pascale wowak photoblog

Dreamboat

2010-03-11T17:15:20-08:00

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

2010-03-10T13:06:10-08:00

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

2010-03-09T13:25:50-08:00

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"

2010-03-08T14:59:49-08:00

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

2010-03-07T15:20:52-08:00

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!!!

I ADORE this next shot. I was just getting my focal point ready with a test shot to make sure it was where I needed it to be and they were "lying in wait" to pounce out at me and you can see the joy and anticipation on Che's face and even though this is was supposed to be a "test shot", it turned out to be one of my favorites!

The light got yuckier and yuckier as the shoot progressed and where it not for my handy dandy reflector there is no way we could have gotten these shots. You will see on some of them how it just PERFECTLY illuminated their faces and eyes.

How squeezable is this kid!?

This next one cracks me up!

I just love the energy between these two!

NO MOMMY KISSES! YUK!!

He has a tendency to crinkle his nose when he smiles really big and I.LOVE.IT.

We did a few headshots of Mamacita!

Love these next two soooooo much!

I know it's not considered "accurate" to use a WIDE angle approach on portraiture due to the distortion (think wobble-head) but it just amuses me so. :)

Then as we were walking back to our cars I spotted a PERFECT little dandelion. Anyone who knows me knows my affinity for dandelions, so much so that it is incorporated in my logo/branding, so I *obviously* had to pick it up and *do something* with it... Look at this boy wouldja? Soooo cute!

Free Shipping on my Photography Book!

2010-03-04T13:08:32-08:00

My book (---------->) is being given free shipping courtesy BLURB by entering the code: WESHIP at checkout through March 22nd! Don't delay! Grab this opportunity! Shipping is usually about $8 so that's a great deal! The link to purchase the book can be accessed by simply clicking on the book picture badge over there on the upper right hand column under the MY BOOK title! This is really, truly, a great book!

ENJOY!!!!

Is there anything this woman cannot do?!

2010-02-28T08:56:25-08:00

Ah Julie. A woman of MANY talents. Apparently it wasn't good enough to design these incredible outfits from gorgeous fabric selections (and then also have the ability to skillfully photograph them as well)... Noooooooo. Julie, an artist in the truest sense of the word, decided to DESIGN HER OWN FABRICS. Yes, create and design her own fabrics. I was in awe when she told me she was doing this and then beyond thrilled when I saw the results. Ellie has declared this "tank style" dress her FAVORITE Julie creation yet. I picked her up from school and we drove for a few minutes until I saw a dirt driveway I liked and VOILA. We got busy. :)

Julie is also in the early stages of opening up her own Fabric Shop on Etsy. It will be the one stop shop to find all the gorgeous fabrics she uses, including vintage finds, possibly her own fabric designs and these AMAZING pre-cut sets to help the beginner seamstress get started on a project with a whole lot less intimidation. This is going to be DANGEROUS for the likes of me.

The headband, since I KNOW y'all gonna be asking me, is the same sweet lady who designed that feather one she wore a while back at the railroad track shoot. Blue Eyed Freckle.

I did a few shots with off camera flash just to play around with it a bit. I am forcing myself to do at least a few images with that set up every shoot I can. Ultimately, I always end up liking the natural light shots better but that's probably because I am just not as skilled with OCF as I'd like to be. I dunno. These were pretty cute though. :)

Then, back to natural light. This is probably my favorite one of the day. Although I've got about three that are tied up for that #1 spot!

Super cute!

Look at the back of this dress. So simple and comfy and yet FULL OF VIBRANT STYLE!!

I did a slightly different processing on this next one, not sure if I like it yet.

She was having a blast running through the hoop!

CRAZY in love with this next one. Soooo Ellie.

AMAZING JOB JULIE!!!!!!

ZozoBugBaby and ZoGirl & NuxieMade Trunk Show!

2010-02-27T16:58:42-08:00

My dear friend Kirsten and I co-hosted a trunk show for Julie (ZozoBugBaby & ZoGirl) and Melissa (NuxieMade) today. Kirsten held it at her gorgeous home and spent the whole night and morning cooking up a storm and had the most scrumptious menu laid out for our guests. I'm in awe of this girl's cooking skills. I think I spent most of the trunk show trying to sneak away into the kitchen to eat. HA!

The show was a huge success and I cannot wait for everyone to get their hand made custom dresses, outfits and accessories!

I thought it would be a good idea to print some images of the models wearing the outfits on boards to display around the room so I had a bunch of images printed up on 5X7 and 6X8 board backing. The other photographer who hosted a trunk show before me (I had the boards sent out early before the first show) ran with my idea and printed out a bunch of her own so we had a great collection by the time it got to me.

Kirsten also scored a great garment rack from a friend (Hi Megan!!) and I brought some champagne and OJ to "seal the deal" with a nice little mimosa! Tee hee hee. :)

It was so great to see a bunch of my friends and meet so many of Kirsten's friends. There were a bunch of little ones in attendance and I even got to cradle a sweet curly haired angel (Megan's daughter) in my arms and rock her to sleep (Sigh.....baby cravings......).

Here are a few pictures I took (I promised Julie I would take a few shots) and they are basically SOOC (straight out of the camera as I just got home after being away all day and want to hang out with my family now!)

ENJOY the images Julie!

If you are interested in hosting a show yourself, contact Julie for her availability. I think she is booked solid through April but has openings after that. You get some wonderful incentives for hosting a show!

Those would be HOME MADE scones AND blueberry muffins. From scratch. Sooooooo yummy!!!

And these? Homemade Strattas. One vegetarian, one sausage. Jealous, me? Nooooooooo.

I'll just bring the booze and the OJ. And the picture boards. And my camera. And.... my smiling face!? Yeah, that's my contribution....

And, last but not least, some freshly brewed java. Mommy's little helper. :)

Thank you Kirsten for being the hostess with the mostest. I could NOT have done this without you. YOU ROCK!