Have you ever felt a calling? A voice inside of yourself telling you to help someone or share something? Paula Owen had this exact experience, and when she listened, she was able to help a fellow student in their moment of need. Since then, she’s been leaning into her intuition and honing her gift to connect with other people and help them heal themselves.

Paula Owen is now an international award-winning photographer, and she uses her intuition to tap into the physical and emotional trauma of others and to bring confidence and healing to her photography clients. Her gift not only allows Paula to help others find peace and comfort, but it’s also helped her come to terms with her place as a vessel for good in this world.

Paula shares why using her intuition along with her photography allows her to encourage self-compassion and self-love in others, her advice for how you can tap into your own intuition, and how she overcame fear around using her gift. She encourages all of us to be brave and listen a little more so we can tap into that quiet, creative, intuitive energy for ourselves! 

What’s in this episode:

• [02:20] Paula’s passion for helping people see themselves with compassion, her gift of intuition and insight, and how she uses this gift with her photography clients
• [13:57] How she has learned to tap into feeling ailments and emotional trauma in others and how to help them give themselves grace, kindness, and forgiveness
• [19:16] How Paula plans to continue incorporating her gift into her photography business, and how she’s overcome fear around sharing her gift
• [24:05] Why listening closely and paying attention to the “little nudges” you feel is key to tapping into your intuition
• [30:11] Why it’s okay to make mistakes, learn from them, and be kind to ourselves along the way

If you’re ready to start listening to the little nudges and lean into your intuition, you’ll love this episode with Paula!

SUBSCRIBE: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

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Meet Paula

Paula Owen is a South African born, international award winning photographer, mother of two who not only photographs but has a not for profit in Uganda helping villages have access to clean water (gardafrica.ca) but also has heard a calling in her life and is finally answering it. She can hear/see things and she calls these messages from God, about the person in front of her. 

Connect with Paula

Paula’s website

Follow Paula on Instagram

Follow Paula on Facebook

Are you ready to hear another inspiring story about tapping into your gifts? Check out this episode from Ariana Joy

Transcript

[00:00:00] Paula Owen It’s about them seeing themselves with new eyes. Like it’s like you peel back that layer of self-consciousness and like, all this doubt and like, I think we’re so hard on ourselves. Like, sometimes someone will say to me, Oh, I don’t really like that angle because I don’t like my nose. And I’ll be like, I don’t even know what you’re saying. Like, I don’t even see it with my eyes. And when you give that ability to someone to have that love and compassion for themselves, and then we do the photography, something changes for them and they like the photos actually look the same, but they see them differently. 

[00:00:40] Lisa DiGeso Welcome to the Art and Soul Show, where we dive into heart opening chats on photography, business, life and that messy in between. I’m your host, Lisa DiGeso, a mom, a photographer and entrepreneur. And I’ll be sharing honest conversations and advice for photographers with insight on mindset, entrepreneurship and creativity. The goal of this podcast is for you to be able to gain insights and strategies that will get you real results. Because, let’s face it, having a photography business can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. This is the place you can go when you need a boost of encouragement, a kick in the pants and inspiration to pick up your camera. This is the Art and Soul Show. 

[00:01:23] Lisa DiGeso Hello, my beautiful friends, and welcome back to the show today. I’m super excited to dove into today’s conversation with Paula Owen. She is a South African born, international award winning photographer, mother of two, who not only photographs but also has a not for profit in Uganda, helping villages have access to clean water. She also has heard a calling in her life and is finally answering it. She can hear, see things and she calls these messages from God about the person in front of her. I am so excited about this conversation. I had the pleasure of meeting Paula at a workshop over the summer, and she really tapped into things she could not have known about me, things I’ve never told anyone. So I’m so grateful for her, her friendship. And I am so excited for her to share her gift with the world and with you today. So without further ado, here is Paula. 

[00:02:12] Paula Owen Hello. 

[00:02:12] Lisa DiGeso Welcome. Intro. 

[00:02:16] Lisa DiGeso So tell us who you are and what you’re passionate about. 

[00:02:20] Paula Owen Oh, well, you really said who I am, but I’ve always been passionate about helping people, and I think it’s just slightly shifting now to give people the opportunity to see themselves with love and compassion. And I think that those things can emerge quite well in my life, given the fact that I have an NGO photography. Obviously we were just saying such a visual thing and I just finally feel like I’m kind of settling into probably who I meant to be. I guess. 

[00:02:53] Lisa DiGeso I love that. I love you hit the nail on the head because I think that’s something that not just photographers, but really women and humans. We really have a hard time with self compassion and self-love. And I know that we’ve talked in previous about how that’s something that you’re trying to help unpack for your clients and help them kind of see how amazing they are and you tap into that. So can you share a little bit about the gift you have and how you sort of realized that you had it? 

[00:03:18] Paula Owen So I’d say that it all began when I was quite little, but I didn’t really understand what was really happening for me. And because I grew up in such a conservative home, it was not really something that was even allowed, I guess, or talked about. But when I was in university, so I used to paint like that’s how I got into photography. I used to paint all the time. I used to paint portraits or take photos and then paint from them. And I was painting one night and I heard this voice in my head like I knew it wasn’t my voice. It was different, the thoughts that it hadn’t had before. And this voice is telling me that I needed to give Darren this guy that was in my university money for running shoes, like $100 for running shoes. It was very specific. And I was like, forget about that. Like, I don’t even have $100, like, for running shoes. Like, I’m not going to give him 100 bucks. It was almost like I was arguing with somebody. Yeah. And so finally, I was like, okay, fine. I was going to I’m kind of curious to know if this is just me losing my mind or if it’s something that I should really follow through. So I took money out and the next day and I put in an envelope and I gave it to him and I said This was for running shoes because it was such a specific thing and I really wanted to actually run away after I gave it to him. But then I kind of walked away and he came up to me and said, What happened? can you tell me? And I said, Well, I don’t know. I just heard this voice last night telling me to give you money for running shoes. He was like, What time do you think? And I said, I don’t know, around nine. And he was like, around nine? I was praying, saying that I wanted to get fit, but I didn’t have any money for running shoes. And I was like, Are you kidding? And it was like, exactly what he was asking for is the voice that I heard to give it to him. And then it kind of evolved from there into almost seeing parts of the person’s body. Like, they kind of yell at me like, it doesn’t make sense when I say that, but it’s like, I can’t stop staring at something about somebody or I feel it in my stomach or I feel it in my back or and then if I used to have to touch it, and then I would get all these same kind of like words and. Pictures in my mind. And if I said it to the person, even though it sounded insane to me, that’s exactly what the person is going through and what they needed to hear. And I’ve kind of allowed myself to just really sit in it now where I can be in a room. And if someone allows me, I can just I don’t even I can almost just hear my voice by myself. And sometimes I’ve noticed that I’ll be in a room and I will have a stomach ache, for example. And then I’ll be like, Oh, is it your stomach? And then it is your stomach. It’s not anything actually to do with my stomach. I mean, if we talk about it, I will be able to figure out for you what’s actually the root of that thing. And sometimes it’s the most simple, simple little thing. And that’s the thing that’s been the most astounding for me, is that it’s not these huge life changing things that we have to do. And a lot of it I’ve noticed lately is about forgiveness. Yeah, I’ve really come to a point of noticing this sort of theme, especially in the summer. Most people that I have spoken to, it’s something to do with forgiving somebody else or differently, even forgiving yourself for allowing yourself to even be in that situation. Like I spoke to someone recently who unfortunately was raped. And it was actually nothing to do with the person it was that she was so mad at herself that she had allowed, didn’t yell loud enough, didn’t do all the things that she has told herself. And it was all came down to it for her to forgive that little girl like that young person. And once we talked about it, it was like all made sense for her. But it’s so interesting to me that it’s it’s not these massive, massive shifts. It’s just tiny little things. But they seem to make a huge difference for people. 

[00:07:28] Lisa DiGeso I just I think it’s so fascinating because you and I, we we stayed out late just chatting in my car, having this incredible conversation. It’s one of my favorite, probably conversations of my whole life. You’re so right about forgiveness and how the body keeps it inside you. Like it doesn’t let go, and it manifests into these aches and pains that we keep with us. And I for certain, have noticed that especially and it’s funny because you mentioned stomach, because it’s always me in my stomach and my stomach. You’re like Lisa and your stomach again. 

[00:08:04] Lisa DiGeso Even. And I’m like, Oh, it’s. 

[00:08:07] Lisa DiGeso Always my stomach. It’s like and it’s hilarious because I’ve been recently diagnosed with, like, leaky gut. And so we’re like trying to work all these things to help me just with my stomach issues because I do have a ton of stomach issues. 

[00:08:22] Lisa DiGeso I love that you just. 

[00:08:23] Lisa DiGeso You’re like, Lisa, that’s your stomach. You know that, right? 

[00:08:26] Lisa DiGeso It’s always their stomach. 

[00:08:29] Lisa DiGeso So funny. I love it. Now, can you share a little bit how you are using this intuition and your insight really to intuitively work with your photography clients? 

[00:08:39] Paula Owen Yeah, so that’s been like kind of a new area of my life because I was kind of scared to even speak about this other part of me that seemed so scary and foreign. And I had to really come to terms with the fact that. I am me and I’m good. Like, I am innately a good person. And so anything that is coming to me and through me has to be in itself good. Like, I just don’t have that in myself. And I think that once I kind of realized that I’m just this vessel for whatever needs to be said and be okay with being that, then I’ve kind of settled into that. And then I’ve always had this photography side of myself and I didn’t quite know how to put like I was thinking like, do I start a website where I can talk to people and but then I also didn’t want to be fit into a box of being a psychic or a medium. 

[00:09:41] Lisa DiGeso Or totally. 

[00:09:43] Paula Owen That doesn’t also sit with me like I’m like, I don’t know where I am in this whole thing. So I actually it kind of happened organically in that I was at a retreat. I spent some time with some woman on this one day and it just happened that they had signed up for headshots the next day. So we did this sort of like deep inner work together. And then the next day we did headshots and all of them said how the experience was completely different because of day one. And then one woman said to me, This is what you meant to be doing. This is what how you should be working. Because day two photography, all of a sudden, these people just it’s about them seeing themselves with new eyes. Like it’s like you peel back that layer of self-consciousness and like all this doubt. And so, like, I think we’re so hard on ourselves. Like, sometimes someone will say to me, Oh, I don’t really like that angle because I don’t like my nose. And I’ll be like, I don’t even know what you’re saying. Like, I don’t even see it with my eyes. And when you give that ability to someone to have that love and compassion for themselves and then we do the photography, something changes for them and they like the photos actually look the same, but they see them differently. 

[00:10:59] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. It’s how they perceive themselves. I love that so much. 

[00:11:03] Paula Owen Yeah. It’s this perception. So. So I’ve now been doing this workshop where you come in on day one. We do some, it’s like a whole cycle that I really believe in. So it’s almost like EMDR a little bit. So we do some movement, we journal. And then at the end of that, I spend some time with each person one on one, and it’s always profound to me that what needs to be said seems to happen with the person and then they come back next day. We do hair and makeup, we do photography, and then so far the reception has just been amazing. So I really do think that I’m on I’m on the journey that I guess I’m meant to have been on. 

[00:11:45] Lisa DiGeso I love this so much because I was just like, Oh my gosh, Paula, when you told me and I was like, like the workshop and I was like, You are going to be huge. Like, this is going to be incredible because it’s so unique and it’s something that we so need is to be able to, like, witness ourselves and to see our inner beauty. Yeah, I just. I’m so excited about. 

[00:12:05] Lisa DiGeso This. 

[00:12:06] Lisa DiGeso Journey for you. Like your biggest. 

[00:12:08] Lisa DiGeso Fan. 

[00:12:10] Paula Owen I’m excited for other people’s journeys, too. Like, I just see people see themselves like that to me is like, oh, yeah, like what a gift to. I didn’t know that I had that gift, but now that I kind of see it, I’m like, okay. 

[00:12:27] Lisa DiGeso What’s interesting is so when we were talking in the summer and you were talking about so because you can you can kind of pinpoint on a certain age of someone, maybe when a specific trauma happened or just something that, you know, when things changed for them and maybe when they when they stopped, when they lost their confidence, when they you just just something you were able to really pick up on it. And for me, you picked up when I was about five years old and I ended up for the past. Since I saw you in June, I’ve had on my lockscreen a picture of me at five years old just to remember that sweet girl and to give her love. Yeah. So it’s like those little things that. Like those little nuggets that you may not even realize that impact a person’s life that you shared with me, that I was just like, I have to tell Paula, because this really has made such a difference, just looking at myself with love and compassion. So yeah. 

[00:13:21] Paula Owen Well, that makes me so happy. And it’s so interesting because a lot of the times it is something that happened and when you were little and it’s something so small at some points, but. It carries through. And I feel like you just need to have like a flashlight shot on that little thing for you, and then you can go, Oh, I get it. I was stuck there. Or I need to really be kinder to that little girl. 

[00:13:52] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. Yeah. Maybe just needed a little bit. Love. 

[00:13:55] Lisa DiGeso Lots of love. 

[00:13:57] Lisa DiGeso So you mentioned that you can feel things in your body, ailments and emotional traumas people may have. Now, can you share how you’re learning more to tap into that and how you’re using that to help others? Because that must be tricky when it comes to like medical stuff. And you’re like, I don’t know what to say. 

[00:14:17] Paula Owen I guess the thing is that I have learned to just listen. So it’s about it actually has nothing really. If I hyperanalyze it, it doesn’t make any sense for me. So because it really isn’t my memories or my body. So the more I’ve learned to just trust whatever’s coming in and what I need to say out, it makes sense for you. So I have really learned to just trust that process, that it’s got nothing. Sometimes I’ll sit there and even sometimes I will think, Ooh, I think I know what that means. 

[00:14:55] Paula Owen But I really have no idea. 

[00:14:58] Paula Owen Because the person be like, Oh my goodness, yes, I do know what you’re talking about because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I’m like, Really? 

[00:15:04] Paula Owen That’s got nothing to do with. 

[00:15:06] Paula Owen It’s not my history or my trauma. And I have my own trauma and I have my own background. So it’s very easy for me to put a stamp on it for myself. And sometimes the most outrageous. Things mean something like I remember this one time I saw a dead face in water. Like, kind of like up. Like facing face up. But I knew that the person was dead. Like, I knew. And I was like, I am not talking to this person about this. The head face in the water and everything. And it was all about this, like the emotion of this person feeling like they were going to drown. And then everything was in their shoulder. Like everything was like this. Like like almost like the shoulder was locked. When I just said it, the person had lost their spouse. And it was all their grief. And they did feel like they were drowning, like they literally were like. And she’s now shared with me that every time her shoulder starts to have that, like, locked up feeling, she’ll sit there and go, Okay, what’s going on with my grief today? So she’s like now has a space for it. She can sit in it for a little bit and be like, Oh, I’m not doing so great today. Like, it’s just showing up for me today. Wow. 

[00:16:26] Lisa DiGeso I love that because it just it creates that is self-healing that she’s able to just identify it and work through it and not be like, Hey, Paula, I need help. I need Paula. You know what you mean? Like you’ve you’re giving her some tools to work through it, too. 

[00:16:43] Paula Owen Yeah. And a lot of I think that a lot of what is said for the person that needs to hear it is about. Like I said, forgiveness or just being kinder to yourself. And in that kindness, you start to heal and you start to go, Oh, okay, I am not. As broken as I feel that I should be, because we are actually magnificent. We have magnificent bodies too, right. We can heal ourselves like I’ve seen so many incredible things happen. And I mean, even, for example, you with your stomach, you know that your stomach has to do with your childhood and to do with your relationship. So if your stomach is coming up, there’s something right now in your in your marriage. I can just you know, if I say it, it’s turning up for you again. Yeah. 

[00:17:38] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:17:40] Lisa DiGeso So true. But it’s funny because it was it was actually it was so it’s so silly. And it but it’s not because it was just it did felt like a sucker punch. My husband didn’t say good morning to me this morning and it bothers me when he doesn’t. Like it. And I’ve told him this many times. 

[00:17:59] Paula Owen Yeah. 

[00:18:00] Lisa DiGeso But he’s like. And I know he was helping my son with his homework. Like, I know there’s reasons behind it, but it’s that little inner child that’s like, why are you ignoring me? And it hurts. 

[00:18:10] Lisa DiGeso Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that’s. 

[00:18:13] Lisa DiGeso That was this morning in my stomach. 

[00:18:15] Lisa DiGeso Right. You nailed it. 

[00:18:19] Paula Owen What’s up, man? But for, you know, like, okay, my tummy is feeling like this because I feel I think you have, like, an abandonment problem. Like, I do like, this feeling of. And maybe that’s why your gut is leaking. Like, do you know what I mean? It’s like you’re not able to hold it in because you want it. Like you want to be loved so hard that you just almost. 

[00:18:44] Lisa DiGeso I perform. I try so hard to be loved. 

[00:18:47] Paula Owen You don’t drop out before. Right? 

[00:18:49] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. 

[00:18:49] Paula Owen Would you put your all your different hats on all the time times and how it’s so important for you, I think to just be authentically Lisa because when you stand in who you actually are, all these other things will fall away because you’re a beautiful human being. You don’t need to have these other faces. 

[00:19:11] Lisa DiGeso Thank you, friend. 

[00:19:13] Paula Owen I do love you. 

[00:19:13] Lisa DiGeso I love you too. 

[00:19:16] Lisa DiGeso Oh, dear. All right, so I’m going to get a train on back a little back on track. Can you it’s we talked a little bit about the experience that you create for your clients and a little bit of the trajectory that you’re wanting to go with your gift. So where do you see this playing out? How are you going to be and what are you gonna be doing with your photography business? Are you going to be opening up more workshops? What do you what’re you gonna do? 

[00:19:39] Paula Owen So I have already planned I’m going to be going to Toronto in January for another workshop, and then I really want to do one in B.C. in February. So I will be putting out information for that. And I feel like there’s something really neat that happens when a group gets together. We used to think that maybe I could just do it one on one, that the last time I did it in a group, the feedback that I got back was that even the women who didn’t know each other, they formed this bond with each other. And I was like, Oh, even that is special in itself. So day two is, yeah, it’s your own branding, photography and pictures. But at the same time, even if you don’t want to do branding for your photography, even if you just got five pictures of yourself like feeling confident and good, that’s all you really need out of that. But there’s something that happens with with being together and forming communities. So I do feel like from now on, I don’t really want to. I would like to always be in a in a between group. 

[00:20:50] Lisa DiGeso I love that. So can you share a little bit on how you’re overcoming fear to share your gift with the world? 

[00:21:00] Paula Owen I think that the fear part has been the hardest the hardest part for me, because like I mentioned before, my upbringing and I even went to the church. I even said to them, because I grew up in the church and I was like, Do you think what do you think’s happening here? And the guy was not very kind. And I was like, had to sit in it for myself and also question myself as to where, where am I at? And then I realized like, no, this is good. And so overcoming that fear and just speaking it and also realizing that I don’t need to put myself in a box as a psychic or a medium, or all these things that don’t resonate with me really does actually make me feel less fearful because I think some people in my life thought that, Oh, maybe I’m going to go off a dark, deep path. And I was like, Oh. 

[00:21:56] Paula Owen I don’t see that for myself, right? 

[00:22:00] Paula Owen My husband was like are you going to become a witch now. 

[00:22:01] Paula Owen So I was like, I don’t see that for myself. 

[00:22:07] Paula Owen But I guess in the beginning it was a bit scary, right? But I do think that we all have amazing intuition. So at the same time, I don’t think that it’s so special. I just think that I listen. So I wonder if more people could, you know, just like hear more. I just think that there’s something I wonder sometimes about the whole, like, Darren thing. If I hadn’t listened and gone and given him $100. That would have just gone away. It’s like you get these, like, because it’s like it’s. 

[00:22:50] Lisa DiGeso Like little nudges and these little, little nudges. And, you know, it’s funny because, like, I get I get them to a little bit and I’ve I have a friend who she’s deep into spirituality stuff and she’s like, These are your guides, these are your angels or your guides. And they’re just sending you these whispers. And it’s, it’s usually when I’m driving and it’s usually like, don’t take that route or take that route. 

[00:23:14] Paula Owen Yeah. 

[00:23:14] Lisa DiGeso And I used to like, ignore it. And now there’s been just so many times I’ve been stuck in traffic or there’s been an accident or this or that or that. I always just listen to it. 

[00:23:25] Paula Owen And I think it’s 100% think it’s exactly the same thing and and exactly what you just said. Whisper. It is a whisper. It’s like it’s such a we’re so loud in our own heads and it’s like this tiny, tiny, little quiet voice. And I think that when we start to listen to it and tap into it, it gets just happier and bolder for some reason. Like in my head, almost like maybe it’s starting to sound a little bit like I have two personality. I do have my own voice and then I have this other voice and I know that it’s not mine. And so I just I’m very comfortable with it now. 

[00:24:05] Lisa DiGeso I love that. I love that. So we talked a little bit about tapping into and learning how to tap into our own intuitive gifts. So would you say like, is there a certain technique? Or it’s just like quiet and listen, like, what’s your advice to really tapping into your own intuition? 

[00:24:23] Paula Owen I feel that you have to maybe take a little bit of risk in the fact that if, say, for example, you hear that voice saying, okay, take the left instead of the right and you take it and it ends up being a better route. The more you do that, the more you’re getting confirmation that your your what you’re hearing is correct. So if it comes down to like, for example, Jeff and I were and my husband and I were in South Africa once, and there was this guy sitting on the side of the road and the voice in my head told me that I should go and give him food. And so I went back into my house and I started packing up a bag full of, like, canned food and just a whole bunch of, like, stuff. And Jeff was like, What are you doing that guy isn’t even begging? Like, what are you doing? Like, you’re mental right now. Like, I don’t know. I’m just listening. And I went up to him with this bag and I said, Here you go. And he said. I am so hungry and tired that I don’t even have energy to ask for food. So yes, he wasn’t asking, but I heard it. So maybe if someone hears that little voice and it seems kind of ridiculous, but you you listen to it and you you give in to it, and that person gives you the feedback that you needed to hear that. Oh, wow, thank you so much. I needed to hear that today, whatever it is. I think that’s how that intuition part becomes knowledge. Like it’s like, okay, I am no longer just feeling it. I know it. 

[00:25:59] Lisa DiGeso Is such a juicy conversation. Love it. So we’re going to switch a little bit of gears and I got going to send you to the Lightning Round. You ready for that? 

[00:26:10] Paula Owen All right, let’s go. 

[00:26:12] Lisa DiGeso What are three things you want to be remembered for? 

[00:26:16] Paula Owen Being kind. Being generous. Being funny. I feel like I’m not funny as I used to be. But I really want to be more funny. 

[00:26:27] Lisa DiGeso I love it. 

[00:26:28] Lisa DiGeso What do you like to cook the most. 

[00:26:31] Paula Owen At the moment? Tacos. Because my whole family eats them. I hate cooking. And then everyone’s like, I don’t like that. I don’t like that. It’s like one meal that I’m like, yes, everyone’s going to be happy today? Yeah. 

[00:26:42] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. Love it. What’s the last thing you did for yourself as an indulgence? 

[00:26:46] Paula Owen Oh, I have been. Sounds crazy, but I have been cold plunging every day for the last 14 days. 

[00:26:54] Lisa DiGeso Who, like, will not style. 

[00:26:56] Paula Owen Yeah, and it’s not. It’s the best thing because it takes time out of my day. So it is an indulgence to me and I just love the way I feel. 

[00:27:06] Lisa DiGeso So do you do you have, like your own cold plunge pool or do you go? 

[00:27:09] Paula Owen Oh, I’ve just been going to the river near my house. 

[00:27:11] Lisa DiGeso Good for you. 

[00:27:13] Paula Owen Yeah. And it’s I’m like, okay, this is what I really need. I feel like the very first time I tried it, I honestly felt like I had a concrete block sitting on my chest. I was like, I want to get out of this, but there’s something about sitting in your suffering little bit and then like working through it. I was like, Oh, I can do this, like, and it’s such a it goes with all these things that we’re talking about. It’s just like breaking through. Right? Yeah. So I said to my husband, I’m going to just carry on doing it until I don’t want to. 

[00:27:47] Lisa DiGeso I love that until it gets too cold. 

[00:27:53] Paula Owen Yeah. 

[00:27:53] Lisa DiGeso Well, I was trying to get in the shower, just, like turning the shower, like, just cold. I’m like, I am such a baby. Like, I’ve got to. 

[00:28:01] Paula Owen Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:28:02] Paula Owen Like, no. 

[00:28:03] Lisa DiGeso No. Can’t do it back to hot. 

[00:28:07] Paula Owen I think showering is harder for some reason. 

[00:28:10] Lisa DiGeso Because you can just jump out like really? Like you can’t do not immersed in it. 

[00:28:15] Paula Owen Yeah. 

[00:28:16] Lisa DiGeso So what did you want to be when you grew up? 

[00:28:18] Paula Owen I wanted to be a judge. 

[00:28:21] Lisa DiGeso Oooh. 

[00:28:22] Lisa DiGeso Interesting. 

[00:28:23] Paula Owen Yeah, I really wanted to be a judge. And Jeff, my husband always says, well, you became one, you’re the judge and jury of this family. 

[00:28:33] Lisa DiGeso That’s funny.  

[00:28:37] Paula Owen I grew I grew up in a really, like, hard I had not a very easy childhood. And I think that I felt like injustice seemed to be the only job that seemed to kind of like. 

[00:28:50] Lisa DiGeso Fairness. 

[00:28:51] Paula Owen I wanted to be fair. 

[00:28:53] Lisa DiGeso Yeah, love that. What’s the song that lifts you up when you’re down? 

[00:28:58] Paula Owen Ooh, any 80 song. Anything. Anything? Probably mostly tainted love, but I’d say. But anything from the eighties just takes me back to just being carefree, I guess. Like it’s such a stage of our lives if you’re in your 40s. If you’re not in your 40s. 

[00:29:15] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. 

[00:29:16] Lisa DiGeso For me, it’s the final countdown. Like, firstly, I will, like, blast that on the way to work, like, every day. 

[00:29:23] Paula Owen Oh, fun. Oh, that’s amazing. 

[00:29:29] Lisa DiGeso Do you have any personal projects going on right now? And what is it if you do? 

[00:29:35] Paula Owen I don’t really feel like well, photography wise no, I’m just busy with we all know this time of  the year. The season is just hectic, crazy. I’d say probably me trying to work on my workshops. And my crazy cold plunging. Maybe I’m more on the spiritual, like journey of trying to figure out who who I am a little bit more. Who am I going to be when I’m big? 

[00:30:00] Lisa DiGeso Right. I know. And it’s always changing. 

[00:30:04] Paula Owen Now, I like it because it makes you makes you stay young in a way, because you never really haven’t figured it out yet. 

[00:30:11] Lisa DiGeso So who am I going to be today? Just me and my masks on. What do you wish more photographers knew? 

[00:30:27] Paula Owen I think that it’s okay to make mistakes. That we you learn from them, you know, like when you break your SD card or you forget to save something, you’re not going to do that again. You know, and it’s you know, I felt like starting out that there was so much pressure and there is pressure. I mean, let’s be honest, but mistakes are really important, too. So, yeah, you have to be kinder to yourself and your mistakes. 

[00:30:56] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. When we expected ourselves to be perfect, like, it’s just. There’s no perfect person. 

[00:31:04] Paula Owen Oh, and yeah, there’s just something really more a little bit more freeing when you make a mistake and you’re like, Well, I just learned that one the hard way. Yep. 

[00:31:15] Lisa DiGeso Or again. What makes your soul light up? 

[00:31:22] Paula Owen Uganda. And my children. And I think when I see people being compassionate and kind to themselves, like when I have said something to them and I see it in themselves that they get it and it’s something that they need to hear. I’m like, Wow. Because it’s so not from me. So then I just feel like it’s so exciting that I get to be part of this journey for somebody. 

[00:31:49] Lisa DiGeso What has been the best piece of business advice you’ve ever been given? 

[00:31:55] Paula Owen So I think to be top of mind. I heard someone once say, and I thought it was such an interesting analogy. She said that she had bought this beautiful dress the summer before and she loved the dress, but she put it in her closet. And then this summer she needed to make a dress for an outing and she went and bought a new dress and she didn’t not love the dress in the closet. It was just that she hadn’t seen it for a while. So and she said that it was the same with the with business. If you are not top of mind, it’s like it’s not because someone doesn’t love your work. It’s just maybe that they’re not seeing you enough. 

[00:32:40] Lisa DiGeso What a great perception. I love that. 

[00:32:43] Paula Owen Yeah. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I love that analogy so much because it really made me like, oh, I’m just I’m not. I’m not. It’s, you know, if someone didn’t hire me, it’s not because they think I’m terrible or they don’t like my work is probably just because I’m being lazy. 

[00:33:00] Lisa DiGeso Right. And put it on social or and stuff. 

[00:33:02] Lisa DiGeso For like two months. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:33:06] Paula Owen Let’s be honest. It’s hard to be always on it, but even in your small community, you know, doing things and it’s not always necessarily maybe have to be photography related, you know, it’s about like for me, like I. I want to volunteer. I want to do other things. So I’m hoping that when people hear my name, it’s not always necessarily photography related but at the same time. Maybe people think about me, they’ll be like, Oh, I need a photographer. Oh, yeah? Who’s that girl we heard about, you know? 

[00:33:40] Lisa DiGeso Love it. What advice do you have for someone who’s just starting out? 

[00:33:46] Paula Owen Mm. Take your business retreat. 

[00:33:54] Lisa DiGeso It was a good one. 

[00:33:57] Paula Owen Because the thing is, is that photography. Yes. You have to take a good photo. You have to know how to edit it. 

[00:34:04] Paula Owen But man. 

[00:34:05] Paula Owen I wish that I knew more, had known more like business stuff. It’s a lot about business and running a business. And so I would say definitely get more business knowledge under your belt. Because we all start out because you all want to be creative and we’re a little bit like, Woo hoo and out there. And then you’re like, Shit, I got to. How do I price this? What? 

[00:34:32] Paula Owen How? Like. 

[00:34:33] Lisa DiGeso I know, right? And it’s in. It’s so funny because it’s even like. When you’re like, for the longest time I was tying how much I was charging to my worth. Like, I’m like, well, I wouldn’t pay that for myself. And then, like, it’s just like undervaluing and undercharging and just running myself ragged. It was terrible. So I forced myself to stop. So I’m on my sabbatical now. Where can our listeners learn more from you? 

[00:35:01] Paula Owen I have a website. Instagram. I’m on Instagram quite a bit. A lot of my Instagram is not. It’s just more me, I guess. Bit of photography. Lately, it’s a lot about cold plunging. So it’s just my name. Paula Owen photography. 

[00:35:16] Lisa DiGeso Awesome. And when they want to get in touch with you to come to your workshop, where should I send them? 

[00:35:22] Paula Owen Can they email me? Yeah. 

[00:35:24] Lisa DiGeso All right. Yes. 

[00:35:27] Paula Owen Me, PM. Me, all these things. 

[00:35:29] Lisa DiGeso Yeah. Just send you an email. I love it. 

[00:35:31] Paula Owen Yeah. 

[00:35:32] Lisa DiGeso So I love to end my interviews just with this last question. And it is what are you curious about or artistically curious about? 

[00:35:42] Paula Owen I am always curious about learning more. So that doesn’t actually really matter what it what it is like. I have I don’t know if you know this about me, but I have many degrees and diplomas. I am constantly trying to learn. So at the moment it’s going through your workshop, like your business workshop, because that’s where I’m at at the moment. I just want to get better at business. That’s where I’m more curious to kind of figure out how to, like, work smarter, not harder. Yeah. 

[00:36:14] Lisa DiGeso Well, thank you for joining me today, friend. 

[00:36:17] Paula Owen Thank you. 

[00:36:19] Lisa DiGeso Oh, my beautiful friends. I hope you would love for this conversation just as much as I did. I am sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day. We’ll see you next time.