Welcome (me!) to the Sunshine Coast. Well… er… actually I have been living here for 2 years now, however I have been leading a strange double life! To be mum Monday to Friday, then SUPER PAULA as I fly down to Sydney, meet with multiple couples to discuss their wedding plans, photograph a 14 hour wedding, 3-4 portraits then fly back to the Coast on a Sunday to get ready for my week of being mum… and photo retoucher… designer… marketer… book keeper… you get it!

All along I retained my beautiful little glamour studio space in Western Sydney, a little space that I had dreamed, designed & created all on my very own (no boys). It was a place that really sang of me, and I loved it. So did my clients too. However I was only working in there for 1 night a week or fortnight and it became obvious quickly that I needed to (insert Elsa singing) Let It Go. I struggled to do this for a while and it is only on reflection that I now see that

A. I was unsure if I was going to commit to the Coast (how could I have doubted)
B. (And this was the hardest to come to terms with) I realised a lot of my personal value was tied up in that little space. A 50 square metre box in burbs of Sydney was defining my personal worth as a photographer… maybe even person (argghhh, there I said it)

It didn’t seem to matter to me for so long that my studio as a wedding photog was the houses, churches, parks and receptions I was shooting at every weekend. I didn’t even pay particular attention to the fact that most people had already decided to book me before we even met, based on my site and/or word of mouth!

It also didn’t seem to matter that I had made a decision 4 years ago to pursue my dream of photographing contemporary portraits, a passion I had abandoned as I devoted all my energy to the part of my business I knew well, and was very safe in. Must insert note here, that I still LOVE weddings, however I am keen to do less weddings, give the weddings I do more of me, and have time to focus on my new adventure, scary/exciting/nerve racking/exhilarating and all as it is… Feel the fear and do it anyway!

So when as I drove to Sydney to pack up the little space that I had attached my ego to, I reflected on these feelings, and decided to chuck them out the window, and make sure I never did that again.

Spending the last 4 weeks in reno creative zone, I have felt such an energy shift. The new studio I have created is not about me or for me, but for all the women who I know I will empower with a positive self reflection. As I transform an office space into a beautiful creative space, full of good juju, I smile at the thought of how many women will feel transformed in these walls, and I just can not wait to meet them all, hear their wonderful life stories and give them back a present, the gorgeous version of themselves, that they may have forgotten, or sadly never met.