  And my disgusting 1970's tile.  Our house is OLD.  And not in the good Victorian era kinda way either...

I just love how their heads are practically touching while they work on a new project together.  They were drawing gold coins and cash that they were going to cut out and use as currency with each other.  So cute!

I've always been gaga over Ellie's profile.

I love this ultra low perspective.  the camera was literally on the ground.  don't be afraid to experiment with different angles.  by this point the kids had totally forgotten about me and it was like I wasn't even there.

yup, thats my "keep calm and carry on" poster in the background. 

Intro Homeopathy Class

My friend (and homeopath extraordinaire) Mary Jo Aloi is offering a really amazing introductory class to Homeopathy.  The class is being held on March 3, 10, 17th for 2 hr blocks.  Her number is 408-823-0560. I expect the slots will fill up quickly as this is an amazing opportunity to get a 50 remedy kit as well as some fantastic knowledge about how homeopathy works and how it can really help you and your family.  See the flyer below.

To studio or not to studio?

So, I've been very intrigued with the cool things that can be done with flash photography (even though I have declared flash photography to be BAD BAD BAD over the years...).  I think, if done right, and especially if used outdoors to complement natural light, there are definitely some advantages to flash photography.  However, it really relies on the photographer truly having a good grasp of flash to make it look good rather than tacky.  It's a fine line to be sure.  The mathematical side of flash ratios and guide numbers has always been overwhelming for me.  This is part of the reason why I will be going to Louisiana next month.  (more on that later) In order to prep for my trip I decided to invest (my poor husband, I've been so bad about staying within my equipment budget lately and he's being very patient despite the fact that I am racking up hefty bills) in a secondary flash unit and a couple softboxes.  I got everything today and Ellie and I set it all up.  Her excitement was beyond palpable.  She kept going on and on about how she was going to "put on the best show ever for this shoot" and bursting at the seams.  It's fun how she loves to help me set up the backdrops and stands etc...  She knows the terminology for all the equipment.  She'll tell me "flash A is not popping mom" and "the backdrop is getting crooked" and so on.  I love it.

After about an hour of prep time we had the whole mini studio set up.  Most studios can leave all their equipment out but I have to put everything away afterwards because my studio also happens to be my office!   Then, after quite a bit of trial and error, I got the two flashes synching off my pocket wizards and going off at the same time.  I was able to get several minutes of everything running smoothly until my old flash unit bit the dust.  Yep, KAPUT.  New batteries were useless.  It died. A painful death.  So, that puppy is being shipped back to Canon tomorrow to be repaired, sigh.  At least I have my new flash to use in the meantime so that's the good news.

Well, after spending all that time setting everything up I wasn't going to stop just because I was down half my lighting units. Oh no!  I made a few adjustments with the settings and location of the light and we were back to shooting, albeit with a dramatically different look and feel.  I actually like the solo light better in terms of flair and dramatic appeal.  It is a harsh look though and not too sure anyone would really want me using it on them.  Besides, the whole point of this shoot was to experiment and play and explore the possibilities.  I have no intention of having studio sessions at this point as I am virtually clueless about all this stuff.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many hours Ellie and I spent twiddling around, changing the settings, taking note as to the different outputs and range and so on.  With off camera flash, well, it's really complicated.  At least for me it is because I have such comfort and ease with natural light.  

I have been told time and time again by studio photographers how much EASIER studio lighting is.  How you can just set everything up and leave it alone and not have to do anything.  The light is always the same intensity and direction.  It is consistent.  You never have to keep changing your settings or positioning or anything.  They say you can just focus on getting the kids attention rather than having to also think about all your various settings, backdrops, light changes, blah blah blah.  I'm sure that is all true.  But for me, after years of natural light shooting, that's my comfort zone.  That said, it's about time I start stretching myself out of that comfort zone.  Ergo the flash test experimentation that happened today!  I have absolutely no training in this stuff so I set everything up based on what I've read.  The light positioning was pretty much a guessing game and I just played around until I found something that worked.

In the end, I'm certainly more intrigued than ever but still feel that this will always be "playtime" for me, something I experiment with on the side, not something I'd want to do with my clients.  It's not a look I feel very connected to.  It's just something different than what I usually do.  

So, here are a few out takes from today's extended session. I should mention that Ellie is wearing an original Courtney Courtney, of course. :)

Here Ellie is checking to see if Flash B is firing.  These are our test runs to check the flashes and make sure everything is connected properly with all the wires and gizmos and gadgets...

Now my little model/assistant checks out Flash A... isn't she cute!?

then I quickly grab a couple shots of Gavin and Ellie (he was so not in the mood for this) and you get the very standard Sears portrait (boooo-ring)...

with both flashes firing simultaneously I wanted to see how good the flash sync speed was at stopping movement so I had Ellie jumping and twirling.  The highest sync speed for the 580EX series is 1/200 and it seemed to do the trick.

I also played around with the White Balance in post processing to get totally different "feeling" out of each image.  I personally like the moodier, darker, bluer versions than the more color appropriate, warmer, natural tones but maybe that's because I was having such a moody day myself!

Uh-Oh. Yup, see that look of disappointment and chagrin...we are now down to one light.  Since Ellie tended to look more towards her right I switched the working flash to that side to capitalize on her natural inclination.

Personalized Font

OMG!!! This is so cool, I cannot contain my excitement about this.  YOUR FONTS is a company that provides FOR FREE (yes, your heard me, for free) a super fast and easy way of creating a font based on your handwriting.  There is a sheet you print out, fill out, scan and upload.  Within 40 seconds your font is created and downloadable.  This service works with both PC & Mac.  Unreal.  But here is the very best part (since I have no desire to create a font with MY handwriting since I have such deplorable penmanship...).  I had Gavin fill it out and created a font with HIS handwriting, thereby preserving FOREVER that adorable first grader handwriting of his.... aaaaaaaaaaaah!  I'm in love.  Positively IN LOVE with this service.  How great is that? !  And, did I mention it's free and takes just a few minutes???  I'm dying here.

Below is Gavin's sample sheet he filled out.  Could not have been easier and he actually ENJOYED it even though having him write out stuff for homework is always a battle, THIS he enjoyed and happily completed for me... go figure.

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE SITE

 heart, melting.

Camille

This sweet little angel is the new daughter of my friends Heather and Danny and big sister Samara.  You may remember Heather from a few weeks ago, the one you all thought was a maternity model? Yeah, her.  Little Camille was just 4 days old! It was a very dark and rainy day so the lighting was really challenging but judicious use of a large reflector made all the difference.

The thing we learned about Camille is that she *really* likes to be very warm and tightly swaddled and held.  Not too keen on the naked baby alone thing...(unlike her big sister who greeted me at the door in her birthday suit! ha!).  So we had to work hard to make her go along with our little agenda! :)  But we persevered and got some great shots!   I'm sure you will be able to see that both girls look exactly like their daddy (who is being a total rockstar with the helping hand right now).   I cannot wait to watch these two girls grow up and chronicle them over the years. It is such an honor.  Thanks C. family and ENJOY your images!  

My heart melts when I watch a baby smile in their sleep.  Not sure why but there is something just so RAW and AUTHENTIC about newborns, they are pure innocence and real and transparent.  They radiate trust and love.  It sometimes takes my breath away. I think if I weren't doing this photography gig, I'd be a labor and delivery nurse.  

  

I can't decide if I like the color or the B&W versions better?!

two beauties...

The story behind the sibling shots is actually pretty funny.  We'd practically lost all our light so the girls had to be right on the edge of the bed closest to the window.  We had a very active 2 yr old and a 4 day old newborn.  I had dad crouched on the floor holding them firmly so they wouldn't roll off.  Mom was standing next to me holding the huge reflector basically directly over the girls at a slight upward angle (these shots would not have turned out at all without the reflector) and I am jammed up over dad and next to mom and trying to sing the Wheels on the Bus while taking the shots!  OMG so funny!!  But we did it.  Here are just a few from that set.  So glad we tried!

Photography Workshop

I just had a bunch of unforeseen last minute cancellations for my next photography workshop on March 7th.  If you would like to attend please send me an email asap and please feel free to let your friends and family know as well if you think they might be interested!  It's an INCREDIBLE beginner's workshop designed to teach you not only how to actually USE all those features on your snazzy little digital camera but also all the basic concepts and theories regarding how to take a properly exposed, sharp, creative and effective photograph.  The main focus of the class is teaching you how to take better pictures of your little ones!  Email me if you'd like me to send you a course outline or answer any questions you may have about the class.  

THANKS! :)

Nature Vs. Nurture

My son cracks me up.  I can't get him to focus or sit still while doing his homework....but he will sit on the floor and spend an hour quietly and meticulously putting together this piece d'art depiction of his favorite Lego Pirate set.

If he is interested in something and it is on HIS terms, he's all gung ho about it and will apply himself whole heartedly.  But, if it's me somehow directing his activity or if it's school related he will first try to put it off as long as possible and then just try to rush through it.  I know a lot of that is symptomatic of "6 yr old boy" syndrome so I try to not harp on it too much.  He's an open book for me.  I can pretty much always see where he is coming from or where he is trying to go with something. 

I can tell what mood he is in just by looking at him as he walks by me.  I can read him.  Ellie is more of an enigma to me.  She is all over the place emotionally and can switch gears so quickly it'd be amazing if it weren't quite so frustrating!  

At first it was really challenging having two kids with such diametrically opposed personalities and dispositions.  Gavin is moody and sensitive, shy and compassionate.  Ellie is lively and energetic, outgoing and dramatic.  They are both smart but in totally different ways.  Gavin is "booksmart" and Ellie is "street smart". 

What works with one rarely works with the other.  I am constantly switching gears throughout the day to manage them differently.  They respond to and react to things completely differently.

Before I had kids I strongly believed that it was the Nurture side of the "nature v nurture" argument that was right.  My single mom raised three girls with trucks, legoes and toys that required building know-how, physicality, engineering concepts and a competitive drive.  We were all tomboys growing up and ended up in male dominated fields, undeterred by gender stereotypes or expectations.   Not a girlie-girl amidst us four women in that family.

It wasn't until I had my two kids that I realized little ones truly do come "hard wired."  At least, this is what I now believe to be true.  As a parent, you can mold, shape, guide, steer and encourage certain behavioral traits while discouraging others.  You can help instill compassion and thoughtfulness.  You can enforce rules of good behavior and proper manners.   But, ultimately, you cannot change or alter the inherent personality of your child.  So, the best course of action is to work with their strengths and honor those strengths, while teaching them ways to control and manage their less desirable traits.

At first I found it difficult to keep switching gears with my two little opposites but over the years I've grown to develop a system that has the same expectation of behavior for both kids while allowing for different approaches on how to attain the same results.    I want to make sure I always honor and respect them as individuals while also making sure I am consistent about the house rules and behavioral expectations.    

I see now how their inherent personalities do adapt and adjust to my  parenting and how they also remain true to themselves at the same time.  It's fun to see how they process and interpret the same information so differently. Gavin is definitely more like me in his worry-wart personality and Ellie is the eternal optimist.  She keeps things light for us when we get bogged down with bad news or a rough day.  The synergy of them having such diametrically opposed personalities helps keep things very interesting and certainly entertaining at times.   It can also cause quite the volcanic disagreements, but that's part of the deal I guess.

I guess I'm just intrigued by human dynamics and how different personalities engage with each other and how people handle situations differently.     Human nature is utterly fascinating.  I certainly studied it up close and personal for 10 yrs in my former career and now for the past 7 yrs as a parent, in a totally different venue to be sure.   I'd love to go back to school one day and finish my degree in psychology.  It's one more thing I've added to my mental "when the kids  grow up" list that I've recently started!

And, just to finish off with another drawing.  This is one Ellie did yesterday.  I asked her what the red dot on her forehead was and she said: "It's my hemangioma of course! It's what makes me special and different from everyone else."  It made me laugh because her hemangioma is now barely visible, especially under her bangs, but clearly she has a recollection of what it was like the first 2.5 yrs of her life when it was a big huge red blob on her forehead.  I am so relieved that she likes it so much, identifies it as part of herself and feels so proud about it.  If you want to read an article I wrote about my experience raising her during those early months dealing with the hemangioma as it made its appearance, click on this link to see the published article that ran a year ago in Mothering Magazine.

ARTICLE

Cooper

First, I love that name.  Second, I love this family!

We had our first shoot when they were pregnant and it was such an easy, fun shoot.  Then we had another one when Cooper was a newborn.  It was a bit more effort to be sure but still, fairly uncomplicated.  Then, this last one with Cooper at a year old and WOW that little boy has serious ENERGY!  

We all worked up a major sweat chasing him around.  Sarah had described him as "on the go" and that's pretty much the perfect description.  He is all boy and all movement.   I felt confident calling our shoot my official workout for the day! :)

Cooper has the most contagious smile and charming disposition.  Mom and dad are just the most fantastic folks to work with.  We had a lot of fun and much laughter, which is just my favorite kind of shoot!

Sarah & Chris, I hope you enjoy all your images, we certainly earned them!!!

this next one is perhaps the only millisecond he stood still for the entire shoot! But one of my favorite grab shots of him.

The lighting in the next series looks like I used a gigantic softbox, which in effect, it pretty much was since it was a large, white, strongly lit (by the sun) building facing them.  DELICIOUS light.  You can see the perfect catchlights even in this wide angle format.  Yummy.

If only you knew what I was doing to keep him entertained while being held (contained) by his folks... look, even dad was enjoying my antics!

Cooper had some initial playful protests to being plopped down in the vat of ivy but with our great enthusiasm we were able to convince him it was the BEST PLACE ON EARTH!  Wooohoo!

Doing his best TOUCHDOWN impression, hilarious!

Goodness, don't you just love little boys???

Absolutely crazy about this next one.  To me THAT is Cooper.  Moving, smiling, free, happy and independent.

This next set is a favorite pose of mine.  It is "controlled" but still allows active kids the freedom to have fun and enjoy the process.

It might be hard to tell in this small format but his smile is just RADIATING.  So charming this one.  And mom's boots almost steal the show!  Love it.

You can see how playfully he is engaging his mom to chase him, looking back to make sure she is still trying to "catch him".  It so captures a little boys' relationship with his mom when they are being goofy together.  So sweet.

This next shot is probably not "wall portrait" worthy but it makes me laugh out loud.  He came up to me to give me the stink eye for hiding his ball behind my back.  The camera was actually down in my lap and I just pointed it up and clicked the shutter, not expecting it to be in focus.  A total lucky, funny, shot.

I just love how Chris is looking at his beautiful wife in this next one.  Pure adoration.  They make such a great team.

Newsweek article about NILMDTS

There is an article in Newsweek about the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep organization I belong to.  It's a very poignant and powerful essay on why this gift of creating memories is so important to the healing process.  I cannot even imagine the pain and sorrow.  This article is very eye opening for those not familiar with the program.

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