pascale wowak photoblog

Gemma & Nico (in utero)

This past weekend I went up to visit my friend Rosaura (who is a fellow professional photographer) and grab some shots of her very pregnant self, her family and her incredibly happy little girl Gemma.   The weather was really iffy and it was SUPER cold outside but we braved the elements nonetheless and went to the local playground to hang and shoot.  Afterwards, Rosaura and I retreated to her bedroom and spent more time focusing on a bunch of EPIC semi nude maternity shots, which you won't see here, but were a bunch of fun to capture to say the least!  It's always a treat to photograph another photographer because you "speak the same language."  

Gemma is the most joyful, charming and delightful little girl.  She giggled nonstop and ran around the playground bouncing from activity to activity, always on the go.  A feisty, high energy little firecracker and I think I know who she gets that from.... :)   Gemma was extra sweet too because she told her mom that she was going to give her baby brother Nico her favorite bunny and her favorite blankie, both of which we made sure to capture images of her with based on the story behind it and the tender emotional connection.  SO sweet. :)

Rosaura got to pick the images she wanted to show on the blog's sneak peek so here you go!  ENJOY and I cannot wait to meet baby Nico.  CONGRATULATIONS again Rosaura and Scott!

For those who will be asking, Gemma's adorable dress is by ZOZOBUGBABY and her hairband by BLUE EYED FRECKLE!

 

Elisa, Peter, Kenzi and.... ?

Kenzi's little baby brother doesn't have a name and it's killing me because I WANT to KNOW!  Because, clearly, it's all about me....  Hahahaha! :)

My devoted blog followers will instantly recognize this beautiful family as I get to photograph them at least 3 times a year.  I captured Kenzi in utero, so to speak, and then as a newborn and every few months afterwards.  SUCH an honor and delight to be able to do that.  I feel like I really KNOW Kenzi and her parents and we are all so comfortable around each other, it's just a whole lot of fun!

For their second pregnancy shoot we decided to go to Stanford University as they are both alumni and the campus holds special meaning to them.   It was a gorgeous day and not too packed with tourists.  Elisa has a knack for making pregnancy look GOOD.  She is so glowing and at ease and confident well into the end of her pregnancy.  She just exudes such calm confidence about it.  She's a natural.  I joked that she should have "plenty more babies" and I think I saw Peter clutch his chest in a mock panic attack... :)

Elisa and Peter, here's your little sneak peek, I hope you love them, and I cannot wait to meet Kenzi's little baby brother!  I hope he has the same amazing head of hair that Kenzi had!  See you soon!

Side note:  the picture of Kenzi pitching a fit near the end is hands down my favorite image I've taken this year.   Seriously, if that doesn't perfectly represent the terrible two's then I don't know what does.  I particularly LOVE how Elisa is cracking up watching Kenzi's little drama-fest.  Fantastic!  :)

The makings of magic

I know I usually title my posts with the client's first name(s) but this shoot transcended that.  This shoot was pure magic.  Through and through.  I have had the pleasure of photographing this family for a little over 2 years now and every single time we get together we create magic.  EVERY SINGLE TIME.  I tried to figure it out for a while, wondering if it was just luck, or because we got along so well, or because we are all so creative at heart, or so full of spunk?  But, I think I finally figured it out.  It's passion.  We're all passionate folks.  We're passionate about life.  We're passionate about creating art.  We're passionate about FAMILY.  We're passionate about LOVE.   The only way to really describe the formula for what we create together is this:

Kevin ADORES Carly.  Carly ADORES Kevin.  They both ADORE Avery.  Avery ADORES her parents.  And I come in and capture it.  There's honestly just so much tangible adoration going on here that a trained monkey would be able to capture it on film.  Fortunately, there are no monkeys available so they pick me to do that for them.   I've talked at length about how I engage my clients and become a part of the experience with them and how THAT is where the value of what I do comes into play.  That it goes way beyond just "taking pictures."   I'm not just a "picture taker."  I engage, I structure, I pose, I encourage... Essentially, I participate.  I play a role in the process.  And when my personality and approach meshes so beautifully with the family I am photographing, this is the end result.

I'm going to admit something here.  I cried when I watched the finished slideshow.  I'm not even sure why I cried.  I never cry when I watch the slideshows I put together for my clients.  I am usually grinning ear to ear but not crying.  I think Carly and Kevin represent for me the family I wish I'd had growing up.  They are open, loving, supportive, fun, sweet and tender with each other.  At all times.  They make my heart swell when I'm around them.  I just want to soak in all their love.  

That's why I picked the song I picked.  "A Beautiful World" by Tim Myers.  The lyrics are so perfectly suited to what this family represents and means to me.  Carly, Kevin and Avery, THANK YOU.  I cannot wait to meet Baby #2.  :)

 
 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW

Kristin

It's an honor ANYTIME someone hires me to take their images but it's an extra special kind of honor when a fellow photographer picks you because you KNOW they have a critical, discerning, trained eye and want the very best!  In this case, my (as yet genetically unproven but we both know the truth) "twin" and professional photographer Kristin hired me to take her maternity images.    

Now, before you all hate her because she looks so unbelievably amazing, let me just add a little fuel to the fire.  This is her fifth, yes, FIFTH, pregnancy.  Ok, now you can hate her even more!  Hahahahahaha!  Seriously though, this gal is as gorgeous as they come.  But, here's the best part, she's even more beautiful on the inside.   An amazing and devoted wife, mother, friend and photographer.  It's been an honor getting to know her over the past few years.

Being able to shoot a consenting, agreeable, uber cooperative adult meant that I was able to bring all my OCF (off camera flash) equipment with us on our shoot.  I had my flash, pocket wizards, light stand and huge umbrella softbox in addition to my reflector and all my other standard gear.  I felt like some weirdo paparazzi walking all over downtown Capitola trekking all my gear.  But, just to make sure I didn't feel like the only silly-lookin' gal out there, Kristin was dragging a rolling suitcase behind her with about a dozen outfits/accessories in it!  Too funny!!  Full disclosure:  I DID tell her to bring LOTS of clothes/outfits, I guess I'm just not used to people actually following my instructions so well!  In the end we did a half dozen outfit changes.  I was thrilled, not only with her patience as we worked 2+ hours (well into the darkness of post sunset), but with the fact that I could grab a shot with the most dreamy light and run over to her to show it to her and she could truly appreciate what I was showing her!  Kristin can attest to the fact that nearly all these images were practically perfect SOOC.  It was incredible.  I did minimal editing on these, especially the ones using OCF which were absolutely delicious.  

So, without further ado, seeing as I've tortured you all so much with the lead up, here is the stunning, lovely, incredible Kristin.  You rock girl! :)

For you photogs interested in the technical mumbo jumbo, I set my flash to manual mode (I do not use TTL) and generally start with my power of HALF POWER setting which is displayed as 1/2 (rather than 1:1 which is full power) and go down to QUARTER power (displayed as 1/4) if I want less punch.   I set my shutter speed at 1/200 which is the sync speed for my particular camera.  I have pocket wizards set up on the flash and my camera and have both set to the same channel so they communicate.  I then vary my aperture setting based on whether my test shot is under or over exposed.  In this case I started around F7.1 and ended up dropping it down to F5.6 to get the perfecto light you see here.  I positioned the flash and umbrella to my camera left (just a couple feet to my left) with a slightly downward angle to give that nice, not too shadowy, soft lighting.  YUMMY.

   

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!)
 

  

Jenny, Ryan, Jaxson &....?

Jenny and I met a few years ago and then a couple years ago her then coworkers gifted her with a pregnancy shoot with me.  We totally hit it off and became friends.  I adore this gal.  Jenny is about as sweet and sassy as they come all in one beautiful package.  I've been able to photograph Jaxson before and he is such a cutie.  Being able to photograph Jenny's second pregnancy meant the world to me and I'm so happy we were able to make this shoot happen even when LIFE seemed determined to get in the way!

The first setback was the weather.  Our intended date was going to be RAINED on and there was only ONE day that worked for both our schedules to reschedule it on.  Another FREEZING cold day.   But we decided to deal with the ridiculously cold air (hovering around 38 degrees) in exchange for not having the images at all!

The, we get to our destination, downtown Capitola, and the wonky stormy weather was creating havoc on the beach.  As in, there was NO BEACH.  It was completely submerged under water.  I have NEVER seen that happen there and it was so disconcerting.  Not only that, it threw a wrench in our "let's do pictures on the beach and under the pier" shots we wanted to do.....yeah, no underwater housing unit on this camera.....  

So, we go to plan B and decide to take pictures along the colorful houses that are near the beach, which are, by the way, protected by a low cement wall.  As we walk down there we are suddenly attacked by a swarm of bugs (what!?) and as we are walking out of there we notice a FREAKISH set of MONGOSO waves heading out way.  Jenny grabs Jaxson and we start RUNNING.  We barely got out of that area before the waves went crashing OVER the cement wall and up against the houses.  Yeah, I'm serious. THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!  SO, um, plan B is out the window at this point....

Plan C is to go on top of the pier.  We settle in to get started and next thing you know the waves are crashing up and AGAINST the pier.  Lordy.  The water did eventually recede for a few minutes allowing us a handful of silhouette shots near the top end of the beach but we didn't stick around to see if the "killer waves" would return....

Plan C was to basically just walk away from the entire beachfront area!!! HA!

So between everything going nothing as we had planned, we still managed some pretty darn awesome images and I attribute that entirely to the fact that Jenny looks gorgeous no matter WHAT.  That girl WORKS the camera.  She makes me happy.  :)

Oh, and I should mention that Jenny H. is a FANTASTIC esthetician!  She ROCKS.  You can find her at Simply Skin Salon in Santa Cruz.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Jenny and Ryan, I am so happy for you guys to be adding to your family.  Jaxson is going to be an incredible big brother!!

ENJOY your sneak peek!

 

Elisa & Peter

 I absolutely adored meeting Elisa & Peter.  Their love and joy was so palpable.  I felt so incredibly inspired by it.  Everyone knows that my two favorite shoots are the maternity and newborn shoots.  For whatever reason, I am just very very drawn to capturing that time.  Don't get me wrong, I love doing all the styles of photography that I am blessed to be able to do within the realm of my duties as a portrait photographer, but the connection I have with maternity and newborns is very special to me.  I think it's because that time in my life was so hugely transformative that it left a lasting impression on my soul and I reconnect with it EVERY single time I do a maternity or newborn shoot.

Anyway, enough about that.  This was one of my all time favorite maternity sessions.  Elisa could not have been more photogenic or easy to photograph.  I think I must have told her a million times "WOW" while looking through my lens and composing my shot.  She just totally rocked the shoot.  And Peter was so tender, sweet, supportive and fun to be around.  He brings out the best in Elisa.  My favorite shots of her are when she is looking at him and her smile is literally sparkling.

I am quite sure Elisa and Peter think I am quite possibly the chattiest person on the planet... which I blame entirely on the fact that I was functioning on 3 hrs sleep and about 15 cups of coffee.  I hope they didn't notice..... ha!  Oh well, hopefully these images will make up for having to listen to me jibber jabber excitedly throughout the entire shoot! (What can I say, besides the caffeine I was also incredibly inspired at this shoot and when I'm feeling those creative juices coursing through me I can't help but get giddy and chatty).

Elisa and Peter, I hope you love this sneak peek.  I cannot wait to meet your little girl.  She will be blessed with so much love in her life!

  

Dave & Kristy

Dave & Kristy are very close friends of mine.  I worked with Dave many years ago and cannot even tell you how happy I was for him when he met Kristy.  She is absolutely PERFECT in every way and he is one lucky dude.   He is also so good to her and they are just the best match.  I shot their engagement, their wedding and now, yipppppeeeee, their pregnancy!!  And sometime around Christmas, I will be lucky enough to shoot their new little baby girl, fresh out of the oven! I cannot wait.  Kristy was meant to be a mom and she is going to be a complete natural at it.  I can't wait to see Dave cuddling his newborn baby girl, it just might make me cry. But, you know, I'll pull myself together real fast cause I'm a professional and all.  :)

Kristy wanted her maternity session to be sweet and simple.  No dramatic half naked shots but rather images that capture their excitement about their baby and their incredible bond with each other.   It's so obvious that Dave and Kristy are best friends and really make such a great team in their marriage.  This little girl is going to be very loved.  

Kristy wanted to do the shoot downtown Capitola because of all the bright colorful buildings and then finish off with some beach shots.  The light that day was magnificent and Kristy looked stunning!  She definitely had the "glow."  Of course, Dave's job was to make us laugh and he was quite successful in that department.  I can always count on him to put a big smile on my face.

Dave and Kristy, I love you guys and am soooooo excited to meet your little girl!  CONGRATULATIONS!

 

Kathy, Luke, Luci and ????

I've been photographing this super cool family since they were pregnant with Luci.  I fell in love with them on our very first shoot and have been blessed to be able to do many more shoots with them over the years.  Kathy and Luke have a very strong appreciation for good photography and they let me fully delve into my creative/artistic side.  They give me free reign to just "play" and having that freedom lets me do all the things I dream of wanting to try.  I'm so grateful for their trust and faith in my vision and ability to bring to life their ideas as well.  It's a very collaborative effort and the results are always wonderful.  

Little Luci is quite the character and we joke about how much she is like Ellie.  Very strong little personality and you can just forget about getting her to do anything YOU want her to do.  With Luci, it's all about just capturing her vibrant personality any way you can!  She keeps me on my toes!

The primary purpose of this shoot was to capture Kathy in her second pregnancy but we also got family shots as well and some solo shots of Miss Luci doing her thing.   Kathy is absolutely stunning every day but particularly glowing when she is pregnant.   She has a really gorgeous classic beauty, like an old hollywood star.  The camera absolutely loves her.

I even got to play around with some off camera flash at the end which was fun!  I used my reflector for nearly all the previous shots.  I have found that my reflector acts almost like a flash, especially when held at a distance with the "strong" side in effect.  I love the powerful directionality of the light, the intense color it creates and the sparkling catchlights it gives the eyes.  I cannot imagine doing a shoot without my reflector.  I find flat light completely boring now.   And even when I am looking for a soft effect, I just use the reflector up close on the more diffused side to open up the shadows and create an overall extremely flattering look.  People often ask me how I manage to get my images so beautifully lit and many assume I am using fill flash but I am just using my handy dandy reflector.

A VERY special thank you to Grandma for taking care of Luci while we did the parents only shots and also holding the reflector for me like a seasoned pro when she wasn't watching Luci.  :)

Another perk of this particular shoot was that we were able to do it on the grounds of the Regan Vineyard in Corralitos.  Such a treat.  I LOVE going to new places, it gets my creative juices flowing.

note: this is a very long blog post, please give all the images time to load so you don't miss out on viewing any of them!

Jess & Nic

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!!!

The S. Family

This lovely family is due with baby#2 very soon and we were able to capture this special time for them at Natural Bridges on an absolutely GORGEOUS day.   Big sister to be Julie was very timid at first but Daddy worked his comedian act and soon she was giggling and having a good time, albeit still in the tight confines of her mother's arms :)

Jen is just about as photogenic as they come and it was so easy getting great shots of her.  She was also very accommodating to my many requests for different poses and went along with everything I suggested which I really appreciated and resulted in some truly spectacular shots.   I love when my clients just trust me to do my thing.  It gives me the freedom to play around, experiment and try new things, resulting in a variety of poses and imagery for them.

We started out with Jen alone while dad worked his magic with Julie.  

I love this next shot!

This next one is a variation on the hand/heart on belly shot.  I had her hold out her hand in front of her rather than resting it on her belly.  I like this version better!

We took a series of more "risquee" shots but those are not being posted for privacy reasons.  I can only tell you that they are HOT! :0

Julie and mommy cuddling together. :)

I had to get my close ups of Julie while she was in the comfort and security of her mom's arms but I still managed some great shots!  How beautiful is that smile!? And those sparkling eyes!?

Stunning.  And I am insanely crazy about the next several shots.  Jen worked it!

I can't wait to meet the little baby brother in a few more weeks!!

Annie & Danny

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samara

Samara is going to be a big sister soon!  Samara is quite the little firecracker.  She is an 'on the go' kinda girl and would much prefer to be in charge (my kind of gal) than have anyone direct her activities in any way, shape or form.  It was pretty hilarious having this tiny little thing dragging us three adults all over the place.  But we ebbed and flowed as needed and patience always wins over headstrong little toddlers!  I think mom and dad almost waved the white flag a few times, but in the end we prevailed!  We didn't do the victory dance or anything, we are mature adults after all.... :)

Speaking of mom, she is absolutely stunning and I could have taken pictures of her all day long.  Wait til you see them for yourself.  Drop dead gorgeous.

I've gotten to know this family over the years and I'm just so excited to meet the new addition.   CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy your images!!!

do you see what I'm talking about?

this is the only picture of her not somehow in movement of some sort! And I think it was just a split second pause before running off again!

i love how she is on her tippy toes on this one 

this next one cracks me up!

not sure exactly why but this one makes me all kinds of happy :)

Kathy & Dave

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

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

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

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

Emma, Addie and Hallie (in utero)

Pregnancy and newborns are what I consider to be my *specialty.*   Even though I had two challenging pregnancies, I truly loved being pregnant and I go absolutely gaga over newborns.  Jung is pregnant with #3 and she exudes so much confidence it's nearly palpable.  Basically, it's confidence, sexiness and "been there, done that" all wrapped into one glorious package.  She was positively glowing.  We spent a great deal of the session bouncing back and forth between shots of her and shots of her girls and then back to her and then the family and then back to her and then back to the sisters etc..  It may have seemed haphazard to them but I have found that doing little mini 5 mn block sessions with kids and then letting them run around and be "free" for a few minutes is the best approach.  This also allowed me time with mom to really focus on her without the kiddos distracting her.  Dad did a great job keeping the girls entertained while mom and I did our thing, so in return Jung and I took some very spectacular (private) images of her.  :)

Emma and Addie were lively, energetic, playful girls and I felt right at home seeing as I have one of those myself! (My boy is the quiet uber shy one)

I give them a perfect 10 score for their synchronized skipping too!!!

We had a great time and stayed at the beach until we quite literally ran out of light!  I can't wait to meet Hallie!  Enjoy your images :)

Renata

Renata is a very smart woman, even though she is pregnant with baby #2, rather than overlooking the event due to exhaustion or busyness (as I did sadly when I was pregnant with #2) she made the time to get pregnancy photos done with this little bundle of joy as well.  I was so great about getting pregnancy photos done while pregnant with my first child but, despite my budding obsession with photography, was just "too busy" to do any of that while pregnant with #2... and I regret it SO much.  I have maybe two photos of me pregnant with Ellie and they are just casual snapshots; one was taken while we were out on a rare bowling excursion and I was about 8 months pregnant and the I'm holding up the bowling ball which was smaller than my belly... It's a funny shot, yes, but it's not the only shot I would have wanted to document that time...

While Renata and I were doing our thing daddy was busy entertaining their 3 yr old daughter te'a who decided to strip down to her birthday suit and roll around in the sand.  It was great because I got a fabulous series of images at the end between this little carefree, happy as a clam child with wet, sandy hair and nakee bottom playing around with her mother and "the belly."    Because of her attire (or lack thereof) I am not posting any of those but they are SO great!

Renata was so wonderful in that, after getting a general idea as to what her photographic preferences were, she basically told me to just "do my thing" and let me try all kinds of artistic and creative angles with her. She went with it and trusted me completely and we ended up with some truly unique and delightful images.  

I hope you love these Renata!

Nadya & Ilya

Funnily enough Nadya tried to convince me that she was not comfortable in front of the camera.  I would have guessed she was a model in a former life but, hey, you be the judge!  Pregnant with their first child (a girl!) and just the cutest couple ever.   Nadya was GLOWING.  It didn't hurt that the light was this absolutely lovely pinkish warm tone, almost creamy, and postively perfect.  We did so many clothing changes (Nadya is quite the fashionista!) that I lost count but we certainly had fun with all the different outfits.  Nadya was particularly fond of the "bridges" at Natural Bridges so we made sure to feature them in many of the images.  She was also partial to B&W so I was sure to feature a good amount of the B&W imagery.  It was a pleasure meeting you both.  CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy your images! :)

 

Ava and coming soon: Bella!

When I posted pictures of Ava last year I titled it "Spunky Ava" and not much has changed except that she will be getting a baby sister soon!  Ava is full of spunk and "almost three year old-ness."  She is quite the character!  It was a super windy day but everyone handled it really well and Ava was so excited to be heading to the beach that she nearly DRAGGED us there.   I can't wait to see who little Bella takes after!  Tiffany, I wish you a smooth (as can be!) delivery and transition to your new family of four!  Enjoy your images. :)

On a side note, I want to take a quick moment to publicly thank all of you who sent me such incredibly supportive emails regarding my much needed rate increase.  The tremendous outpouring of encouragement and support (not to mention valuable financial guidance and insight) was really very sweet and I want you all to know how grateful I am to have such wonderful clients who truly value me and what I offer them.  I want you to know how much I value you too!!  THANK YOU!

Carly & Kevin

I had so much fun during this shoot and soon you'll understand why.  Carly and Kevin came to the shoot open for anything and infectiously giddy.  This was very good because the spots that I usually use at Natural Bridges were off limits due to a very high tide and huge crashing waves.  So we just had to totally improvise.  They were game!  Kevin in particular seemed even MORE excited about the whole thing than Carly!  That's a first!  Plus they did an amazing job of interacting with each other (they actually couldn't take their eyes off each other! how cute!) and ignoring me and my big lens which meant I was able to catch alot of emotional connections that really capture their relationship as I see it.  In fact, their love was so palpable and electric that when we did the silhouettes at the end I positioned myself in such a way as to get the sun flare to be right at the spot where their lips met when they kissed to insinuate those sparks.  Kevin was so funny because he was just so jazzed about his baby being born soon that he could barely keep still!  At one point he was running around Carly doing airplane circles and I had to capture it because it totally represented how he was feeling: he was (quite literally) soaring.  At the end I decided to just channel his energy and we did the last series of shots I posted.  And, naturally, because I'm quite evil that way, I had him do several takes... :)  I was just having so much fun seeing how great these shots were turning out that I kept pushing him to jump HIGHER in order to get that "one" shot that would be the killer shot.  And I got it.  Those last few images, to me, represent his enthusiasm for this huge transition that they are about to go through together.  I wish you both the very best and a very empowering natural birth.   Can't wait to meet the little one! :)

 

Heather's Pregnancy

Heather is due in less than two weeks with her first child.  It's such an exciting time in a woman's life.  And as happy and excited as her husband is to be expecting their first child he was perhaps not QUITE as excited about having his picture taken.  I must add that about 90% of the men I deal with are most certainly reticient if not reluctant about the entire photo taking process... :)  But he pulled through amazingly well!

In fact, they were both incredibly easy to photograph and looked like old pros within about 5 minutes so it was a piece of cake.  Heather has the most photogenic smile and is, despite her protests to the contrary, very very much at ease in front of the camera.  Just look at these and see for yourself: perfectly stunning.  Throw in that maternal glow and you're good to go! :)

I'm looking forward to meeting the little dude in a few weeks!

 

Shannon & Adam

This couple is one of my "founding families" in that they've been letting me document their family since their first born was a newborn and I've taken many images of him as he's grown over the past couple years.  Now I get to watch and chronicle for them the next stage of their family life: baby #2!  I've mentioned how much of a treat it is to stay with families over the years and document for them all these delightful changes.  It's rewarding for me on so many levels and it's also just alot of fun.  I've done about five shoots for these folks so we kinda know each other really well by now.  There's no warm up period, it's just "hey, how ya doing? Let's get started!"  And I love that because we can pretty much be hanging out WHILE I'm doing my thing.  It's quite pleasant really, at least for me! :)  The funniest thing with Adam and Shannon is that Adam is a full FOOT AND A HALF taller (yes, that's accurate) than Shannon.  So in the past I've been unable to get a picture of them standing next to each other without it looking completely ridiculous....like a guiness 'world's tallest man" show picture or something.  Adam is not freakishly tall nor is Shannon teeny tiny but their stark height difference between them is challenging in terms of photography.  So it was with actual, audible, squeals of delight that I figured out a couple poses for them that WORKED (the last two shots posted here) which made me beyond giddy with excitement.  I actually have a whole series of images with variations on those last two but those were my two favorites.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  Shannon, you look amazing as always; I can't wait to meet AJ's little brother!!!

As a side note, both this shoot and my last one were done 2 days apart, same location, TOTALLY different weather and lighting conditions.  It's really fascinating to see the differences in types of images and light when you compare them.  The first shoot (bright sunny day) has lots of bright, glowy backlit images and striking silhouettes etc... and this one (overcast day) has much more muted, soft tones, less contrast, more evenness to it.  You can plainly see how I had to use different locations within the same environment and different approaches with posing based on the light conditions.  Pretty Cool, huh!? :)

Sarah & Chris

I've been so busy lately with family shoots (tis the season!) that I haven't had a pregnancy shoot in several weeks so I'm delighted to have two in a row this week!  The first one is with this lovely couple expecting their first child.   It's so cute to see the intense love they have for their little boy in utero, and for each other.  Sarah has the most magnetic smile and, as you can plainly see, is incredibly photogenic.   They were really so adorable together and you could just tell how incredibly excited they are to be having this baby.   I wish you a very smooth remainder of your pregnancy!  Congratulations!! :)

Jenny G.

I defy anyone who, after looking at these photos, DARES to tell me that a pregnant woman is not gloriously SEXY.  Wow.  Jenny's done some modeling in her past (she refers to it as "many moons ago" but she's still got it as far as I'm concerned) and there's a wonderfully symbiotic relationship between photographer and (ex)model.   I've done a couple specialized training seminars down in L.A. working with professional models in the studio setting and lest you think modeling is an "easy" job I can assure you that it is not.  The really good ones are always aware of the light, the angle, the position of their bodies, they can look like a completely different person every few seconds...  They are PROS in every sense of the word.  And they are positively delightful to work with.  They never complain, you can put them in all kinds of really uncomfortable poses and they hold it for as long as you need them to.  Jenny was like that.  I had her sitting in sharp pokey iceplant and she never skipped a beat. I had her leaning this way, that way, sideways, nearly upside down and she never looked at me like I was a crazy lunatic asking all this of her.  She was always aware of her body and the light source.  And she had that superb comfort in front of the camera that I am fortunate to get with so many of my clients.  At one point a wave washed up on shore and rolled under her.  The water is COLD right now.  Most people would have tried to run away or screamed...not Jenny. She barely even flinched.  Jenny rocked.  Here's a few favorites.  I also want to assure you all that I have Jenny's explicit permission to post all of these pictures, I double checked with her before even posting them and she was totally cool with it. Jenny, it was so much fun, thanks for giving me full reign to be artistic and creative, enjoy your photos!

Jenny & Ryan

Jenny is positively RADIANT right now.  I knew her a bit before she got pregnant and she's always been gorgeous but now she absolutely glows!  Another great thing about Jenny is that she is NOT camera shy and extremely photogenic, so you can imagine how easy this was for me.  We just giggled like school girls and I took some pictures. Voila. The end!  The love between Ryan and Jenny is transcending.  It just melts my heart.  Little Jackson is one lucky dude to be born into that cocoon of love, tenderness and affection.  I can't wait to meet the little guy!  Take care Jenny and enjoy your pictures! :)