The contents of this site are copyrighted to Pascale Wowak Photography. Any use or reproduction without the express written consent of the artist is prohibited by law. It's also not very nice.
These two have the bluest of blue eyes! I've been photographing this family for a couple years now and I still get that "OMG" jolt when I look at their eyes. Mesmerizing.
We hadn't done a "beach" shoot yet so we decided: "Let's do the beach!" Well, that proved slightly problematic insomuch that neither child wanted their feet to touch the sand...... hahahahahaha!
Next year, NO beach. Also, dad had been gone for a long business trip so Maggie and Conor were particularly clingy and just not at all interested in being put down or separated from mom/dad in any way. So, we just went with it and I got a lovely collection of candid shots capturing the wide range of emotions we witnessed and then, finally, at the very end of the shoot, we we were able to get the much coveted, stellar sibling shots we didn't think were going to materialize. Wooohoooo! :)
You may have noticed my new "split entry" feature on my blog. I had this set up so that my load time is significantly speedier now and I can have more entries visible on my home page. In order to read the entire post of every entry you have to click on the "CONTINUE READING..." link at the bottom of the page. This will be how it works on the blog from here on out. THANKS!
Also, I added a link to my Facebook Business Fan page (over there to the right) as well as a link to my Networked Blogs application that notifies you when I post a new entry (VERY snazzy) and you can click on it (again, to the right) to connect with that if you are on Facebook.
Ok, on with your regularly scheduled blog post... :)
For six years (ergo Gavin's first 6 yrs of life and Ellie's first 3.5 yrs of life) I've diligently had a super duper SYSTEM in place for all the images I' take of my kids. At the end of each month I upload all the images I took that month to either Bay Photo or Mpix, get my images in the mail later that week and then *make* the time to place those images in the many (and I mean MANY) KOLO albums I have put together for them over the years. Now, don't think for one second this involves any actual scrapbooking. Not even close. Have you SEEN what some women do with their scrapbooking?! OMG. No way. I literally put two strips of double stick photo safe tape on each picture and paste it onto the cream colored KOLO paper inserts and jot down a few scribbled notes under the images indicating either a date, or event details or fun story to accompany the shots. That's IT. And because my # of images taken has increased tenfold with every passing year, it's pretty much a miracle that I was able to even keep up with that very time consuming task. Well, as expected, at some point I just got too busy and that point occurred in 2009. I still continued to upload the images to my printing sites and get them printed and have them shipped to me but that's as far as things went this past year. And now I find myself staring at several HUGE piles of stacked images mocking me, knowing all too well that there's no way I am going to be able to find the 40+ hrs needed to paste all those shots into a bunch of KOLO albums. Not to mention finding the desire to do it since it's a bit of a tedious task (which is why I've put it off and let other more important things get my attention). Additionally, those KOLO albums and refill pages are not cheap. So, a couple weeks ago I had to really figure something out because a years' worth of images cluttering my office floor was really starting to get to me. Tack on the massive mommy guilt of having NOT taken care of these shots, as I have so attentively and diligently done in the past.... OY! The bottom line is I don't have the time right now to do my KOLO albums "system". I hope to eventually, but I can't right now. So I needed a Plan B.
Oy. So we just got home tonight from a highly anticipated three day adventure up to Pine Mountain Lake (just outside of Yosemite) where sadly everything and I mean EVERYTHING went wrong. I'm not going to go into all of the sordid details but will mention a few "top" events just for your "entertainment". Before I begin, yes, I still have a broken toe and yes, it still hurts. But I am doing MUCH better.
The drive is about 4 hrs. Doable, for the most part, with half spent on a nice long movie and the other half on various activities such as coloring sheets, games, singing (me, mostly, poor family) etc...
We get there and the temperature is breaking 100 degrees. I'm not a big fan of the heat. But my friend's cabin has a community pool so we unload and immediately hit the pool. Things go very well during our time at the pool and I am lulled into a false sense of security thinking: "Oh Boy! This is GREAT! Everything is going soooooo smoothly!" Clearly the universe decided to make me pay for my hopeful, optimistic and clearly naive thoughts....
That night, I'm whipping up a gourmet meal of mac n cheese with veggie dogs and frozen french peas (I know, I know) and the kids are BEAT from their long travel day and 2 hrs at the pool so everything starts to fall apart. I expected as much though so I quickly get them fed and in bed but they take forever to conk out despite being exhausted. Still, nothing too dramatic by any stretch. I stay up and get caught up on some magazines I had brought along since there is no internet access where we are. I'm still doing OK with the lack of Wi-Fi seeing as I'm only about 5 hrs in from not having any connectivity. Little did I realize the detox process was just beginning. Again, naive.
Diane and Kayla were among my very first clients that first year I was officially in business four years ago and it has been such a delight watching Kayla grow up. I cannot believe this girl is entering first grade next week. Sigh. TIme flies. Kayla has always been a spunky, lively, fun kid to be around and I basically cannot get enough of her. I could fill up memory card upon memory card in a ridiculously short amount of time. She just is the perfect little model. Her feisty and fun personality is RIGHT up my alley. This time grandma also joined us for a handful of shots and it was great seeing all three generations of girls cuddled up together. Even though I was hobbling around with my soft cast, this shoot could not possibly have been any easier. It was the perfect shoot for my "condition" and I really appreciated Diane being willing to change the location to a spot that required minimal walking over our initial choice that would have had me trekking quite a bit, It all worked out perfectly. Thanks to Diane, Kayla and grandma for a wonderfully fun shoot!
Kayla comes ready to work it right out of the gate. Love that kid.
My friend Junneen runs her own business (as a second job too mind you!) creating these gorgeous baby/toddler blankets and burp cloths and I've taken product shots of her store items before but she needed some quick updated shots of her new blankets to put on her online store called The Bundle Shop. Junneen really wanted some close up, cuddling, tender shots of her new line of blankets.
Ellie picked out the blanket she wanted to model. It was just about bedtime and we have virtually no light left. I shot all of these at ISO 1600 if you can believe that, shutter speed 1/200 and aperture at 2.8 (wide open). Despite those conditions, they are tack sharp with virtually no grain at all. Have I mentioned how much I love my camera? :)
Ellie was her usual amazing self. She can work it even during a mini 10 minute shoot. It didn't hurt that she was bonkers about her blanket and had a ton of fun thinking up new "poses" with it. I should mention Gavin got to pick one too and that he has been sleeping with it every night since then (yes, he is 7yrs old and I think that's just way cute) so I am going to try to convince him to do a mini shoot with his blanket too if I can (he is in a no-photo mode these days). But, seeing him cuddled up with his new blanket is totally adorable. Oh, and I should mention that the kids must have said: "these are SO SOFT!" about a gizillion times....
Here is Miss Ellie. Soon to be Kindergartner Ellie. :)
p.s. her big wound on her arm is FINALLY healing but she is definitely going to have one hell of a scar. :(
So, I, um, kinda sorta broke my toe on Thursday morning. Nothing too exciting in how it happened. I was just at my daily advanced level Tae Kwon Do class; we were sparring with all our protective gear (which protects every "important" - think head - part of your body except your toes...) and I threw a kick and it was blocked by a very sharp elbow and then got caught on my opponent's gear and my toe went one way and my foot went the other way and, like, OW. Broken Toe. Several torn ligaments. And some ugly bruising and swelling which has resulted in me doing the Quasimodo limp-drag with a soft cast on my foot since then. The doctor actually said the pain is more likely coming from the multiple torn ligaments rather than the broken toe. It's only been 4 days but I already feel SO much better. I was able to actually stay off my feet all day on Friday and literally ice/elevate continuously and I know that really helped the swelling. I've also been liberally applying Arnica ointment which has sped up the recovery process significantly by getting the bruising to go through its "stages" much faster. I have a shoot this afternoon and I'm going to hobble through it as best I can. Then I have about five days off as I had pre planned to take the kids on one last adventure before school starts so although I won't be able to do all the hiking and bike riding and other fun stuff I had planned, we are still going to go to my friend's cabin and we should still manage to have good fun. Then, I should be (hopefully) functional enough by next weekend to do my next 3 back to back shoots that coming week!
The lesson I've learned in this is that I really can't afford to get injured with a jam packed calendar for the holiday season. My clients book me a year in advance and there's no way I can let them down. So, although I will return to my Tae Kwon Do training as soon as I reasonably can, I won't be doing any competitive sparring until my last shoot of the year in late December. I've also learned that I am really cranky when I can't work out every day and this injury is really cramping my style! Argh. Also, having little kids and a broken toe pretty much means the toe is going to get stepped on multiple times every day resulting in searing pain each time. Nice. Sigh.
On a side note: I went to go see the Chris Isaak Concert at the Mountain Winery last night with my BFF and even though I wasn't able to dance and get my groove on (darn foot), we had and AWESOME time and that man still makes me swoon. :)
Hands down the best part of my job is that I get to hang out with (and document) people who are experiencing some HUGE (and exciting) LIFE milestones, whether it be a wedding, a pregnancy or right after the birth of their child. These are just such universally momentous (and exciting) occasions and I get the absolute privilege of being around that joyful energy and being able to capture it all for them. This is Jess & Nic's first pregnancy and they were SO adorable. I know Jess probably gets tired of everyone telling her how "cute" she is (being that she is this totally petite, adorable and yeah, super CUTE lady) but the two of them together were just such a joy to be around. Jessica's vision for this maternity shoot was not to bare all, or do any crazy poses or have any dramatic lighting or anything too over the top. She really wanted sweet, tender images that reflected their relationship and so that's exactly what I did. Nic is such a gentleman, always looking out for her, carrying my gear, helping her up from her seated poses. They are just seriously too cute for words these two.
Jess & Nic, I very much enjoyed our time together! CONGRATULATIONS on the impending birth of your little bundle of joy. He (or she) is going to be one lucky baby! :)
This is just a small handful from what will be on the CD's. Enjoy your images!!!
I had a morning shoot this week with Ryan and his parents. I rarely do morning shoots for a variety of reasons (other than indoor newborns shoots of course) and the strong likelihood of thick dense fog is one of those reasons. So, while driving to Wilder Ranch that morning and seeing the drizzle all over my windshield and the thick fog (mixed with residual smoke from the still burning big Lockheed fires) I'll admit to being very concerned about the light situation. In terms of photography, I don't really like the fog. It steals all my light directionality from me and makes everything so BLAH. It works better if you are doing B&W imagery than color but I am so used to working with my reflector to manipulate the direction of the light that I feel totally let down on a foggy day. Fortunately, mom has a strong preference for B&W so I decided to go ahead with the shoot.
The key, of course, is to never let them see you sweat right? So, we just got right to it and although I was only able to bring out my trusty reflector for Ryan's solo shots (he is an active, spirited little boy!!) I was very relieved to still get my standard high quality shots that I expect from myself. I'm a stickler when it comes to exposure and sharpness which can be really tricky on a very foggy day so I'm glad my now intuitive ability to read the "strength" of light came in so handy!
We started out with family shots since Ryan's dad had to leave for work and I really loved the dynamic in this playful family. I am a sucker for families who are willing to goof around and be silly and have fun. Ryan is clearly the apple of his parent's eyes and they truly and deeply ENJOY him which is such a gift for any child to have. The day of his shoot was his 3rd birthday as well and you could sense the bitter-sweetness of having their "baby" growing up out of the toddler stage.
After dad left for work, we spent a little more time getting solo shots of Ryan (and some with his mom too) and I busted out the reflector. THAT is when it got just totally magical for me. The light I was able to get on him was PERFECT. And I mean, PERFECT. His big brown doe eyes and curly locks were softly wrapped in slightly golden light that balanced out beautifully against the soft misty background. We only had a couple minutes of him sitting still at any given time so I really maximized it by shooting fast and furious and BOY did I get a TON of amazing shots. I only pulled a few for the blog (I've been told my blog takes forever to load due to having so many images in each post so I am cutting back on my image selections, it's painful, trust me, as I want to show them all!) but you can see what I am talking about at the end. WOW. So, after this session, I've decided that I shouldn't hate the fog so much and that learning to just work with it can be really rewarding in its own way. Sure, you can't get any glorious golden backlit shots, or dramatic silhouettes or fun with shadows etc... but, if done correctly, you can get all of this! Not too shabby.... :)
Noha and Ed, it was a pleasure meeting you and Ryan! ENJOY your images!
This was the last (and largest) playdate shoot! Despite being the biggest one yet, it was SMOOTH sailing the entire time, which is truly remarkable with seven kids and a super duper mini sibling pregnancy shoot thrown in too. The superb teamwork with the parents was very cool and I think we were all pleasantly surprised by how painless it was for everyone involved! :)
The location we were originally set to do this was Siltanen Park in SV but when I was there I did not like the lighting and the location was just not working for me at all. So I got in the car and drove a couple blocks down the street, turned right to explore and landed at the entrance to SV High School that I had never been at before but decided to go take a look-see. I found this great staircase with perfect light and was all "TADA!!!" So we switched locations and I'm so glad we did. It worked out beautifully, I will definitely be using this spot again!
Due to space restrictions I could only post 4 images of each child and three sibling shots of each sibling group. Even then I had 40 images! EGAD!
Started out with Ryan and his very pregnant mommy Adele. Adele was the nurse who delivered Ellie just after midnight moments after I arrived at Sutter on Halloween night four years ago. And when I say she delivered her, I mean she, ALONE, delivered Ellie. The second nurse was in the other room calling Doctor Klikoff (My OB) while I was crawling on my hands and knees, tearing my clothes off, and OUT came Ellie, on her own terms. She was not about to wait for a doctor or for me to be "prepared" in any way. To say my entire pregnancy with Ellie was an ordeal would be an understatement. One day I'll do the whole story here (including an exhausting monthlong prodromal labor resulting in me walking around at 6cm dilated the last week) but all my grandiose plans for a zen water birth with calm music and candles went out the door when I found myself going through transition at home with my 2 year old.... yeah. Good times... BARELY made it to Sutter on time. Did you know being in a car when you are going through transition is totally NOT fun? Adele was the fantabulous nurse who calmed me down (I was kinda sorta taken by surprise by how fast everything was going and, oh yeah, the pain....THE PAIN!) and next thing you knew, on all fours, I delivered my girl who came out screaming with one hand above her head (A la "power to the babies" declaration). My doula and OBGYN arrived about a half hour after she was born, to stitch up the 4th degree tears I had endured without any drugs....! Enough on that. Adele was awesome (Ellie and I could not have been in better hands!) and I am so happy to see her expecting her second little bundle of joy. Ryan is the MOST delightful, charming and sweet little boy. He's going to make an awesome big brother!
This week the kids are at an all day day camp which means I drop them off at the bus pick up at 7:45 am and don't see them again until 5:30pm. Lest you think I will have suddenly gobs of free time on my hands, I have four shoots scheduled this week! Last night kicked it all off with a HUGE playdate shoot with seven kiddos and a mommy-baby-in-belly-sibling shoot. It was my last playdate shoot and the biggest one yet but was totally smooth sailing if you can believe it. I'm still working on those images but hope to have a blog post up in the next 2 days. Then I have several more sessions coming up so this week is going to go by awfully fast. Next week is the last week before school starts and I'm taking the kids away for our last alone "hang out together" time before the school year craziness is combined with my busiest time of the year workwise. I work every single weekend between September and mid December and cram in as many shoots as I possible can during the week as well so the next four months are KAAA-RAY-ZEE. I'm hoping taking the kids for some downtime at a friend's cabin helps us get our zen locked in to carry us through to Christmas! :) Now, off to get more editing done before having to get dinner ready and waiting for my exhausted (but surely very very happy) little ones! I expect them to have just enough energy to eat, bathe and then CRASH hard! Ellie was so cute, the backpack was bigger than her! I will try to get a quick picture tomorrow since I'll be dropping them off at the bus stop and then heading straight to my next shoot, camera will be handy!
Okee dokee....sooooo I totally need some help. I have to finally set up my online PPA pro account, which now features the ability to have four albums with eight images each displayed for people seeking photographers to skim through. I have been a member of the PPA (professional photographer's association) for three years now and it's a great association to be a part of. It's a very cool, new set up they launched a few months ago but I am LOUSY with a capital L at picking favorites amongst all my images so I have put off doing this for as long as possible. So, if anyone out there has a little bit of free time or is willing to *make* the time to do this, it would be GREATLY appreciated. I need anyone who is able/willing/nice enough to sift through all the images on my website and go through these four categories under portfolio (which will constitute my four display albums): PREGNANCY (duo), NEWBORNS (bridge), CHILDREN (chorus), FAMILIES (harmony) and pick your top 8 images from each category and list them in the comments below to help me put together my PPA ACCOUNT. I very very very much appreciate the help!!! Since the images don't have any associated image numbers you can list them by the category first, then the page (as in page one, page two etc... each page has 12 images, top two images are 1,2, next row, 3,4, etc.. all the way down, 1-12 on each "page") I hope that makes sense..... I'm getting the feeling no one is going to be able to do this for me!! Oh well, no harm in asking.... :)
Also, I last updated my website about a month ago so any shoots done in the last few weeks hasn't been included yet. THANK YOU in advance to anyone who can do this!!! Try to pick images you think really represent my style, approach, vision and would make you want to hire me! :)
SIDE NOTE: For all of you asking, yes, the Lockheed fires are very close to my home. As of this morning the mandatory evacuation line was moved all the way down to Alba road/Hwy 9, which is less than 2 miles from my home. We are suffocating in the smoke but would be really surprised if the fire were able/allowed to jump Highway 9 so we keep hoping that our house will be safe. Our thoughts are with all the firefighters out there working LONG, HARD days and nights trying to contain this HUGE fire that has already consumed close to 7,000 acres and all the people who have been evacuated from their homes and unable to return yet.
I was down in San Diego with my two kids for the past 4 days visiting my good friend Sophie and her two kids. Sophie and I have been close friends for over 25 yrs. We go WAY back. Our friendship is one of those awesome ones where you can not have regular contact for months but then see each other and it's like no time ever went by. We are right back to being the way we were. There's a great comfort zone that runs really deep with us and is just so fun to be around someone who knows you and your history so well. It's always a bit chaotic when we get everyone together but well worth it in every way. I brought my camera but sadly only got a very small handful of shots and didn't even get a chance to get any sibling images of her boys due to our jam packed days. My camera only came out about three times the entire trip which is pretty shocking to me. Even my little point and shoot that I brought to Legoland barely came out. We were just too busy! Also, my kids were bickering SO MUCH during this trip and Gavin seems to have transformed into a moody teenager overnight despite only being SEVEN years old. His attitude was really bad and took up so much of my energy to manage. What is up with kids these days!? Geesh. So, I had to really be "on him" which was no fun for either of us but absolutely necessary if I plan on continuing to maintain all my hard work that I've put into raising him right. Being a good parent is HARD work sometimes.... That said, his attitude is back in check now that we are home and I'm glad to have my "sweet" Gavin back. Phew.
Sophie is an amazing veterinarian and had to work one of the days I was down there so I watched three of the four kids that day and took them on a little adventure taking the coaster train up to Oceanside Harbor/Beach to hang out and play and then and back on the train down to Vista. I really recommend using that train (similar to BART) as it is really clean (no graffiti at all, very surprising) and has a strong police presence and I felt totally safe despite many unsavory characters onboard. Later that afternoon/evening was spent letting the boys play legos/bakugans together and me basically just keeping Ellie away from them. SO, Ellie and I got some quality time together. I found a jumprope and taught her how to jumprope with *some* degree of success. She had loads of fun with that which is all that counts and I got some really fun pictures out of it. Then she decided to sit at Sophie's piano (Sophie is an accomplished pianist as well), which was also a first time ever experience and belt out a little song/routine for me. I am SO HAPPY I videotaped the whole thing on my point and shoot camera because the end result is absolutely hilarious. If you can get through the first portion of it (although even that is very very funny) the pay off at the end is to die for. I also got a videoclip of the kids during take off that also had me in stitches. As expected Gavin was a bit scared and Ellie was all confident and "what's the big deal?" about it. So typical of those two. Gavin's commentary had me laughing so hard. The part where he goes: "I'm FLYING! I'm FLYING!" makes me crack up every time. Funny stuff.
The trip was definitely exhausting. Hitting Legoland (on what was for some reason the busiest day of the year as it's never been that crazy packed before and this is our third time out there) with four kids and two moms was kinda crazy. Did I mention we lost Ellie there for a good 15 mn (felt like an eternity). Traveling alone with two kids is also a bit draining. I also had a cold the whole time I was there that I couldn't shake. And then, less than two hours after driving us home from the airport, I had to pack everyone back in the car and go out to urgent care due to an injured arm (Ellie is OK). And then still had to go get groceries after all that drama that due to an empty fridge. UGH. So, yeah, I'm kinda wiped out to say the least. But, it was all worth it to hang out with my friend Sophie and her two (three if you count her hubby!) vivacious boys. That whole needing a vacation from your vacation thing though? I get it now. :)
Leaving the house early morning, had to grab a cute shot of them with their travel backpacks and bleary eyed faces.
There was this little pocket of light falling on Ellie as she ate dinner and I ran in and grabbed my camera for just a couple shots. Couldn't resist.
A quick shot of Sophie's two adorable boys Colin and Sammy. Colin broke his arm just a few days after they all returned from their monthlong trip to Africa. Little guy was such a trooper!
This is the afternoon I had the three oldest kids and when we got back from our train/beach/pier adventure I gave them all ice creams. Happy kids!
The skirt that Ellie is wearing in the shots I took of her learning how to jumprope is the one Julie and I made for her while on our sew-a-thon in Portland. It's PERFECT on her. She LOVES it. Way cool. I think Julie has that pattern for sale or will be soon so go check out her ETSY shop!
She refused to take off her skirt even though it was catching on the rope and making it really hard to learn how to do it, but she is nothing if not determined and eventually managed to do it even with the big poofy skirt getting in the way!
And then the only two Legoland shots I got. I think I was a bit traumatized by losing Ellie. Fortunately, I had gone through my little routine that I do anytime we go to a large crowded place and I had written my cell phone number on the kids' forearms and reminded them of what to do if they get lost: ie: Find a MOMMY with a little kid, tell her you lost your mommy and ask her to call me right away by showing her the phone number on your arm. And that's exactly what Ellie did. Granted, she was still crying hysterically when I got to her, but she was safe and sound and had been able to keep her wits about her enough to do what she had been taught/drilled for the longest time. So glad it paid off. My husband has teased me relentlessly in the past for doing this drill with the kids but NO MORE!
Gavin and Colin: "A REAL LIFE BIONICLE OMG!!!" (look at how sweaty they are, it was sweltering hot)
Here's the first video of the take off, password is: daplane
Here's the second video of a little piano gig Ellie performed, which is really worth watching in its entirety, so totally Ellie in every way. BTW, she loves dogs but HATES dog slobber, so you'll better understand the end part. This was Ellie's first time at a piano and I'd say she took right to it, wouldn't you?! password is: diva
Well, hope you all got a kick out of those videos. I now need to go get my life in order after two weeks straight of being away from home for a variety of reasons. I have my big nearly 2 hr long blue belt second stripe test (Tae Kwon Do) on Saturday and haven't trained in over a week so I need to HUSTLE to get ready for that and then have another 10k (race through the Redwoods) race at Henry Cowell bright and early on Sunday morning (if I can even walk after my TKD test) followed by my last playdate shoot with seven kiddos later that afternoon. I'm beginning to think I function best on loads of adrenaline, caffeine, busy-ness and chaos?!
Oh, and just for giggles, while I was having lunch with the kids, Ellie turns to me and says:
"mom, I think there's two kinds of OLD, there's grandma old and then there's just regular old, you know, like you!"
Ok, so I leave tomorrow morning with the kids for 4 days down in San Diego visiting my dear friend Sophie and her family. This will be our third time at Legoland (our only big "outing" we will be doing while down there) but my first time attempting it without my husband. I'm actually not a big fan of amusement parks as my two least favorite activities are walking around in blazing heat and dealing with crowds. Plus, waiting in line is just plain NO FUN, especially with two impatient little rugrats. But, this was my bright idea so I am OWNING it people... :)
I won't have internet access other than via my iphone and so I will probably not be able to do any significant blogposts although I certainly will try given the chance to do so. The pictures (if I choose to break out the camera) will have to wait until my return. Another slow week on the blog I'm afraid! Don't worry though the fall season is coming up and I have a gizillion shoots scheduled for September through December, so the blog will be getting plenty of attention very soon.
I also want to do a blogpost showing you all the outfits Julie and I made for Ellie during our trip, RIDICULOUSLY amazing stuff. It's on my mongoso to do list!
Lastly, I had my second and final big shoot at Kennolyn yesterday but will not be posting any images due to privacy reasons (tons of close ups of a multitude of little ones and it's just not feasible for me to contact each and every parent for permission to post so I'm just not doing a blogpost this time, sorry!) I can say that this camp is just SPECTACULAR and I cannot wait for my kids to do their one week there mid August. My only regret is I won't be there to photograph them having so much fun!
Alrighty. Wish me luck. I'm glad the flight is short. I'm glad I don't have to lug huge carseats anymore. I'm glad I have a portable DVD player. I'm thinking I can do this! San Diego here we come!! :)
As you may know if you follow the blog, I went up to Portland for two reasons: one was to hang out with my buddy Julie and have an all day sew-a-thon with her and the other was to photograph her vivacious little girls Zoe and Delia. Julie and I thought long and hard about the location/backdrop we wanted to use and I, not being familiar with the area at all, had to rely on her for ideas. When Julie suggested doing the shoot at an indoor historic carousel that is completely enclosed with bright windows and TONS of natural light I fell head over heels in love with the idea. I've always wanted to do a shoot at a carousel but most of them are too dark and have too many crazy overpowering tungsten/fluorescent lights to allow for any decent shots. This place, however, was AWESOME. That isn't to say it didn't have challenges. I could only shoot during the few seconds when we were on the "natural light" side of the ride as it went around and around and between the girls going up and down on their horse and me going up and down on my horse (that's where I had the best vantage point) and the whole "going around in circles" motion I had three different motion issues to contend with. Plus I shot the whole thing at ISO 1600 due to light considerations (even with all that natural light, it is still relatively dark for photography purposes and 1/200 SS at about f4.0). I was crossing my fingers that all the shots weren't going to turn out slightly blurry (or at very least not as tack sharp as I am so picky about them being). Luckily, I have great timing and a smooth shutter press and so everything turned out beautifully. Julie got the girls ice creams after the carousel ride and we were able to get some more really fun shots.
Zoe and Delia are total characters and Zoe in particular is a complete ham in front of the camera. Delia was not as into the camera but I still managed some terrific shots of her having fun and laughing with her sister. I love these girls' energy and connection with each other. Their huge brown "saucer eyes" (Zoe's are actually a little bit green too, stunning) were amazing to photograph and the dark hair with pale skin just looks incredible in B&W imagery. We thought the song "Brown Eyed Girl" would be the perfect accompaniment to the slideshow.
I pretty much could have photographed them all day long if they'd let me. Of course, Julie and I had other plans as well but I certainly enjoyed the time I had with the girls before we took off. BIG HUGS to Zoe & Delia for making me laugh and letting me get some great shots, it was a very inspiring shoot and I love the results. Of course, Julie's custom outfits from her ZOZOBUGBABY line certainly contributed to the final outcome!!! I love the way Delia's B&W patterned dress looks in the B&W shots. So dramatic! Julie, I hope you and Larry are thrilled with these. Miss ya girl! :)
My trip to Portland was an absolute blast and also a wicked fast blur of activity. I landed in Portland at 10am and by 10:30 am I was running around the Jantzen Center area photographing Julie's beyond adorable little girls. Zoe and Delia were an absolute DELIGHT to photograph and we had a ridiculous amount of fun. After our shoot, Julie and I said goodbye to the girls, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out for the long drive to the Oregon Coast where we stayed at a little cabin near Gleneden Beach. We got there around dinnertime and after a quick unpacking and settling in we went out to a delicious dinner with a view of the coastline. We had both been up since 5 am with about 4 hrs sleep each under our belts so we literally CRASHED at 9pm. Little old ladies..... Ha! We woke up refreshed and ready for our ALL DAY sew-a-thon. We spent a very lovely and productive day sewing nonstop only taking breaks to refuel on caffeine, return client emails and related business obligations at the local wifi cafe and, of course, eat. :) At about 9 pm ish we wrapped up the sewing projects and headed out into the wooded area behind the cabin for some late night painting with light fun. As we were walking out into the pitch darkness carrying all our gear Julie turns to me and with total sincerity and concern goes: "Girl, you crazy!? Didn't you watch the Blair Witch Project!?" I laughed out loud and had to reassure her that nothing was going to happen to us! So cute! Having said that, at one point during out goofing around we heard some very LOUD, heavy rustling in the bushes nearby and we both got a wee bit freaked out. After loudly asserting that anyone out there would be remiss is trying to take on two ferocious amazon women like ourselves we stopped hearing the disconcerting noises and persevered all in the name of art and creativity! :)
Julie had played around with this kinds of multiple long exposure stuff back in college and I hadn't played around with any of this since attending a Crime Scene Photographer Class over 10 years ago! We started out hand holding the OCF and shining the light towards ourselves while the other person handled the remote trigger for the shutter. Obviously, the camera was set to BULB and the Aperture set to f8. We manually focused as well, which is kinda hard in the dark, but we knew were were in the general vicinity of focus range (I lit Julie up with a flashlight to focus on her) especially since we were planning on moving around alot and f8 allowed us a bit of latitude there. After realizing that holding the flash on ourselves was only going to result in near blindness (hahahaha!) we switched gears and decided to have the person in charge of the remote switch also do the lighting. So, basically the set up entailed the camera resting on a stool (makeshift tripod) with remote switch attached to the camera and an off camera flash for some and a flashlight for others. The person who was the "subject" would pick their spot and decide how many flashes they needed for their "idea/concept." The camera person was responsible for triggering the remote to open the shutter, then run around and do the flashes on the subject based on wherever they were and then run back and release the trigger (close the shutter). Then we would switch places. It was pretty hilarious because it was pretty dark out there and we were both terrified of tripping and knocking over the camera and you can't turn on the flashlight to find your way back because you then introduce unwanted light into the exposure. You also want to work fast to avoid any unnecessary light from entering the image during that long exposure so you are definitely hustling! We were laughing and 'hooting and hollerin'" SO HARD that we probably scared off any predatory animals....!
After we got bored with the one person multiple exposure we then upped the ante by doing multiple flashes with EACH of us in the frame. That looked something like this: I am the subject and stand in place. Julie triggers the remote, runs up, pops the flash on me, runs up to my spot so she can know exactly where to stand, I take the flash from her, run out, pop the flash at her, run back, she does her thing again, I do my thing again and then we run back to trigger the remote and see the result together. CRAZINESS. If we had had a third person it would have been SO much easier but we totally made it work. After we used up all our creative juices for the flash pops we then moved on to the "painting with light" with a flashlight technique which is where you still have the long exposure settings triggered with the remote but the subject is no longer being illuminated by an outside light source, instead the subject is holding the light source (in this case a flashlight) and pointing it TOWARDS the camera to create fun and funky light designs/patterns/writing in the air which are then recorded onto the exposure. The squiggles and stuff are pretty easy but the writing in the air is much trickier. For starters everything is reversed, obviously, as the mirror in the camera acts just like a mirror in real life would, ergo reversing everything, so you have to write backwards in the air. Secondly, you have no way of really knowing, especially in total darkness where you left off with your last letter and where your next one should begin, as well as "guesstimating" how large the letters should be or how far apart they should be spaced. It's all a guessing game really. We had a blast writing our names and our kids' names and just totally goofing around with all kinds of psychedelic designs.
Before we knew it, two hours had flown by and we were all sweaty from running around and jumping in the air and being total goofballs. I am sure the far away neighbors must have thought there were some drunk teenagers being complete idiots out in the forest.....! Here are a few favorites from the night. ENJOY! (I miss you already Julie....)
A little 70's dance fever going on here...
This 3 day trip went by entirely too fast.... I hope to have Zoe and Delia's images finished up tomorrow night and have a blog post up late Friday night or Saturday. I'm taking the kids down to San Diego on Sunday and have a shoot tomorrow morning and still haven't even unpacked my bags from Portland yet (my flight got delayed and I didn't fly into San Jose airport until a little after midnight last night, then had an hour long drive home.... GEESH!) CRAZY week but all good, happy kinds of craziness. :)
I'm typing this from the Portland airport where my flight has been delayed and now I won't be getting home until past midnight (grrrrrrrrrrr). I have not had a single moment to update the blog during my hiatus up here in Oregon and so I thought I'd take a second to give a quick update. I've been up here three whole days and had the BEST time EVER with my friend Julie. I will be posting images from our time together including a shoot I did with her girls and some really fun goofing around shots Julie and I did late at night out in the woods. We're total wingnuts but boy did we have fun! I even got to meet up with my friend Lisa before heading back to the airport so it was a very busy and super fun "working" vacation. I can't wait to make this an annual "pilgrimage"! Ok, well, I promise to have a blog post up as soon as I can. The next few days are going to entail some serious "catch up" time with the kids and the business and life in general. Thanks for being patient!!
So, this shoot was originally just going to be me and Kim, helping her celebrate an important milestone and it slowly morphed into including her parents, her brother and her incredibly sweet & adorable nephew and I AM SO GLAD IT DID! Kim and her family are *totally* my kind of peeps. So much craziness and laughter! I honestly cannot remember laughing so hard on a client shoot. This family is funny and zany and so full of life! We structured the shoot so that the first half would be Kim and her extended family (ie: her mom and dad, her brother Forest and his son Keegan whom I was ready to take home with me) and the second half of the shoot we'd move to a second location and have it be all about Kim. That girl can work the camera! The shoot was actually really long but flew by so ridiculously fast that I didn't even notice how long we were at it until it was all over. They were all such troopers. I ended up with 60 blog favorites.... which is clearly more than my little blog can handle (30 per post is my limit) so I had to put together a slideshow rather than cut out so many great shots...and the slideshow is a FRACTION of all the shots we got. Kinda crazy. I picked the music because it's fun and really just seemed to truly represent this family. They roll with the punches, just as the song says. My favorite line, and this is for Kim (inside joke) is when he talks about how "she's in control." {wink wink}
It was an absolute pleasure meeting you all, thank you for the ab work out, my not-quite-a-6 pack was killing me the next day. But in a good way. :)
