pascale wowak photoblog

What to do on a rainy day?

I am a high energy person.  I have two high energy kids.  I also have a high energy dog.   Rainy days are like purgatory to me.  Seriously.

A friend of mine (Hi Patti!) recommended I take everyone to the local (empty!) tennis courts on rainy days to let the kids and puppy run their little hearts out in a contained space (fenced in!) while staying clean (no mud!).  Genius.  PURE genius.

We've done this now a handful of times and it works out beautifully.  I bring tennis balls and we are all good to go!

So when it was raining yesterday afternoon when I picked up the kiddos from school they were actually EXCITED because they knew that it meant we'd be hitting the tennis courts! HA!

I brought my camera and tried to juggle holding the umbrella over myself with my left hand (I refuse to risk letting my camera get wet even though they are supposed to be weather sealed, I'm not gonna chance it) and holding my camera with my right hand.  I had my 24-105mm f4 lens on but an even longer lens would have probably been even better for this activity.  

It was REALLY raining and we were only able to hang out there about 20-30 minutes because everyone (except me and my little umbrella!) got drenched.  The kids didn't want to be encumbered with umbrellas.  I should mention that it was not raining when I sent Gavin to school that morning and he insisted on wearing shorts.  Don't revoke my mommy badge ok?!  :)

The good news about the rain?  We still need it.   The bad news?  My shoot tomorrow had to be postponed.....  Sigh.   I am really looking forward to this shoot (adorable twins!!!) so I cannot wait to have clear skies again soon!  :)

Here are a few of the shots I got.  Nothing spectacular but just fun for the kids to look back on and remember how we got our "crazies" out on rainy days...  :)

I only did basic quick RAW edits on these.  All that fuzz in the background of the shot that looks like digital noise is actually rain! (you probably can't even see it in this small format but on my computer screen it actually looks really cool.  I was shooting at 1/1250 and it froze every little drop as it was falling around them)

 

He is all happy here because he found the ONE weed growing through the cracks and grabbed it.  Of course, I told him "LEAVE IT!" which in Kooper-speak means "run away as quickly as I can while holding the forbidden item in my mouth and look back periodically to laugh at the old lady futilely trying to catch me."

Running away (still has the weed in his mouth) thinking this is the BEST GAME EVER!

He may be huge but he is still just a pup at not even 6 months old so he has a pretty clumsy gait at times.  Not sure WHAT was happening here other than him trying to go several different directions all at once...

This is his "come hither" look.

I swear it looks like he is sticking out his tongue at the kids and taunting them....  :)

And the chase continues...

When everyone starts slowing down, that's my cue.  Mission accomplished.

And here is my guy running towards me when I called him to get his leash back on.  He looks so dopey with his ears flying like this. 

 
 

 Everyone was tuckered out when we got home and enjoyed some hot cocoa, warm baths and then they did their homework at the kitchen table while I cooked dinner.  I didn't hear a PEEP out of anyone for a solid hour.  Priceless.
 

Message Board

Anyone remember the message board post from a couple weeks ago?  If not you can click HERE to read about it.

Guess what I discovered waiting for me tonight after I had gone upstairs to prepare everything for the next morning?

Yes.  A message for ME.  From Gavin.  He turned the tables (or easel if you wish!) and left me a little message.  And I died.  Right there.  On the spot.   I LOVE that boy to the moon and back.

  

(forgive the iphone photo quality)

... and he had put a new entry into our family gratitude journal as well.  Sigh.

 

Keep Calm and Snap On

I *really* want one of these.  I have the original "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster in my kitchen, but this would make a lovely addition to my office, dontcha think!?  Super cute.

CLICK HERE for link to purchase at PhotoJojo.  $15 each.

 
 

Hemangiomas

Since my last post about Ellie's hemangiomas I've had a bunch of emails about them.  Several people wanted to know what a hemangioma is and what it looks like etc....

I posted a link to the article I wrote that was published about our experience with regard to Ellie having two hemangiomas (scroll to the other post about it and you can find the link there) but in a nutshell:

A hemangioma is a benign vascular tumor.  In other words, it is a cluster of bood vessels that pretty much just go haywire.   It shows up about a week or so after birth and presents itself as a tiny little red dot.  Like a miniature red mole.  And then you can literally watch it double in size every day.  The growth stage is frightening because your baby will go to bed with it being one size and the next morning wake up with it 30% bigger.  The VAST majority of hemangiomas, however, do not get bigger than the size of a quarter.  Having said that, a quarter sized, vibrant reddish purple, raised lump on your baby's face can be quite disconcerting to say the least.  Some hemangiomas are significantly more large and aggressive and need to be treated with lasers and heavy steroids.  Because Ellie's two hemangiomas were of more normal/average size, we decided to just let them run its course.  There are two thought processes with regard to the hemangioma treatment.  One is to leave them alone as they naturally start to involute (slowly disappear) at about 2-3 yrs old with the average child having their completely gone by 6 yrs old. The other approach is to aggressively treat the baby with steroids to stunt the growth and then do laser and surgical removal.  We opted for the wait and see approach not wanting to expose Ellie to all that trauma and side effects when 90% of the hemangiomas are expected to eventually go away.  Ellie is 5 yrs old now and hers is barely noticeable.  They started to involute, very slowly, at age two and a half.  They were at their peak of "severity" (and growth) at about a year old.  I put together a quickie little collage of a handful of LOW quality images I grabbed of Ellie around her first birthday so you can see for yourself.   It's certainly hard to miss but I am so glad we took the route we took.  The skin where her hemangiomas are will always be slightly different than the rest of her skin (it will look a lot like an old burn/scarring area) but truly will not be a big issue at all.  She is actually VERY attached to her two hemangiomas and will frequently stare in the mirror, holding up her bangs and lament that "my special birthmark is going away!!!"  We never made a big deal about it so she took great pride and ownership at a very young age, showing it off to all her friends and feeling mighty special about HER birthmark that nobody else had. :)

 

While quickly digging through the old pictures to find some samples, I found this shot that I had typed a message on.  It made me giggle.  Gotta love that face.  She was SUCH a dramatic, expressive child, even as a baby.  Nothing much has changed....  It's a crappy shot but it still makes me laugh!

  
 

A very belated St. Patty's Day

Woah.  Talk about BELATED.  Ok, yeah, um, Happy "one week later" St. Patrick's Day!  Hahahahahaha.

Here is a quick shot I got as we were heading out for school that morning.  And Kooper happens to have a green collar so he was not pinched that day. :)

I'm happy to report that Kooper is finally on the mend and the meds seem to be helping him quite a bit.  Gavin is walking around with much less pain.  I got one shoot edited and am getting caught up.  PHEW.  The storm has quieted down..... for now....  :)

 

And, as promised, IF you are so inclined, a little smorgasborg compilation of Ellie singing her two favorite songs right now.  Not sure how appropriate the first one is.  I have equal parts amusement and equal parts "she really shouldn't be listening to this" when I hear her singing that song....  

The password is:  froggie

TikTok from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

Conversations To Go by Moonjar

Dinnertime at our house is usually either complete chaos or total silence.  Actually, it usually starts out as complete chaos and turns into total silence because I will quickly have enacted the "if you don't have anything nice to say, just don't speak to each other" rule.  For some reason dinnertime seems to be when they "pick" on each other the most, or just act completely crazy and goofy and out of control.  And so, the result is that I sit there in utter and complete (forced) silence for most of the meal until they decide they'd rather cooperate with each other and be allowed to speak (CALMLY) rather than have to sit there and just eat while stewing in their own self imposed misery.  Naturally, I would really much prefer that dinnertime be a time when I can connect with the kids and talk about their day and so on.  However, with Gavin turning 8 soon I get alot of these types of exchanges:

me: "what did you do at school today, Gavin?"

him: "you know, school stuff" (shrugs his shoulders)

me: "did you have a good day though?"

him: "yeah."

me: "what did you guys learn about?"

him: "you know, like, school stuff."

[bear in mind, I know AND LOVE his amazing teacher and beyond being absolutely incredible at what she does, she has them totally INTO the process, highly engaged and having fun with everything they learn.  he has a MAJOR crush on her.  So his one-word responses are just an indication of how wiped out he is after a full day of learning and socializing etc...]

Of course, it's the complete opposite with Ellie.  I can't shut that kid up.  I get a play by play of EVERY SINGLE THING that happened from the moment I dropped her off to the moment I picked her up from after care.  To the point of my ears starting to bleed.  Seriously. 

So, I needed a system to get the conversation flowing in a more equitable way, and in a slightly more structured way that would hopefully prevent any needless arguments/taunting etc...

I came across THIS product.  And for the past several weeks I have had my children RUSHING to set the table for me to get us there faster in order to play this game.  I am NOT kidding.  And we've ALL absolutely adored this new little tradition of ours.  Dinnertime is now WAY more enjoyable.

The basic premise is that each little tab has a question on it and each person at the table gets a chance to answer that question.  Initially, it was whomever raised their hand first got to answer first but that quickly degenerated into tears based on "someone's" inability to raise her hand as fast as her brother....  I won't name names.  So now, we just go in a clockwise direction around the table, one after the other.  The questions range from easy to hard.  The harder ones (more geared to middle school kids) I just pass over and don't read out loud.  But the majority are really age appropriate for even the youngest set.  The questions are FABULOUS.  They not only help YOU as a parent get insight into how your child thinks and what their focus/priorities are in life but also provides some serious comic relief with many of their answers.  It also allows the children to get to learn more about you as well.

You can get some sample questions on their website by clicking on the product.  Alternatively, if you don't have the budget for any extras right now, you can just sit down in front of the TV one night and come up with your OWN questions, write them up on little slips of paper, throw then in a shoebox and voila, you're good to go!! :)

Honestly, this has given me access to parts of my kids' minds that I had not been able to fully appreciate or tap into.  It's been fascinating to hear their responses and gain even more insight into how they tick.  I LOVE stuff like this and I particularly love that it gets THEM thinking about concepts, ideas and results that extend far beyond their little world.  It's just been a great thing all the way around.  I HIGHLY recommend it!

  

  

Esther & Ben

I've known Esther a few years.  She was my sparring partner in Tae Kwon Do.  Which basically meant we kicked and punched the you know what out of each other.  In the most respectful way of course.  But neither of us is the girlie type so we definitely had some pretty good "battles". :)

Then she up and got preggo on me.  Whatever.  Pffft.  (Just kidding!!!)

My friends joke about how the only way to spend any amount of quality time with me is to hire me for a shoot.  Ouch.  Yes, I'm pretty hard to get together with due to my working weeknights and weekends schedule.  Add to that my friend's own busy schedules and you get the idea.  So, I was pretty much tickled pink when Esther hired me to photograph her expanding family (and waistline! Ha!).  She didn't want the focus of the shoot to be on the pregnancy itself but how could I NOT photograph this glowing, beautiful mama to be!? 

Her two boys were quite the handful.  They are rough and tumble boys through and through.  Moshe is 12 yrs old and, as is the case with that age, was less than thrilled to be a part of this event.  Daniel was kinda just hoping to come out of the whole afternoon in one piece I think.  Our attempts to get pictures of the two boys together were fairly comedic until we saw blood.  Ok, I'm exaggerating.  Sorta.  :)

Esther & Ben, thank you for all the laughter and chaos.  I felt right at home.  Cannot wait to meet this little girl.  If she's anything like her mommy, not only will she be able to keep those boys in line, she'll be ruling the roost in no time! :)

Here is Daniel.

  

 

Moshe.  Yeah, not too thrilled to be here....

 

But I can crack even the toughest shell...  :)

 

This was the extent of our sibling shots....

 

 

 

 

Esther, you are sooooo glowing!

 

 

 

Esther and Ben.

 

 

This next one is my favorite shot of the day. :)

 

  

 

 

 

I told Esther that Moshe has this James Dean look going for him. :0

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

So, I'm particularly happy with these next two although you may not be able to tell why in this small format.  I did not want FULLY dark silhouettes because without the impact of a sunset behind them I thought it would be too "blah".  So I had them stand right at the exact spot between the light and the shadows so that when I metered for them I calculated the exposure I needed to have them partially silhouetted but have the expressions on their faces perfectly exposed.  You can see it much better in a larger format but their faces are perfectly lit and the way they are looking and smiling at each other is pure magic as far as I'm concerned.  LOVE. IT.

 

 

So, at this point either I worked my way into the boys' hearts or they were just so tired of fighting the process they finally acquiesced.  Either way, I got a nice relaxed family shot.  (and I win!)
 

  

Ouch.

Oh dear this has been a rough week.  First my lovebug puppy Kooper gets really sick resulting in three trips to the vet in 4 days including a trip to the emergency vet last night.  Turns out he seems to have gotten a version of the Kennel Cough which he got from receiving the Kennel Cough vaccine about two weeks ago.  In 1 out of every 200 dogs it will cause a bad reaction/infection about 2 weeks after getting it done because it is a live virus.  Sigh.  If I had known that I probably would not have given it to him knowing his history with vaccines (he's already had one really bad reaction) and my issues with vaccines in general (Gavin had a horrible, horrible reaction to a set of vaccines as a newborn resulting in a very very long night in the emergency room and a very stressed out mommy).

Argh, so if that wasn't enough yesterday, I also capped that day off with a three hour trip to the doctor's office for Gavin resulting in him getting stitches in his toe.  Poor boy.  He had to have two very suspicious moles dug out, which of course is preceded by two very painful shots, one of which was in between his toes..... which the doctor later confided to me is perhaps THE most painful place to get a shot for ANYONE, much less a 7 yr old boy.  

Tears were shed.  His and mine.  So besides the challenge of keeping two small children occupied and calm while spending three hours in a tiny exam room (thank you Iphone apps, I owe you BIG time), plus the stress of dealing with Gavin's stress/anxiety/pain and then my doggie needing emergency care.... OY!  I'm emotionally drained today.

The story with the moles is one worth sharing since most people don't realize that kids can have skin cancer.   Over the years I have had over 30 moles removed (being covered in moles from head to toe is a curse on my side of the family) and two of those proved to be "bad."

Ellie, as a continuation of the plethora of skin issues that run in my side of the family from eczema to skin cancer, developed two hemangiomas (one of her forehead and one on her torso) shortly after birth.  It was quite an experience to deal with including frequent trips all the way up to the UCSF medical center for monitoring not to mention some serious personal growth on my part as a mother of a child that looked very different for several years.  I actually wrote an essay about it that was published in Mothering and can be found HERE.

But, I digress.  At two years old, during part of my CONSTANT full body checks that I still do on both my kids, I found a small but bizarre growth on Ellie's torso right next to her hemangioma.  I immediately brought her in to see the dermatologist who agreed that it needed to be biopsied.  Due to her history and her age and its location (right over her ribs) and how much was going to need to be cut out, she had to put under general anesthesia.   That was NO FUN.  But necessary as it turned out to be Basal Cell Carcinoma.   My itty bitty 2 yr old who was never allowed to go out in the sun without hat and SPF 70 sunscreen all over her body, still managed to get this.  Bad genes.....

I had one taken out of my chest a few months ago that was also "no good."  It's a problem in our family.

So, when Gavin complained last week of a new mole that was "bugging him" I looked at it and immediately noticed the tell tale signs of "suspicious" mole-dom.  I made an appointment for him right away.  I had also noticed another suspicious mole in between his toes so asked that that one be looked at too.    As expected, both had to be removed yesterday.

We are waiting on the results but ultimately, with everything dug out quite extensively, even if either one was "bad" it won't matter cause it's out now.   All this to say, just because you slather your kids in sunscreen, avoid the sun during peak times and have them wear hats anytime they are outside, that just because you are HYPER vigilant about sun care/protection (as I am) does not mean you can be lax when it comes to those moles.  On yourself or your kids.  Learn to tell the difference between a healthy mole and a suspicious mole.  Keep tabs of new moles on yourself and your kids.  And when in doubt, make that appointment.

Gavin now has several stitches and is in a significant amount of pain but he knows that he went through all that for a good reason - stay healthy.

While we were waiting for the doctor to come back just after being told he was going to need a couple shots Ellie burst into tears (worried about Gavin) and asked if she could "cuddle" him.  I plopped her up there and they both sat there quietly hugging each other for about 15 mn.  I grabbed a snapshot on my iphone.  I love that when the going gets tough, I can always count on those two being there for each other.  They may fight like cats and dogs sometimes but when it really counts, and when it really matters, their love for each other is as clear as day.  

 
 

Superstaaaaaah!

Ellie was "star of the week" a few weeks back and I found this picture I had taken on my P&S today as I was unloading the images.  I never know what I'm going to find on there because I rarely use it and I can go WEEKS before I take the time to download those images, ooooops!  For this school thing, I had to pick 6 images to give the Kindergarten teacher for her to create the display.  Do you have ANY idea how HARD that was for me?  SIX?  ONLY SIX?!  Muahahahahahaha.  I do love that chocolate cake is one of her favorite foods.  As well as pizza.  And she likes to swim.  She is so my kid.  The elephant thing is pretty funny, she has always LOVED elephants.  Kinda random, don't ya think?   And the rest just makes me giggle.  She's only been to Disneyland once but clearly she has not forgotten that trip!  Love that kid.

I took a video yesterday of Ellie singing her two favorite songs right now:

1)  The Princess & The Frog's "Almost There"  (she actually has the ENTIRE soundtrack of that movie memorized....)

2) Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" (which I need to say, I am not a fan of this young singer, at all, but the kids love that song so I let them put it on their mini mp3 devices.  They do not get to watch music videos btw)

Before I burden you all with posting the videos of her singing on this here bloggity blog, I need to make sure there is even an interest out there otherwise I'll just keep them on my computer!  So feel free to comment - yay or nay.   I know what amuses me as a mother may be pretty darn boring for my readers! :)

 

 I've got a great family shoot coming up soon, I'm working on those images RIGHT NOW!!! 

From C to Z

It's no secret that I have mad, undying love for my two favorite girl's clothing designers, Miss Courtney from CourtneyCourtney Designs and Miss Julie from ZozoBugBaby.  I have been so blessed to be able to photograph their amazing creations and ergo outfit my little Ellie with all their fabulousness.  What most people may not know though is that Julie and Courtney are also (long distance) friends!  

When they decided to collaborate on a NEW line of clothes I just about fainted.   They honored me with the wonderful task of capturing images of Ellie modeling the very first Courtney-Courtney + ZozoBugBaby collaboration items.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday and after picking up teh kids from school I took everyone to the dog beach to run out Kooper's energy before requiring him to sit in the car while we did the shoot.  The downside to such a gorgeous, warm day is that it was HOT.  And I was really a bit anxious about leaving him in the car even if I was parked in FULL shade with windows cracked.  SO, the only damper on the whole event was that we were really pressed for time and rushed through a two outfit commercial shoot in about 30 mn.  

The plus side is that we are so incredibly efficient by now that we were still able to totally rock it out!  Ellie (my 5 yr old) was, of course, the model.  Gavin, my sweet 7 yr old, was my lighting assistant and reflector holder extraordinaire.  It never ceases to delight me to see how he totally GETS IT and understands how to "see the light" at such a tender young age.   Between the three of us, we are a well oiled machine! :)

Now, onto the most important aspect....the dresses!!!  Oh My Dear.  I can barely come up with the words to describe how passionately in love I am with the whimsical and yet incredibly comfy and stylish look and feel of these two dresses.  Of course, like all CC designs, every single dress these two make will be custom and unique.  No two dresses can be duplicated due to the nature of how these are made (using recycled/upcycled t-shirts as the base).  The creativity and originality and vision that is put in every one of these dresses is remarkable.  I sure do hope that I can continue to get my hands on some of these!!!  I'm sure they will do just like the other lines and sell the MILLISECOND they are posted on their sites....

Here is Courtney's description of their new line:

Oh, the magic that happens when creative minds come together.  I am not sure exactly when me and Julie of Zozobugbaby came up with this concept.  Somewhere in the flurry of all our emails and messages,
packages of fabrics that we find and ship back and forth for each other, I shipped Julie the makings of a staple style from courtneycourtney's designs: the flutter sleeve.
She completed the look, and in unabashedly zozobugbaby + courtneycourtney fashion: voilà!!  Off to Pascale Wowak and her beautiful little model and our beloved muse, Ellie, they go!
The perfect combination of practical, sweet, whimsical and unique.  As most of you know, each piece is handmade and one-of-a-kind.  Careful attention is given to each dress as they are assembled beginning in
Chicago and completed in Salem, Oregon.  Truly, well-traveled pieces that combine the sweetness and joy we intend for the lucky little girls wearing our dresses, to live in everyday.

It makes my spirit so happy to be able to bring to life our designs to share with you and your little ones.
I look forward to sharing more designs and collaborations like this, thank you for your support.  And 

THANK YOU Julie and Pascale, always a pleasure to practice amongst truly creative, strong and supportive women.   Now enjoy!

I concur, ENJOY!!!!

Ellie was in FULL ON diva mode so I decided to go for BOLD, DRAMATIC light.  The sunglasses and bright, vibrant colors added to the drama and her playful "'tude" just completed the whole look.   She knows how to turn it on and work that camera, let me tell ya!  Gavin's wonderful eye with the reflector just made it all work so perfectly.... I get giddy just looking at these shots!  :)

  

 

There's MAJOR twirlability to this one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a different style on the post processing for this next one.  I wanted a more ethereal feel to it.

 

And no, she's TRULY not angry at all, this is her "feroche" look as we like to call it! Ha!

 

I'm still learning to embrace full direct light.  This is the second outfit we shot.  The flower at the bottom is removable and can be pinned anywhere on the dress!

 

 

 

This is her: EEEK! I'm up HIGH! look.....  

 

But, like all good models, she pulled it together for the sake of the shot. Atta girl! :)

 

 

 

 

And then, out of the blue, Gavin asked to do a picture with Ellie.  He NEVER wants to be in the pictures, much less pose with his sister (or anyone) so I was beyond thrilled.  And then, I got these in quick, spontaneous succession.  I nearly died on the spot.  I may have even shed a tear.  Swooooon.

  

 

 

 

Then I asked him if I could take a quick shot of his new smile.  He FINALLY lost his first top tooth.  I say finally because he is ALMOST 8 years old!!!!  Craziness.  So, this is his new smile.  Plus there's a bottom tooth missing too and the other top tooth is loose so I expect his smile to get even goofier in the next week! Ha!  Naturally, this is totally the "let me show you my gaping hole fake smile" shot but that's OK, this is the only time I will allow a phony smile to be captured, when it is exaggerated for the purpose of showing off one's missing teeth! :)

 

 

Tanya, Louis, Simone & Bubbalicious

I first "met" Simone when she was in utero while photographing her mom's maternity session (from which I still have one of my all time favorite maternity shots!).  

Simone is QUITE the character and I just love that girl's energy, sense of humor and spunk, which she obviously gets from both of her parents!

I came to their house this time and we started out with a super cute green St. Patty's day outfit and then went for a walk around their neighborhood for the remainder of the shoot.  The weather and lighting were PERFECT.   The vibe was awesome.  And the results are, if I may say so, quite delicious. :)

At the very end we even got some pictures of Louis with his first "baby", his cat Bubbalicious, who is quite possibly the BEST cared for feline on the planet! :)

Tanya, Louis and Simone: ENJOY!!!  It was a pleasure, as always!

Have I recently mentioned how much I love my handy dandy reflector?  You just can't get lighting like this in a shady backyard without the magic of the BOUNCE! :)

  

 

  

 

 

 

Yes, he's getting the full WWF choke hold and yet, still smiling.  Way to go dad! :)

 

Look at this beautiful family!
  
  
 

  

 

 
 

Gotta love this kid!

 
 

I adore this shot!

  

 

This is the kind of lighting us natural light photographers dream about.  A tiny, gorgeous little pocket of light under the cover of dark redwood trees, with deliciously bounced back reflector light to wrap everyone's features in soft, catchlight-inducing, warm beautiful light.  Aaaaaaah........ 

 

 

 

It's so nice when couples ask that there be pictures of JUST THEM.  ALONE.  Way sweet.  :)

 

 

Quite the funny story behind this but I won't divulge. :)

  

 

Mr. Bubbalicious

 

 

 

 
 
      

 

Dreamboat

Ellie is always serenading me.  As in, ALL.THE.TIME.   Most of the time it's her own made up songs which I *really* need to get on video (they are hilarious!) but she usually does those in the car and it goes without saying that driving AND videotaping at the same time would NOT be prudent (or legal for that matter).   However, yesterday morning as we pulled into her school parking lot she was on round three of her latest "favorite song" and so I was able to (safely) record a little mini clip.  This is her version (rendition?) of Bugs Bunny's "Dreamboat" song.   

Side note:  Yes, my children have watched countless episodes of Looney Tunes (and I have even been known to sit there with them the entire time - laughing equally hard - just at different parts).  We are, simply put, BIG HUGE fans of Looney Tunes.  I think Mel Blanc was, quite frankly, a genius.  'Nuff said.

So, to have my daughter surprise me with a somewhat memorized version of Bugs Bunny's classic tune... well, let's just say I was absolutely delighted.  Please forgive my psycho-killer laugh at the end.  I'm a bit exuberant.  I think I take after my kids... (cough, ahem, cough). 

Password is:  dreamboat

Dreamboat from pascale wowak on Vimeo.

Project Life + Becky Higgins

The lovely Becky Higgins (creator of the amazing Project Life) is doing a giveaway today on her blog and one of the items she is giving away is my book.   I'm so honored to be a part of this Ode To Photography feature on her awesome blog.

To go check out the giveaway and throw your name in the hat, CLICK HERE.

If you are visiting my blog from Becky's then: WELCOME!  

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!

(Thanks Becky!!)

Iphone

Why yes.  I am dedicating an entire post to my Iphone.   Yes.  Yes, I am.

Ok, bear with me folks, I realize my obsession with my Iphone is kinda pathetic.  I honestly do.  I bought one when they first came out and was instantly HOOKED.  My busy, on the go, running from here to there, meeting with clients, doing shoots, kids' activities, my own activities etc... kinda life means I am not at my desk all day long.  And being able to have my Iphone, which syncs with my home computer via MobileMe and my home and business calendars on my Mac etc... well, it's just so handy.  There are no words to fully express my unending love and devotion for my Iphone.  It is the ONE thing I will not leave the house without.  I can be running out the door with nothing but my wallet and car keys and as long as I have my Iphone I'm good to go. :)

An unexpected perk about my little handy dandy Iphone is the built in camera.  Now, granted, the quality is completely subpar compared to a real camera and unacceptable for printing purposes but I take AT LEAST one picture every single day with my iphone.  So now, when I scroll through all the images in my iphone album, I basically have this delightful little "memory a day" snapshot of my daily life over the course of the past couple years.  It is so fun to scroll through and see what I've managed to capture with my phone, things I would normally never be able to capture because, truth be told, I don't always have my camera with me....(gasp!)  In fact, despite me telling people to ALWAYS have their camera handy.... um.... I'm a big ole hypocrite! HA!  Actually scratch that, I'm not, because I DO have a camera handy, just not a QUALITY one is all.

Regardless, I have managed to get some really fun shots with my bitty phone camera and I put together a few collages today of a selection of images I have taken with my Iphone over the past few weeks.  Yes, this is just the past month or two and just a handful of them at that.  Like I said, I am constantly taking pictures with my iphone.  

I think the real reason behind that is that it is almost LIBERATING to just pull it out, snap the shot and not have to give ANY thought whatsoever to any of the settings.  Just point and click.  When so much thought usually goes into my picture taking it almost becomes an intellectual "process" rather than just a reflexive MOMENT and the Iphone brings me back to not caring about the results but simply documenting that stolen moment.  And I really like that about it.   It almost acts as a trigger for my brain saying: "remember this moment!" if that makes any sense at all.  That all I care about at that specific moment of the shot being taken is not the quality/skill/art of that soon-to-be image (which I already know is going to be poor and not be able to ever be printed) but rather the triggering of my BRAIN to take its own mental snapshot alongside the Iphone doing its thing.

I'm sure none of this made any sense to anyone other than me but hey, I never promised my "out of nowhere" ramblings were going to be any good! HA!  :)

Ok, so here are a few Iphone images from the past couple months.  Each image makes me smile and reminds me of our day to day life.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing pretty.  Nothing posed.  And yet, it's EVERYTHING.  And then some.  :)

  

 

 

 

 

 

Kooper "in action"

Our "after school" time is spent enjoying a little fresh air before heading in for the whole "homework-dinner-play-reading" bedtime routine.  We either take Kooper on his second walk of the day or just hang out in the backyard.  Kooper LOVES chasing the kids all over the yard.  But he recently started "herding/nipping" at them when they play chase so we've switched things around a bit and have the kids dangle a toy or stick when they run so that his focus is on grabbing the toy rather than trying to herd THEM.  His breed has really strong prey drive (they were pred to hunt lions after all) so we are really lucky that Kooper's innate nature is that of a pussycat, in the sense that he is just ridiculously sweet, gentle and loving with the kids and his
"pack."   Now, if you were an intruder I don't think he'd be quite so friendly with you...... Just sayin'.

It was a gorgeous afternoon yesterday with subdued sunshine creating just this perfect soft light so I decided to grab some shots of our little ritual.   I had the ISO at 800 and the Shutter speed at 1/1000.  I adjusted the aperture as the lighting shifted throughout but it averaged around f4 ish.  I also had  my fixed 135mm lens on my camera.

I should also mention, since it occurred to me that Kooper looks so HUGE and MEAN in these pictures, that he is actually the SWEETEST dog you will EVER meet.  Don't let all those teeth fool ya!  And the faces the kids are making are NOT fearful faces! I ASSURE YOU!!  In fact, my next post will show you some of the sweet, cuddly shots I have of Kooper sleeping/cuddling with the kids.  They are not remotely afraid of him which is why these scrunched up faces are so hilarious to me.  I guess it's just a natural reaction to close your eyes and brace yourself when a dog that outweighs you TWO TIMES your own body weight is coming barreling at you at full speed!  Yes, Kooper is now 60 lbs at not quite 5 months.  Ellie weighs 30 lbs soaking wet.  Gavin weighs 65 lbs.  By the end of the week Kooper and Gavin will weigh the same thing.  CRAZY.

OK, enjoy these images, they made me giggle the entire time I was editing them and prepping them for the blog.  BTW, minimal post processing other than increasing contrast a bit and mild sharpening for blog display.  

 

I ADORE this next shot!

 
   

 
 

We're still working on "give"....  but he's got all the other basics down pat!

 
 

 

Kooper is convinced he can carry TWO things in his mouth at once and get very confused when he opens his mouth to get the second item and the first one falls out.   The look on his face brings us all boundless laughter!

  

You can't really see Gavin's face here but he is doing this eyes shut, scrunchy nose face that you will see on Ellie next.  THE EXACT SAME FACE.  Hilarious.

 

 

Kooper plays TOTALLY differently with Ellie than he does Gavin.  He tests the limits a bit with Gavin and will be a little more physical with him.  But Ellie, oh dear it's so funny.  He has MAD respect for that girl.  She is completely and totally IN CHARGE of him.  All she has to do is a swift point of the finger and a stern look and his butt sits right down.  Also, he won't try to herd her.  Instead, she "leads" him around and he demurely follows her.  We are working on getting Gavin a bit higher on the "pack leader" food chain with regard to Kooper because right now, between the three of them the order is Ellie, Kooper, Gavin, without a doubt.  Thankfully, Kooper is a sweetheart with them both but family pack structure is very important!  Can you tell I've been watching my Tivo'd episodes of The Dog Whisperer slightly religiously?  (Ok, Ok, obsessively, pshhh, whatever....)

 
 
 There's that face! I swear she really LOVES doing this with Kooper!

  

 

And there it is again.  I don't know why this makes me laugh so hard, it just does. :)

 

My boy.

 

My girl.

 

 

Laughter is the best medicine is it not?! :)

 

Why yes, I am the most gorgeous looking dog on the face of the planet, why thank you!  (alright, I'll admit to being totally biased but hey, I'm his mama, I'm allowed to be!)

 
 
 

Che

Oh how this little guy always manages to steal my heart.  He has the MOST magnetic smile EVER.  Seriously gonna be a heartbreaker this one, no doubt.

I've had the distinct pleasure of photographing him since he was a newborn and he is so incredibly photogenic and camera friendly.  His personality is so vibrant and he is so full of energy!

I got a bunch with mom this time too and so glad I did.  These may be some of my favorite mom/son pictures ever.   They have the same zest for life!  LOVE IT!

How can you not look at this face, that smile, those lashes and not want to take this guy home with you?

Sarah, I know the rain delayed this shoot a bazillion times but it was great to finally see you and Che again!

ENJOY!!!

  

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