pascale wowak photoblog

Oliver

2013-06-12T20:03:55-07:00

I've been photographing this gorgeous boy his entire life. We do a family shoot every year on his birthday week. It's a lovely tradition that allows me to really see his growth over the years, emotionally and physically. He is an active, bright, vibrant little boy with a BIG personality. And he is very very very loved by his parents. I love listening to him speak Swedish with his mom and it makes me kick myself for not trying harder to teach my two kiddos my native tongue (French) when they were little even though I had a spouse and stepson who was totally resistant. Now that we are doing our own thing, I am determined to try to make up for lost time. Big summer plans to work on French over here, folks! :0

Despite my big leg brace, the shoot was a breeze and we were blessed with incredible light before the fog rolled in. My favorite kind of soft, buttery light working its way through the clouds and then allowing me to use my reflectors and my OCF just the way I like to use them. PERFECTION. It certainly doesn't hurt that Oliver is absolutely beautiful and incredibly photogenic and willing to pose for me, which makes me & my camera very happy indeed.

Patricia and Leo, thank you for spending time with me doing our annual tradition. Oliver is such a hoot and I just so very much enjoy our time together. ENJOY your sneak peek!

Regan & Family

2013-06-09T15:11:58-07:00

I met Regan a couple years ago through long time mutual friends and we instantly hit it off. She's a really neat lady and has a gorgeous daughter whom I've been dying to photograph. Y'all know how I feel about freckles by now... :)

When Regan asked me if I'd photograph a family reunion to celebrate her 50th I was first blown away that this stunning lady was turning 50 (and questioned if she perhaps wasn't aware of her actual birth year), and secondly was super honored that she wanted me to capture this very special occasion.

Her sisters (and kids) and her brother and her mom were all in town at the same time to help her celebrate her big day and it was just really neat to see them all interacting together. There are all super close and affectionate and playful with each other, which is my favorite kind of dynamic to capture.

We were going to start off at Regan's home and then walk down to a nearby private beach but the fog rolled in super fast that day (typical June gloom around here) so we switched it up and started on the beach to avoid the darkest of the dreary fog.

Everyone was so sweet and patient with me as I was still in a knee to toe brace due to my recent reconstructive ankle surgery, having just gotten off crutches a few days prior. I was definitely restricted physically but still able to get 'er done, thankfully!

I really enjoyed this family so much. They were a blast to photograph and everyone was just lovely. At one point we got all 12 adults, 3 kids and 5 dogs into the mix. NO small feat! When taking individual pictures with the matriarch of the family, the grown kids were all taking turns playfully sitting on their mom's lap, which I allowed until it was time for her 6'4" son and then I drew the line. No squished grandma's on my watch! Ha! :)

Regan, you are an absolute delight. Your family is wonderful. Your daughter is stunning. Your dogs are adorable. And you are ridiculously beautiful. 50 ain't got nothing on you. You're gorgeous, inside and out. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

ENJOY your sneak peek!

Our little cottage home - 18 months later

2013-05-13T13:48:24-07:00

I had major reconstructive ankle surgery two weeks ago. I've been in a bit of haze since then, trying to manage the pain with limited pain meds since I'm the only adult in the house and the kids need a fully functional adult, albeit a hobbling on crutches one.

I've been blessed with a veritable village of friends offering their help and support, from meals to rides for my kids (since I'm not allowed to be upright for more than a few minutes at a time nor am I able to drive yet) and walks for my needy dog. My friends swooped in and helped me care for my kids and my dog and just really made ALL the difference in the world in what could have been a pretty ugly logistical scenario of a single mom trying to juggle two kids and a huge dog all on her own while not allowed to leave the confines of her bed for two weeks. I even had the nicest client send me a gift certificate to a local restaurant around the corner from my cottage that the kids and I love. How sweet is that!? I have throughout all of this never felt more blessed or loved.

I am now slightly more functional, able to stand for about 10 minutes at a time on my good leg - without my operated foot turning purple... and adjusting, slowly, to the pain. Thanks to the outpouring of support from my friends, family (my mom drove down last weekend to cook and clean for me)!, clients and lovely weekend visits from my super helpful boyfriend, I have been able to keep the sadness and anxiety surrounding this surgery and long recovery at bay. I've been filled with so much gratitude and appreciation for all the wonderful help. I deeply appreciate and value it and recognize how lucky and fortunate I am to have had all this help. Friends and neighbors have stopped by nearly every day to offer a hand in a variety of capacities. My adorable neighbor who is a nurse even helped me take my first post surgery shower, now THAT is taking your riendship to a whole new level!!! I know how HUGE a blessing this all is. But, truth be told, I hate needing help. I hate even asking for it. I'm too self sufficient a gal to ever feel comfortable on the receiving end of all that love. Inevitably, I hit a wall this morning after too many sleepless nights (the knee to toe brace I am in makes it impossible to sleep, it is cumbersome and hurts in a bad, bad way) and because I am self employed, I am not able to collect disability or unemployment during this long recovery time and my work is such that I simply cannot physically do it while on crutches.

So, this morning, I got weepy and anxious and worried and sad and frustrated and agitated. I'm a very active, constantly on the go person. I wake up at the crack of dawn and go to sleep well past midnight. I normally walk my dog twice a day, work my tail off all day long, in between volunteering at my kids school, doing my shoots and my editing, running my business, running errands, and doing the never ending list of things that single working moms must do every single day. To go from that go-go-go pace to being unable to leave my couch for more than 10 mn at a time and dealing with chronic pain has done a number on me. I'm not in my element right now. I'm an outdoorsy gal. I need my fresh air and pretty scenery. I need nature. I haven't left my house in two weeks. I think I might be going insane. And today is the first day that I've even been able to sit at my computer.

The day before my surgery I deep cleaned my little cottage from top to bottom, culminating a week of stock piling groceries, doing shoots nearly every day, setting up everything for the kids, editing all night and prepping for the big surgery day. I try to keep my house pretty darn spotless in general, as best I can, but having it THAT clean was just so nice and I remember looking around and really SEEING my place with a new set of eyes. And I decided to take pictures of it. To mark the transformation over the past 18 months since we moved in. We have created so much art for the walls and so many projects and I've found so many beloved "treasures" at garage sales, craig's list and Ebay just from scouring and looking and seeking. During this time, we've really transformed our little rental cottage into a HOME. It's unfortunate that my landlord decided to raise the rent and in doing so, sent me into a bit of a panic on how to absorb this increase considering my circumstances and for a fleeting moment I thought we might have to move. But when I looked around that day before my surgery and saw with total clarity how much we love this tiny little place I realized we needed to stay here and I need to figure it out. I need to make it happen. It's really a teeny tiny home, just under 1,000 sq feet. The images I took that day after my deep cleaning, were taken with my wide angle 16mm lens and therefore make the place look MUCH bigger than it actually is. But it's home. We love it. We want to stay here.

I feel like this place so authentically captures and represents my style and how the kids and I live our lives, full of art and music and craft projects, in between battles over homework and my screaming at them to get along while I desperately try to finish editing a session before dinner so I can move on to the next one after dinner. It's not all rainbows and butterflies. It really is compromise. I dedicate time for my job and time for my kids. I juggle two parental roles and duties along with running and operating and sustaining my own business. We make it work. We've figured out the concept of teamwork like never before. I've developed a SYSTEM to keep things running smoothly. I also don't ever stop moving from 7am to 2am. Except for now. And as much as I thought I would LOVE this break from the chaos of my normal day to day routine, I'm actually going crazy because I still need to DO stuff but it takes me ten times longer to do it. But every day I heal a little bit and every day I progress towards being fully functional again. And as long as I stay focused on that goal, that light at the end of the tunnel, then I should be back on track in no time. In the meantime, I thought I would share our little cottage with you. Everything about it is near and dear to my heart. It's our little sanctuary. I hope you enjoy the visit. :)

This is the view as you enter the house from our front door. This is pretty much all our living space, living room and hallway all in one. At the end there is our kitchen and my bedroom and the kids shared bedroom are off to the right. Their room is actually the size of a walk in closet and not technically a room, more of an office, but we are calling it a room. It just BARELY fits their bunkbeds so that makes it a room! HA!

Little Etsy finds like this (above) adorn the house.

The yellow dresser was a Craig's list find. The collection of vintage typewriters are all garage sale or antique fair finds. I LOVE that dresser. So much. It is used to house all my newborn shoot stuff. I used to have a separate studio for all my work/studio related items and now I've incorporated them all into my decor, you will see little chairs all around the place which are props for my work!

I wrote that quote on a plain white canvas using an oil pastel. Took me less than 2 minutes for this "artwork" and cost me close to nothing as I got the canvas during a 50% off sale! Easy peasy! And my kids, well, I'm not short of pictures of them....

Ellie has this little thing she does called "pop up art" and she works on it after school and then leaves pop up art masterpieces for me all over the house. I love that about her. This was a favorite.

I have a huge, long standing collection of old vintage (mostly non working) cameras which are all over the cottage.

I found this old trunk on Craig's list for $20 which I bargained down to $15. It currently houses all my sewing and knitting materials... except that Gavin closed it and pushed in the lock and it still worked and now I have no way to access any of that stuff! Note to self: get a locksmith to come out to gain access sometime in the next year!

My bedroom/office. Notice the wonderful plush dog bed at the foot of the bed. Notice the dog sleeping ON my bed. Yeah.

There's a great story behind this piano. I found it the week we moved in. A little old lady was selling it because she needed to move. She was going to sell it for practically nothing but was taking "interviews" to find the right home for it. After being interviewed by her, she decided we were the the right home for her beloved 1905 upright piano. :)

The world map has little red map pins on it of all the places I've visited in the world (prior to having kids of course) and the kids love to go over, pick a country with a pin, and ask me about my adventures there. The little owl is a gift from my friend Joy who designs them along with ridiculously cute knit owl hats. We've got three of her owls hidden around the house and the kids like to have their friends try and find them. Ellie and I have done shoots for her before, search Freckletree on my blog for those posts!

I very quickly ran out of wall space... 850 sq ft is just not enough wall space for someone like me who likes to DROWN my walls with artwork and imagery. So, I decided to create this "art wall" of sorts on the side of my bookcase showcasing some 3X4 prints of my favorite shots of Ellie being my model for my commercial shoots since she was 2 years old. We call it the Ellie Wall Of Fame. :)

I got the elephant print off a site called Society6 which helps promote artwork from artists all over the world. It's a great place to find affordable art and support independent artists. I loved the idea/concept of the three elephants being carried away by hot air balloons. The kids decided we were each an elephant and assigned one to each of us. I, naturally, was the biggest elephant...

Lots of arts and crafts projects. Images from a trade shoot with a dear photographer friend. These images were SO important to me. It was the first time the kids (and Kooper) and I were photographed as our new family unit. I hold these near and dear to my heart. A scrabble art project where I put down all our names and find ways of connecting words that describe us as a family. It was a ton of fun trying to get that thing together!

Why yes, those are all my kids photo albums down below on that bookshelf... but only for ages 0-4 years old.... the rest of all their images are in boxes and boxes and boxes... I stopped having time to make elaborate albums when they were 4 and 6. But I kept printing all the the images I was taking of them until they were 6 and 8 and then everything has remained on my hard drive since then. So frustrating! I used to be SO good about assembling these fantastic albums for them, by hand.... yeah,,,,, not gonna happen again til they move out for college... at which point I'll just pick up from where I left off! HA!

That top B&W image is one of Ellie that I took and the bottom B&W image is one of me that my mom took at almost the same age. Love having those two so close together.

The shell wreath you see below is one I made with my best friend Sophie when she was up visiting from San Diego 6 months after we moved in. The shells are all shells that the kids and I collected during those first 6 months during our daily walks on the beach getting to know our new stomping grounds. :)

Why yes, we have a urinal and YES, Ellie and I are very grateful for it. It is Gavin's to use and clean. So nice keeping that separate! LOL!

The kids shared room is TINY. And I recognize that we can't pull this off much longer with Gavin turning 11 this summer. But it's all I can swing right now and I've done my best to make the most of the little space and give them a sense of privacy and their OWN areas in the little room. Kept it bright and primary colors so it's not boyish or girlish. I used my grandfathers framed fish watercolor painting (above bed) as the inspiration for the colors in the room. He made that painting for me when I was a little girl and dedicated to me with my name on it. I hold it near and dear to my heart and wanted it to be the center piece of the room from which everything else was based off of. I found all the rest of the furniture at garage sales or craig's list finds.

The kitchen is by far my favorite room in the house. It's bright and airy and feels huge and has good counter space for cooking and awesome blue tiles that I adore.

Ellie and Gavin's artwork adorn the fridge and the house.

This "memory wall" was once just the side of the pantry but it was wasted space! So, I bought adhesive corkboard and applied it to the wall and we now pin all our ticket stubs from events or movies or museum outings onto the memory wall. It's a great way to remember all the fun things we do, even if we don't get to do them that often, we appreciate them for a good long while when we do!

My friend gave me this cabinet and I painted it blue to match the colors of the kitchen and add some COLOR as I have a strong tendency to do that....

That art easel used to belong to my grandfather who was a pretty well known artist and architect in France. My mom gave it to me last year and it holds center stage in our kitchen. I just love it and Ellie uses it practically every day to write new messages or draw new images.

Yup, that's my "famous" dog on the cover of our local tourism guide! Isn't he adorable!? :)

That garden has also seen a MASSIVE transformation. I'm going to do a whole separate blog post just on my garden. When I moved in it was two slabs of concrete and nothing but bark. Not a single plant. I planted everything back there and put in two separate veggie garden areas. And everything goes CRAZY out here, something about the coastal weather. Plants and veggies THRIVE!!!

Great story behind this kitchen set. I found the 1950's original formica table at a thift shop and two days later found the chairs, which match PERFECTLY, on Craig's list. This nook is so tiny that it was super hard to find anything that fit right but VOILA! Two surrendipitous finds that work beautifully in the space provided!!!

My grandfather's art on the left and my art on the right, printed on wood via WOODSNAP. Highly recommend, they offer a fabulous service and do a great job with your images!

And one last "backwards" view as you are heading out of the cottage from the kitchen. We love love love love our little cottage and I am determined to find out how we can stay here as long as possible. Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoyed the tour! :)

Have a great day! Now, go out and get some sunshine and stretch your legs for me, ok!? :)

Elisa, Peter, Kenzi and Bodi

2013-04-29T20:51:45-07:00

Many of you will recognize this adorable family as I have the opportunity to photograph them several times a year. I adore them. Kenzi is one of the most expressive children I have ever met. Every shoot ends up being: The Many Faces Of Kenzi. So stinking cute. This was my second to last shoot before my big reconstructive ankle surgery bright and early tomorrow morning. I had a mini headshot shoot tonight which I will be editing right up to the wire before going in to be sliced and diced! As I was doing this shoot chasing Kenzi and Bodi around and being able to play with them and keep up with all the twirling and dancing and bubble popping I found myself very grateful for my mobility and I can't wait to be off the dang crutches and back in form to do what I do. It's an active job and that's one of the things I love most about it. I've had people ask me if I use a tripod when I photograph and it is so utterly beyond my imagination to ever be able to be that stagnant while I shoot. I love moving and switching gears and changing angles and rolling with the punches. Kids are active little beings. Kenzi and Bodi are the perfect example of this and being able to keep up with them and their moods and their moments is the most fun aspect of what I do. Well, that and capturing those magical snippets that make their parents happy! Kenzi is SO sweet with her little brother, doting on him, hugging him, kissing him. Just so tender. And I really wanted to capture that because it's ridiculously sweet AND because she's insanely cute when she puckers her lips to kiss him. You'll see what I'm talking about when you scroll down. I just love this family. Elisa & Peter, thanks for the fun, once again! Can't wait to see you guys after my recovery! I hope to be fully operational to keep up with everyone at the beach next time! xoxoxoxoxox

Brendan & Claire

2013-04-23T16:27:58-07:00

This is my second time photographing this adorable family and I just love them so much! I'm super excited that I get to see them again later this year! By then, Claire will likely be walking and it will be a whole new scenario! I particularly love the dynamic between Brendan and his baby sister. Clearly, I am partial to the big brother/little sister pairing, for obvious reasons... And I maintain my belief that that particular pairing results in the sweetest, most accomodating, gentle-spirited older brothers and incredibly feisty, diva-ish, bossy little sisters. My theory holds true nearly 90% of the time! Claire is still too young to see if that particular dynamic is at play here but I can absolutely attest to Brendan being super sweet, gentle, protective and tender with his baby sister. When we had her on a tree stump and mom was not, in his opinon, holding onto her quite sturdily enough, he was very clear to point out his distress over that fact and demand that *someone* hold her and wouldn't let go of her until someone did. He's ridiculously sweet with her. The whole family is just all kinds of awesome sauce. How many clients can you joke around with that their kid has hoarding tendencies!? LOL! Brendan was definitely in hoarder mode during our shoot and had us in stitches! They also brought me the MOST DELICIOUS all natural homemade macaroons from their family's store in Fremont called Sweet Orchid Patisseries. And I will fully admit to being a macaroon SNOB. Most macaroons here just pale in comparison to the ones I've had in France but these were the REAL DEAL! So yummy. My kids and I gobbled them up. They also have gelato there too! I think the kids and I will just have to swing by there on our way to visit my mom in the East Bay very soon!!!

Janice and Jonathon, thank you so much for spending your Sunday afternoon hanging out with me! I had a blast and can't wait for our next shoot! There are some real sibling gem shots in this batch, I was loving them as I was editing your shoot! Your two kiddos are utterly fantastic! Love you guys! :)

Gracie

2013-04-19T17:42:37-07:00

I love meeting new families. I especially love meeting new families with whom I totally click from the second we meet. That was the scenario with this family. I met Kelly first so we could go visit all the venues and go over all the details of their AMAZING two day wedding renewal ceremony I will be shooting in October. Kelly and I spent most of the day together and we chatted like old friends jabbering a million miles a minute. I was worried that I was maybe talking too much and just as I was about to reign it in, Kelly apologized for being so chatty! PHEW. Her vision for the event is SO up my alley and SO inspiring that I just cannot wait for it to be October! When Kelly and I were all done we went back to their home and I got to meet 6 year old Gracie who was an absolute kick in the pants. This child is bright. And unwavering in her visions for things. And SUPER artistic. And very expressive. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her as it reminded me of hanging out with my daughter. Those precocious, creative and whip smart girls are a hoot and you've got to turn it on 100% to keep up with them and I just love that. Gracie gave me a tour of her beautiful home and I had fun photographing her as she went about giving me the grand tour but once we landed in the "art room" she was in her happy place and that's where we settled in for the remainder of the shoot. We were both in our element. :)

Gracie was all dressed up for our shoot because she was going to a daddy-daughter dinner date school function right after our shoot. I grabbed a couple shots of her and her dad right before they left. As you can see, Gracie is about as photogenic as they get. And even though Kelly assures me that she is completely camera-averse, I suspect she has NO idea how much my camera is going to love her and that gorgeous smile of hers, which is the same one Gracie also has. I can't wait for October! :)

Kelly & Wes, it was a pleasure meeting you and Gracie and going over all the plans for the big celebration. I hope you enjoy this little sneak peek of your girl. She's an absolute GEM!

Andy, Judi, Mizu & Kai in Sunny Seattle! (for reals)

2013-04-08T14:12:12-07:00

Last week I was up in Seattle for this wonderful shoot with an old friend with whom I've recently reconnected. Our story is a really sweet one. When I was in High School, our class did an exchange program with a High School in Hawaii for a week. It was a really big deal and we were so excited! I was placed with a very sweet family and had an incredible week. During that week I met Judi who was in the class and participated in our outings and events even though she wasn't my host family. We instantly hit it off. You know how some people just CLICK? We clicked. We remained pen pals for several years after that. Yes, this was before the age of email and texting for high schoolers.... We WROTE ACTUAL LETTERS...GASP! :)

Over the years we lost touch but I thought of her often. Then through the miracle of Facebook we reconnected last year. I learned that she was an architect in Los Angeles and about to be married to her sweetheart Andy. When I was up in Seattle last month to support my friend Jayme's fashion show, Judi drove out to give me a big hug! She looked EXACTLY the same as in high school and hadn't aged a DAY. If I didn't like her so much, I might actually resent that a little... hahahaha!

Over the next couple weeks she arranged for me to come back up and photograph her family, which includes her almost 1 year old Kai and 7 year old stepson Mizu (whom she has raised since he was 2). It was such a treat to watch her as a mother and think back to how the last time we truly spent any in person time was well over 20 years ago as high schoolers... Pretty amazing!

We were blessed with uncharacteristically GORGEOUS sunny warm weather and I was able to give Judi that luscious golden backlighting that she so fervently desired! YAY! We started the shoot at their utterly fantastic modern home and finished off at GreenLake park. Mizu and Kai were BEYOND adorable and it was just a really lovely shoot. The whole family is beyond gorgeous and could totally be professional models, each and every one of them. I had a great time and was thrilled to be able to come up and do this.

When I was editing the pictures Ellie came in and observed for a while, as she tends to enjoy doing, and then she asked me if Judi and I were related because we had the same hair and big smiles. I thought that was just really cute.

Andy and Judi, thank you for the amazing hospitality and opportunity to take these images for you. I hope you love your sneak peek! Much love to you all! xoxox

Marci & Nathan

2013-03-25T14:59:47-07:00

This shoot was SO very, very special to me. Marci used to be my kids' preschool teacher. Let that sink in for a moment. My kids who are now 8 and 10 years old. After her stint as their preschool teacher was over, she become their occasional sitter and continued being a presence in our/their lives over the years. She is still a teacher and a marvelous one at that. Marci is just about the sweetest, kindest, nicest, warmest, most genuine person you will ever meet. I could rave about her for hours on end. She's just that degree of amazing. When she asked me a while back to photograph her wedding, I was honored and thrilled. I actually refer out most weddings but hers was one I was delighted to accept. I am giddy with excitement over it. And I was exceptionally happy to finally meet Nathan. Why finally? Because they've been together for NINE years. I know, practically a lifetime considering how young they both are. I had high expectations for this guy, my motherly protective instinct wanting to make sure he was worthy of such an incredible woman. He most certainly did not disappoint. From the second we met, his warm smile, authentic manner and inability to keep his quite obvious affection and unabiding love for Marci under wraps completely won me over. These two have something rare, magical and special. They have the ease, trust and comfort that a couple gains from spending nearly a decade together along with the passion, fire and adoration that you usually only witness in the early stages of relationships (or those rare couples who can maintain that over the years). It's an intoxicating combo and was so utterly fantastic to watch as they so effortlessly communicated (verbally and nonverbally) and showed me without a shadow of a doubt how perfectly well matched they are. So, besides their amazing connection and chemistry, there was also the small detail that they are both ridiculously good looking.... I mean, he has dimples and she has freckles and they both look like models. REALLY. That is just too much for my camera. It was letting out small puffs of smoke throughout the shoot. Hot stuff-overload-syndrome. Poor camera. :)

All this to say that I couldn't be happier for them, couldn't possibly love them more and simply cannot wait for their big day in August. It's going to be as spectacular and magical as their love for each other. I am honored to be able to capture the emotions of the day for them. Much love to you both, Marci & Nathan. Thanks for a super duper awesome shoot! :)