pascale wowak photoblog

Anja

This was my first time meeting this delightful family and I really enjoyed their company.  Super sweet and devoted parents to their little girl Anja!  We did this little mini shoot to honor that adorable milestone of being able to sit on her own but not quite yet crawling away.  It's truly THE best age to photograph!  She was also at that stage where she was just starting to have some separation anxiety so she initially cried anytime she wasn't in either of their arms but we quickly figured out that as long as she was able to sit in a patch of dirt she was perfectly content playing in the dirt.  Once we figured that out, it was smooth sailing the rest of the shoot as we went from dirt patch (with nice lighting and backdrop) to dirt patch (ditto)!  Anja is cute as a button and I hope I get to keep watching her grow and change! 

It was a pleasure meeting all three of you!  ENJOY your sneak peek!!!

Cameron & Chloe

I've been photographing this family for a while now and Jennifer and I have become close.  We try to grab Zumba classes together when we can (admittedly, I have not been able to go since my ankle injury and it will be a while before I have the range of motion needed to return, BOOHOO!) and she came over and helped me get a design plan set up for my backyard right after I had moved in.  She's super sweet and her family is awesome.  Her husband Steve is an INCREDIBLE carpenter, his work is truly amazing.   This particular shoot of ours was a trade and I'm so glad I have such wonderful people in my life to do trades with!

Here is a sneak peek of Cameron & Chloe from the other day.  They are adorable together.  At one point when I was photographing Chloe alone and Cameron was off climbing a tree, Chloe got all teary eyed and when we asked her what was wrong she said: "I want my budder."  So we called her "budder" to come assist me in photographing her and she was ALL smiles once again.  They absolutely love each other and Cam is super tender with his little sister.  It's pretty darn cute.

ENJOY!

Cottage Backyard Transformation

When the kids and I moved into this cottage rental about 10 months ago, one of my biggest priorities was to make the backyard more welcoming.  The backyard at our old house was fully lanscaped and gorgeous and huge so it was really important to me that the kids have a yard that felt like a yard, despite its postage stamp size.  So, even though the yard consisted of a tiny amount of space, two slabs of cement and a bunch of bark, and even though I'm not known for my green thumb (I have a history of killing cactus), I was smart and enlisted the help of two friends who specialize in this sort of stuff to help me pick out all native, drought resistant plants in the color scheme that I desired (heavy on the red, orange and yellow for the middle and more purple & blue on the fenceline).  THANK YOU Aerin & Jennifer!  Then, I got to planting.  The kids helped with some initial stages.  Even our new neighbor Jay helped us put together the veggie garden which ended up being so amazing!  A few months later my friend Tiffiny came over and we planted a whole bunch of tomato plants on the side of the house.  It's been this incredible group effort to help the yard look the way it looks now.  My little neighborhood Salvadorian worker Miguel did all the heavy duty tilling to prepare the ground and cutting back a significant chunk of the invasive bamboo on the side of the house and leveling the backyard to prepare it for planting.  He was definitely a huge part of this transformation!    The plants were all added slowly according to whatever my budget could accomodate any given month.    The yard gets full sun nearly all day long and the Capitola weather is just absolutely IDEAL for plant growth.   Never too hot or too cold.  Juuuuuuust right.  The plants flourished.  And in the span of 10 months the garden is completely transformed.  It's amazing to me how much it has changed in just under a year.  We've got tomatoes, corn, salad, ollalaberries, melons, chard and artichoke growing in the veggie garden.  I planted an apple tree and and apricot tree which are already producing!  I just planted a teeny little japanese maple tree that I hope does well.  We've got gorgeous vines along the fenceline, lovingly and thoughtfully strung and directed as they grew every month.  A huge variety of colorful and yet completely drought resistant plants in the little patch of dirt next to the shed.  And in the front yard I planted four rose bushes in the unused planter bed which we then have been surrounding the rose bushes with shells that we collect during our daily morning beach walks.  I also installed a chalkboard wall which was just an abandoned free piece of wood that I spray painted with chalkboard paint and which our neighbor affixed onto the shed wall for us.  Ellie and I also created a colorful canvas collage that says "Bloom Where You're Planted" which we placed next to the hammock by the most colorful part of the garden.  Two separate friends generously donated an old basketball hoop and mini fort structure that the kids love.  I am just completely blown away how so many people were able to come together individually in order to collectively create this amazing, warm and welcoming space.  I am so grateful to all my wonderful friends who assisted with this endeavour.  My next big project on the horizon is to use the space behind the shed, which is 6 foot by 20 foot empty space that is too hidden and shaded for growing anything but JUST RIGHT for a chicken coop.......  I just need to check with my neighbors and if they're on board then come this spring we will have chickens too!  Talk about maximizing a tiny plot of land, huh!?    I thought some of you might enjoy looking at some snapshots of the transformation.  I've taken pictures only 3 times during the past 10 months so you can really see the Before, Middle and After very clearly with these shots.  It's pretty wonderful, if you ask me.  Definitely happy with our little yard.  And because the weather has been so incredible we've been eating practically every meal on our outside table.  Heavenly.  :)

Megan & Luna

When my good friend Megan asked if I'd take a few shots for her new venture I was absolutely thrilled and honored to be able to do this for her.  Megan and I met last year at a gathering of Rhodesian Ridgebacks and their owners.  We instantly hit it off.  Let's be clear, Megan is all kinds of awesome sauce.  She's a GG (gorgeous geek) with a wicked sense of humor, the mind of a rocket scientist and the natural good looks of a model.  And if that isn't enough to want to hate her, she just had a baby a few months ago and is already back in her skinny jeans.  COMMENCE HATE.  Bwahahahaha.  I wish I could hate her but instead I just LURVES her and her family sooooooo much.  Her sweet husband Jack has very kindly taken to geeking out with my son over Star Wars and Legos and Books.  Gavin thinks Jack is the "coolest guy on the face of the planet" and pretty much idolizes him.  And between Jack and Megan they produced the cutest baby known to mankind with the most fabulous name to go along with her extremely high cute factor: Eowyn.  All this AFTER already owning the most stunning specimen of a female Rhodesian Ridgeback.  Yeah, I'm admittedly pretty gaga over all them.   Megan and I have grown close and I really can't express how much I enjoy her company.  I feel like we're long lost twins and derive great pleasure in knowing that my warped sense of humor is not wasted on her....  :)

Megan wanted this shoot with her pup Luna for a very specific purpose.  Megan has already built one of the top 70 websites in the WORLD (it's called Squidoo) and, despite just having had a baby, in her very limited "free" time she's hard at work on a new project for those of us lucky enough to have dogs in our lives.  When the site is up and running, I will be sure to let you all know!  I'm quite possibly more excited about it than she is.  For reals.

Megan and I wanted to really have fun with this shoot and do something a little different for a CEO of a new dog-centric company.  On my end, I really wanted to infuse Megan's effervescent spirit, her easy confidence, her boundless energy and her passion for dogs (and specifically her endless love for Luna), into the images that I created.  I hope I was able to achieve that lofty goal!

Megan, Jack, Eowyn & Luna: I love you guys!!!

Elliott & his parents at the Lavender Farm

Last year was my first time shooting at this amazing location.  I was hired to do a mother and son shoot for sweet Elliott and his gorgeous mama on the STUNNING property they live on.  They happen to live in a little house located right in the center of a private lavender farm out in the Monterey inlands.    This year I was brought back to do a family shoot and I was so excited because I got to explore even more of this insanely gorgeous property.   Not to mention that the family looks like they all belong on the cover of a magazine...so yeah, not the hardest shoot I've ever had, hahahaha!  Elliott was having his typical 2 yr old moments but in between he was ALL CHARM and ALL SMILES.  You'd never even know looking at these pictures.  He is one gorgeous kid.  I loved how mom and dad had fun with the shoot and were willing to wing it with me, letting the mind-blowing light guide me as to choosing where to shoot at all the stunning locations on the property.  I'm already looking forward to coming back next year!

Nicole & David, it was such a pleasure!  ENJOY your images!!!

Austin & Sydney

The day before I was scheduled to leave Austin, I got to spend some time with a friend (Hola Amber!) who lives a 2 hr drive from Austin.  She drove all the way down just to spend a few hours with me.  It was so great hanging out with her and getting stuck in a massive neighborhood street water battle in downtown Austin's bar district on 6th street.  People were dumping buckets from the rooftops, water gun snipers out the windows, gobs of water balloons tossed back and forth at the main intersection... Even the bartenders would run out with a water balloon, launch it across the street and then run back inside to their bartending duties.  I'd never seen anything like it but it was all kinds of awesomesauce.  That day Heather and her family were at a birthday party and somehow the subject of professional photos came up and a mom at the party was lamenting the fact that she did not have any professional shots of her sweet little baby girl who at 9 months was at the IDEAL age for photographing.... well, seemed to make sense to get me in on the conversation and so via texting we set up a mini shoot the very next day with Heather's friend Jenn and her two ADORABLE kids Austin & Sydney.  The shoot was scheduled for the crack of dawn the next morning since I would be flying back home later that day.  The weather was INSANELY muggy, hot and humid so much of the shoot was indoors which worked out beautifully since Jenn & Victor have the MOST amazing and gorgeous house and the kids have the most awesome rooms so I was in photographer heaven.  Austin was incredibly comfortable in front of the camera and took exactly 1.2 seconds to warm up to me and start mugging for the camera! LOL!  Sydney was a little more cautious of the stranger with the  big apparatus all up in her grill (typical of that age) but she lit up whenever her brother was in the room or next to her to make her feel at ease.  They were SO cute together.  

Jenn & Victor, thank you for welcoming me into your gorgeous home on such incredibly short notice and letting me capture these images for you of your adorable children!  I had a really great time and it was a lovely shoot and great way to cap off my stay in Austin!  

ENJOY your images!

Declan & Vivienne

Ah how I so very much enjoyed my time in Texas with this family.  If you read my previous post you'll learn more about the fun stuff I got to do on this trip to Austin.  But this blog post is all about Heather, David, Declan and Vivienne.   I love them all!  Declan is the sweetest and brightest and most charming little 4.5 year old on the planet.  Vivienne is full of spunk, fire, life and killer smiles (when she is willing to dole them out! She's quite judicious about that! Lol!).  Declan is so tender and sweet to all those around him.  He has no qualms giving hugs and kisses and is just a really gentle spirit not to mention incredibly bright.  He has impeccable manners and was always delightful to be around.  Vivienne reminded me a lot of Ellie: feisty, determined, and a force of nature.  That girl knows what she wants and she's going to find a way to make it happen.  But she was also very affectionate and spent much of her time on my hip with her little arm wrapped around mine for stability.  We had a special little bond.  I had the distinct pleasure of doing bedtime stories with both kids every night, something I absolutely LOVE doing, and it was so cute to have them cuddled up to me as we read.  It made me not long for my kiddos quite as badly as I was getting my "mommy dose/cuddles" through them!  

This shoot was quite spectacular insomuch that we did it at two totally different locations with two entirely different sets of outfits and two different times of the day (to account for the inhuman heat and humidity)  So, the first part was at the crack of dawn and the second part was at the end of the day.  Despite this accomodation for the weather, I was still completely drenched in my own sweat at the end of each shoot.  I just never quite acclimated to the heat and humidity.  In my defense, it was the hottest time of the year and they were having uncharacteristically awful humidity.  In fact, the day of our shoot was (luckily) the best of the 5 days weather wise as we had storms, clouds and even rain one day.  So, we totally lucked out!

I was tickled pink that I had been able to scour the area with Heather the day prior and visited a ton of potential spots so I could pick my favorite two.  I think we had two incredible locations and I even got to go shopping with them to finalize their outfits and make sure everything was absolutely perfect!  If any clients ask me how to pick out outfits that work well together without being crazy matchy-matchy, I am going to direct them to this shoot because the outfits were spot on.  Yay for teamwork!!! :)

Ok, enough chitchat, onto the sneak peek!  Heather & David, thanks again for hosting me and making my stay so wonderful!  I especially loved being up at 1 am sitting at Heather's computer designing new matching ringtones (based on the Dexter soundtrack) while laughing our butts off at our OCD-ness of making sure it started and ended at the precise spot we wanted it to.  That pretty much was a total highlight for me.  So very US! Lol!!!  LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

A quick shout out to Julie of ZOZOBUGBABY for Vivienne's first "look", how insanely cute is that dress!?!?!

And here's a quick iphone picture that Heather took of me during our shoot while I was photographing Declan and Vivienne spontaneously sat in my lap, resulting in me giving her some major loving.  Look at that smile.  Trouble with a capital T that one...  :)

 

Austin, Texas

I know the blog's been quiet lately and I apologize for that!  I had my birthday getaway up in Inverness followed immediately by a trip out to Austin, Texas for work (and play!).  Some dear clients of mine moved to Austin almost 2 years ago.  I was *really* sad to see them go and assumed this meant I would no longer have the pleasure of photographing their growing family (they had just had baby #2 when they left the Bay Area.)  Much to my immense surprise, they saved up and surprised me with the news that they were flying me out this year to come do their family portraits at their (gorgeous) new home in Austin, TX.  Woah.  Talk about the biggest honor ever.  I was delighted and thrilled to do this for them and tickled pink that Heather & David were gracious enough not only to let me stay with them the entire time but also that Heather took the day off work the day before our shoot to show me all around Austin and so we could scope out potential shooting locales together!  That was such a treat, not only because we had a total blast hanging out together all day (I LOVED the South Congress neighborhood best!) but it really gave me the opportunity to pick the two spots I thought would work the best based on lighting, location, weather challenges and time of shoot etc...

During my free time with Heather, and then later with my friend Amber (who drove 2 hrs to come meet up with me!) and then the last day I also had a little free time to wander around a bit (Barton Springs and a super duper neato smoothie joint - Thanks Kathy!) I decided to ONLY shoot with my iphone and it was SO liberating!  I'm seriously becoming totally addicted to only documenting my personal life with my iphone and my Hipstamatic app.    I have so many incredible shots I've taken with that particular combo that I'm questioning why I would ever need to bring anything else during my own little adventures out and about.  Now, obviously, the day I start suggesting doing a client's family shoot with it, well, then you can all do an intervention on me, but for now and for my personal use, it's quite fabulous and makes me all kinds of happy.

I put together a little collage of the images I took with my phone during my 5 day stay in Texas.  Turns out I was even commissioned to do a second shoot for one of Heather's good friends while I was there, so that was great fun too!  I made the most of my time in Austin and can't wait to come back next year!  I'll post Heather & David's family shoot and then the sibling shoot with Austin & Sydney next.  But first, I actually need to finish editing all those images! HA!  I got in late last night and by the time I had picked up my kids from my mom's house and my dog from my friend's house and walked in my door it was midnight local time (2am texas time) and I was DEAD to the world.    Trying to get myself back on track today.  It's amazing how much needs to be done when you get back from being away.  What I wouldn't do right now for laundry that washes and folds itself, a fridge that magically fills itself, plants that self water, a house that self cleanses, kids who aren't bickering incessantly from and overdose of summer togetherness and then I could focus every ounce of myself exclusively on editing!  Alas, I have misplaced my magic wand and instead must attend to it all on my own.    TRIAGE!!!  :)

A few notes about Texas:

1) The heat index lies somewhere between OMG and WTF!  (I stole that)

2) I could leave the house with my wet-straight-out-of-the-shower hair plastered to my face, step outside for 5 mn and then walk back in with a FULL on 'afro. My curls went WACKADOO.

3) I am not particularly fond of the heat/humidity and everytime I stepped outside I involuntarily made a little sound that was a cross between OUF and ARGH.  It made my hosts laugh at their wimpy California friend....

4) Austin is a really really really awesome place to live and I can totally see me and the kids there, super family and kid friendly, great schools, huge emphasis on the arts and music, funky neighborhoods and really cool vibe.  I TOTALLY dig it.

5) It's a little known fact that even if a peacock is all fluffed up and "presenting" himself to you, that does not mean you should approach him, as that will make said peacock "retract".  There is a HUGE inside joke with that little tidbit of information.  You'll just have to trust me on that.

6) One night I went to pick up a little plastic gecko on the kitchen floor only to discover it was a real little "house gecko" (very common in Austin), imagine my surprise!  

7) My girl Amber and I got caught in a HUGE street corney/neighborhood bar water battle with easily 200 people engaged in a massive water fight from one side of the intersection vs the other side of the intersection.  People were dropping buckets of water from apartments above the bars, water gun snipers on the roof tops, hoses on the street and water balloons from everyone else, including the bartenders who would leave their post, run outside, throw a water balloon and then run back inside.  HILARIOUS!!!  

8) Heather took me to a boot shop and I was instantly drawn to a pair of insanely awesome boots that I absolutely loved until I looked at the price tag.  $700.  What the what!?  Alas, no boots for me.  I would somehow find THE most expensive pair of boots in the shop without even trying.  Champagne tastes on a soda pop budget is the story of my life! HA! 

9) Freebirds was the best burrito I've EVER had.   

10)  I really loved all the portable air streamer food joints all over town and "food truck" lots.  Crazy cute.

11) There's something seriously wrong with someone jogging outside at high noon when it's 105 degrees outside.  Seriously.  You Texans are cray-cray.

12) I can't wait to come back!  Next time, Heather and I are Stand Up Paddleboarding! Woohoooooo!