July 25, 2024 • 60 mins
Join me as I chat with freelance model Anoush Anou about the intriguing world of modeling, the art of photography, and their shared passion for nature. Anoush shares her personal journey from life modeling in Australia to becoming a photographic model, and the unique challenges she faces, from dealing with poison oak to balancing a nomadic lifestyle. The conversation delves into the deeper connections formed through art, the impact of creativity on life, and the quest for a sense of home. Tune in for a heartfelt and inspiring discussion about the life of a freelance model.
Follow Anoush on IG! https://www.instagram.com/anoushanou/?hl=en
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:09):
Freelance models. And today I have Anoush Anu on the line. Say hello.
Hey, Christy. Hey, everyone. It's lovely to be here. Thank you so much for taking
the time to do the podcast with me.
I'm really excited to get to know you a little bit better.
Thank you so much for inviting me. And likewise, I know we spent a few days
together a few years ago, but I don't feel like I really got to talk to you much across that time.
(00:33):
Yeah, there was a lot going on. There was, I
mean 10 or 15 models there there was
a lot going on oh my gosh and I had poison oak all
over my body the week before and I wasn't able to sleep so I was not feeling
my best self that week oh my god other than that it was an amazing event wow
(00:55):
that's intense I I've never experienced,
poison oak or poison ivy actually
oh it's the worst yeah i we don't
have it where i'm from so i i came to the states completely
oblivious to its existence and that was my second
time dealing with it the first time kind of
made sense i had no idea that this plant existed
(01:17):
so i was posing with it and that was the whole thing and
then i was so paranoid about it forever after that so i was always looking out
for it i knew exactly what it looked like but i didn't realize that in like
the fall and winter when its leaves have dropped it's still poisonous so I think
the second time I was not having my eyes open for like sticks that could be poisonous basically.
(01:40):
Man you know I was actually in the forest a couple days ago and I think that
there was poison ivy around it looked like poison ivy and my friend and I who
were shooting together were like you know,
I've never had like a poison ivy rash and we've been in the forest a lot.
And I heard somewhere that only like 30% of people are like not very affected
(02:05):
at all by poison ivy and poison oak.
And I feel like maybe I'm one of them.
I hope you are. Yeah. I'm so envious of those people because it's pretty gross.
And I think it affects me worse than most people. I mean, it lasts for,
well, the disgusting part.
I don't I don't want to like grit at your listeners with it,
but the initial part lasts for a few weeks on me, which is, I think it's quite
(02:29):
a long time, but the scarring lasts for like.
You know more than half a year it's really intense yeah
wow one of the occupational hazards that
we face yeah i would seriously want to
avoid poison oak and poison ivy in that case like
that that's awful it leaves scarring and everything shit definitely definitely
(02:52):
yes so i was not sleeping very well at the time that i met you because it's
so itchy throughout the night oh man i mean the The things that art models have
to deal with that people don't even think about,
like the threat of getting tetanus like once a week, probably.
Tetanus, ticks, poisonous plants, I don't know, snakes, depending on where you are.
(03:14):
Anyway, sorry to dive directly into the disgusting health.
It's real, though. It is a real part of the job for sure.
Cool. For our listeners, I would like to hear how you first got into modeling
and then how your career has progressed and led you to where you are today.
(03:35):
Yeah, so I initially got into photographic modeling through life modeling for
painters and sketch artists, sculptors, which I think is a not uncommon way of getting into this.
And that was in Australia about sort of 16 years ago.
I had sort of been traveling around the world
doing a lot of different laboring jobs for many years
(03:56):
leading to that point and I decided that
I wanted to have a go at living somewhere so I sort of settled on Australia
I'm originally from New Zealand and I had spent some time in Melbourne Australia
and it had just struck me as being a really nice city so when I decided I wanted
to have a go at staying still for a while and you know maybe getting to know
people for more than a week at a time, taking some classes, stuff like that.
(04:18):
I thought of Australia.
I was sort of in India while I concocted this plan.
And I was thinking, well, I'm going to need like, you know, a non-seasonal job,
like something that I could do in the city. What wouldn't drive me crazy?
And I had done one life modeling session when I was much younger,
when I was studying photography, actually, when I was like 17 through 18, I tried it out then. And.
(04:44):
It was an interesting experience and I think I had really just done it for the experience.
And then I was like, oh my gosh, that's so painful. I'm never doing that again.
And then, you know, flash forward quite a few years later when I was thinking
about what I might be able to do for a couple of years, it just sort of ticked all the boxes.
I thought it's something that I'm going to be around creative people.
I'm going to be around people who are enjoying what they're doing.
(05:06):
It's something that's flexible. Like I can still call my own hours and travel if I want to.
So yeah I just sort of started life modeling I
did that full-time for three years and just through
being involved in that creative community in Australia I was occasionally meeting
photographers who were you know like painters and photographers both who might
invite me to do a photo shoot or even just to do photography for reference for
(05:31):
their paintings and I sort of
just slowly but surely got involved in photographic modeling through that.
Wow that's pretty cool so you You started out as a life model doing like painting
and sketching sessions and then moved into photographic modeling,
like kind of transitioned into that.
(05:53):
Yes, exactly. There was a, yeah, so I developed like a small photographic portfolio
across, I think it was like in 2010.
And then towards the end of that year, I was invited to a group event hosted
by an American woman in Australia.
Earlier and there were a lot of the full-time amazing models who you and I both
(06:13):
know, like Rebecca Lawrence, Keira Grant,
a few of those gorgeous people were there and I sort of was like,
oh, that's how I could do this full-time would be to travel.
So I booked my first trip a month after that and I haven't looked back.
Definitely part of the reason for that was that it was just so painful,
like the modeling, like staying still.
I mean, this is very physically demanding as well, but I just didn't really want to see what.
(06:38):
The long poses you know staying still
for 20-30 minutes at a time would do to my body long term because
it's pretty unnatural I think we're always moving even when we're asleep we
you know have have freedom of movement yeah I've only done the drawing sessions
like a couple of times but from what I remember I think the first time I ever
(06:59):
tried it I picked a pose and the person
leading the class was like, are you sure you want to do that pose?
And I was like, I'll be fine. And then after a few minutes, I was not fine.
There is nothing you can choose that is not going to hurt or leave you sort
of like limping and able to walk by the time that you hear the alarm go off.
(07:24):
Yeah. And it's nice to be able to have a posing flow, especially now that there's digital photography.
They can snap one and then you move into the next and snap another one.
It is a lot more movement for sure.
Definitely. Like I still do a lot of like wet plate photography and stuff like
that where you have to hold a pose for a long time, but it's nothing like the modeling.
(07:44):
And I love with digital photography how you can really like literally use movement.
It's definitely one of my favorite ways of working. There's just a spontaneity
to it that you can't get with the longer poses.
Yeah, absolutely. And when I look at your photos that you share,
I definitely get this strong vibe that you curate the photographers that you'll
(08:09):
work with to be like primarily fine art style photographers.
And I think that like that really lends itself to like your style and your essence as a model. all?
Yeah, I feel like I've definitely pigeonholed myself over the years,
which has been kind of nice.
I feel like when I first began, I tried a bit of everything as I think most people do.
(08:33):
I sort of reasoned that there was logic instead of having a really diverse portfolio
and therefore I would appeal to a really diverse range of photographers.
But over the years, I've just learned what I like and what I'm good at.
And I think luckily in my case, that's the same thing. I don't think that's
always true but you know it certainly makes it easier to do a good job when
(08:55):
it's something that you're really passionate about and to me that is is mostly
the the fine art nudes in nature I love work that sort of really showcases the connection between.
Humans and nature because we are a part of nature and I think we forget that
a lot of the time so I love that but I just also love portraits I think there's
a a portrait element and a lot of the
(09:17):
work that I love most and that that can still be like a full-length nude but
I like there to be sort of an emotional or narrative quality to that if that
makes sense yeah so since you do a lot of outdoor modeling what do you do in
the winter time when it's too cold um.
(09:38):
I go to the warmer states for sure. And I used to try to go home once a year
to like New Zealand and Australia and tour there a bunch.
I must say I haven't been doing it as much recently.
I think it just got really complicated during a pandemic and then I've just
sort of fallen out of the habit of it.
But yeah, I definitely slow down a little bit in the winter, which is nice,
(10:01):
but I do still you know
travel at least once a month usually to you
know Arizona or Texas or Utah or somewhere
that you can sort of get away with being well actually
no Utah gets really cold during the winter doesn't it yeah I think I've mostly
been there in the spring in the fall but yeah I stay busy I've been doing remote
(10:22):
shoots too since since the pandemic which has been a nice option to have in
in downtime not that I feel like I have a lot of downtime time.
I know exactly how you feel about that. It's like, I don't have a job job. How am I so busy?
Right? I know. I think it's a curse. There's a blessing and a curse of freelancing.
(10:43):
I think it's so great if it's a lifestyle that works for you.
And I think that anybody who's stuck with this for a reasonable amount of time
is doing it because they're passionate about it.
It would just be miserable if you weren't because there's so many unpaid hours.
But it's a lifestyle. And And I think, yeah, the downside is there's always
(11:03):
something you could be doing to better yourself or to better your career.
There's always, in my case, like I'm never completely caught up on my emails,
which has been a big stress factor in my life in recent years and something
I'm trying to work through.
But yeah, there's just always something you could be doing. It's really hard
for me to switch off and just take a walk or take a bath or something knowing
(11:27):
that I owe people messages.
Messages and they're like people I know too you know because most people I've
worked with I work with I'm planning to work with I have worked with multiple
times so they feel like friends and I just hate.
I feel like I'm constantly much slower than I would like to be.
Yeah. I guess in a way, though, it's good to be busy because that means like,
(11:49):
you know, even if it's just casual conversations that you need to respond to,
I'm sure some of them are work emails that it all means that people want to
work with you. So that's good.
Oh, absolutely. Yes. No, I have no complaints there.
I feel very, very blessed to feel so supported and part of this community.
I'm so grateful. and this is yeah living in the states right now i think it's
(12:12):
a really great place for me to be in that respect i just couldn't have the same
level of busyness back home i don't think.
Yeah and i feel like living in the city alone makes one busier somehow i think
so too i i feel like i've almost kept myself at a length from the city that
i'm currently living in for that reason because I just feel so filled up by
(12:37):
everything that's going on with the work trips and stuff.
And the last city I lived in, I was really a strong part of a social scene there.
And that was always a lot in and of itself.
Whereas now I feel like I almost have created this sanctuary for myself so that
I can just curl up in a ball when I'm home from trips and concentrate on refueling
(12:57):
and healing my body and catching up on the admin side of things,
which as you know is ever present
that resonates a lot with me because like
currently i'm staying in a city and i can't wait to get
back to the middle of nowhere but my boyfriend is very
social and he wants to set up all these social activities for us that i do want
(13:19):
to do but the schedule of all of them the day after the next stresses me out
and like oh i have to write my newsletter newsletter and post to Instagram and edit these photos.
Oh my gosh yes I can definitely relate to that although my husband is an introvert
as well it's always kind of great actually we're just going to sit at home and
(13:42):
stare lovingly into each other's eyes when I'm here and then I go,
away and it's just like non-stop from the second I leave home till the second
I get back I think that kind of um I think that's hard to relate to for a lot
of people who aren't in this specific career of travel so when you go on your
(14:03):
tours how how long are your tours right now,
right now I've sort of found myself in a pattern of like two to two and a half
weeks and that's shorter than it has ever been historically and I feel like
this being I mean I've definitely experimented with different things over the
years and I think that's the sort of variety of
you know, places I've been and lengths of trips and stuff has helped to keep
(14:27):
things feeling fresh to me.
But I feel like there has been a general trend of them getting shorter.
I get, you know, a lot of familial responsibilities at home now.
So it's, I've got to carve out a lot of time for that.
I don't know, it just feels like a good length, I think, two and a half weeks,
two to two and a half weeks. I feel like I'm giving my best that entire time.
(14:47):
I feel like I probably, I've always booked intensely, but when I was booking
for longer, like four, six weeks, that kind of thing, I think I definitely had
a little bit of downtime in those trips.
And now I certainly do not at all.
All day, every day for that time, I might have like one or two half days,
possibly three but sometimes not
(15:10):
even that wow that that does sound
pretty intense actually I mean how many
cities are you going to in the two and a half weeks
I would say usually three or four yeah how does that look against what you're
doing at the moment so I mean maybe my experience is different because when
(15:32):
I started modeling I was basically gone for two weeks and then I'd be home for two weeks.
So two weeks between two to three cities has been like the most intense that I've toured.
But most of the bookings that I had at the time that was like between 2012 to 2017, I was doing that.
(15:53):
It was mostly like two to four hour shoots.
And a lot of them were like like glamour GWCs in a hotel or a basement.
And I burned out of that really hard at the end.
And that's when I sort of wanted to morph more into the like fine art like genre,
because I find that a lot of the fine art photographers want to book.
(16:18):
I mean, not always, but often they want to book longer shoots.
And it seems like less of a hustle to shoot a bunch of different striptease
outfit type things so yeah the
what I'm doing now it feels more fulfilling and I try to space it out more.
I can definitely relate to what you're saying. I feel like when I'm in New York
(16:42):
specifically, where I just visited actually for the first time in quite a few
years, and part of the reason for that is it always felt like such a grind.
And although it's like I'm still working in the fine art genre there because
it's New York and it's not a ton of nature and everybody's in like tiny spaces,
I feel like all of the bookings are always really short and everything
(17:03):
is like such just feels like like a grind
to get from one place to the other so it's yeah it's
just sort of like putting together a bunch of two-hour shoots and
wildly different places from one another it just
it does feel like a lot more work yeah and then you
have to carry everything up and down the stairs to get to it
i'm never not on the
(17:24):
fifth floor and every single building I'm going to
in New York I feel like this is like a hard and fast roll yes
and why do I bring so much stuff I'm a
nude model yeah same same I'm gonna be heading out on a trip today after this
podcast and I'm like oh I have like 50 outfits but like I'm only gonna use three
(17:45):
of them you don't know which three they're gonna be so totally totally essential yeah and And now,
at least with the way that my social media is treating me,
I can't get away with posting something if I'm not wearing something.
You have to bring options if people are like, oh, I want to be able to do a collaborator post.
(18:06):
And it's such a shame because you do the most impressive, just your stuff in
nature that I see posting.
It's often your self-portraits. They're just so incredible. well
I hate there's not a lot more places that
are open to showing them but those are the rules we are playing by
I suppose is I'm not a great social media
(18:28):
person so I I just choose to
not yeah I mean it's hard it brings like another full-time job on top of your
full-time job I you know I came to the realization a few years ago that I think
I could be wrong but I feel like Like a lot of people enjoy that side of it
and I'm like, I just don't.
(18:51):
It does feel like a job to me and I could be wrong, but I think for a lot of
people they enjoy that aspect of sharing and that's awesome and I don't know why I don't.
Maybe it's just the introvertedness, but I really love the creative process. I love creating.
I love like meeting with somebody who I know or somebody who I don't know and
just going into this new situation and creating something that didn't exist.
(19:12):
Like to me that's just so magical but then I have like zero part of me that.
Feels an urge to share that with the world I don't know
I don't know yeah that's interesting I think
that for me when I'm posting I do
because Instagram will drive
photographers to say that they want to shoot with
(19:34):
me in the comments of a photo I think that makes me
want to post more I definitely get a
dopamine hit of some kind when I book a shoot
and I know that's become a
problem for me over time because in the past I would
just book a ton of shoots for my tours and then
sometimes if I didn't do my research on the person
(19:55):
in advance I would get myself to the shoot thinking oh
I was so excited when I solidified the details for
this but sometimes I get there and it's like not what
I thought it was going to be oh no I mean
I think we all end up in those situations like sometimes you you
know and I'm fairly particular about who I work with in terms
of the style just because I don't know
(20:17):
I feel like if I'm not really connecting with the style that's shown in their
portfolio that would be better served by finding someone who is really excited
about it who's going to be able to put their heart into it but um sometimes
I get there and they just have this like totally wild card thing that they want to try that is not at all.
What sort of their portfolio demonstrated and you're
(20:39):
like oh okay well I guess we're doing this now yeah you
never know sometimes you never know and then
there's always the like oh I've never seen this in your portfolio so it must
mean that you've wanted to try yeah speaking of like funky crazy weird photo
(21:00):
shoots I have this question that I ask everybody I call this segment the photo.
At a photo shoot it could be something that happened surrounding the shoot was
crazy maybe the photographer said or did something crazy or what's one of your
(21:22):
crazy photo shoot stories.
I I honestly can't think of any
that are crazy in like a bad way I
mean I've had like rookie bad things you know
like photographer grabbing my leg to move it for me
like I can't or like in one case actually like hurting me
trying to pull my leg in a direction it doesn't physically go
(21:42):
that kind of thing but okay there's one coming to me now that's like a little
little quirky I definitely remember being put in a tutu once while being asked
to hold like a clothesline that had a bunch of paper fish pegged to it what
that's kind of interesting this was a long time
ago but I don't know I feel like most of my crazy photo
(22:05):
shoots have been crazy and like a
cool way like really conceptual underwater stuff where I was body painted like
holding a shield and sword that was more the cool one or like just really interesting
locations that photographers have had access to that you just wouldn't know
were there like there was one photography who one
(22:26):
photographer who photographed me in these catacombs under Melbourne City,
which I had no idea even existed. Wow.
Yeah, he was doing this shoot where I was meant to be like an apparition kind
of in this like weird, dark setting. And that was the location.
I was like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. But I'm cool.
(22:49):
There's one shoot that I always remember. And it's not too crazy,
but it was just really thought provoking to me.
It was in Australia, again, and it was myself and, like, a headdress designer
and a makeup artist and a photographer.
And we ended up, like, out in the middle of nowhere on this waterfall, like, on the top.
(23:14):
I was sitting on the top of a waterfall wearing this crazy, like,
headdress with these antlers.
And I was holding this, like, really, really, really long piece of fabric that
was, like, going down the length of the waterfall.
Fall and we were there at like 5 6 a.m or something
insane and I just thought
(23:34):
I just remember thinking at the time how amazing it
was that we all this was like a just a collaborative shoot for all of our portfolios
at the time I just was like this is so amazing that we're all willing to go
to these sort of lengths to just create this thing and I just really feel like photography is
(23:58):
it like an excuse to explore the
world in a different way like yeah wouldn't be
on top of a waterfall at 6 a.m you know just because you wanted to be on your
own steam but realistically you know you're probably going to be asleep so I
don't know I just think it gives us a reason and to get out and engage with
(24:21):
the world in this incredible way.
And I don't even remember seeing the photos from the shoot, but it didn't even
feel that important. Like, you know, it was about this experience.
I just think that's really cool. So that's one shoot that always stands out in my mind is being,
yeah, I don't know about crazy, but just I just like that memory and I just
(24:41):
like thinking of our innate creativity creativity,
and just feeling so blessed that I'm in this realm where we get to explore the world in such ways.
That's true. You're totally right about that. And there's a lot of stuff that
I never would have initiated or thought about going to explore, but a photographer,
(25:02):
you know, said, hey, I know this cool place I would have heard of or been to
if it wasn't for them having the
idea to go do a shoot there like historical places or
unique nature places and stuff like that
exactly and i get asked all the time whether
i do like sightseeing when i travel and i
(25:23):
don't because i just don't have time to like i don't
at this point in my life carve out time to do those things
hopefully i might travel in a more balanced way in the future but i don't really
feel like i'm missing out just because of that you know photographers are locals
to the area and they know these beautiful natural locations or really interesting
buildings around and stuff. So you get to see a lot of cool stuff.
(25:47):
Yeah yeah and that in itself is its own sightseeing but I mean honestly for me like going to see,
Mount Rushmore or the Statue of Liberty doesn't really
excite me as much as like a really cool cliff edge me
too I'm very crowd phobic so I feel
like most of the the typical things that people want to go on sightsee don't
appeal to me that much I would love to see more like art
(26:08):
galleries it would be one thing that I
would love to make a habit of doing at some point but um
anyway I felt like my shoot story wasn't very crazy do
you have a crazy shoot story lots of
crazy stories I mean like
pick a topic I think that
I mean there's one experience that's popping
(26:30):
into my mind I don't know if I would say that the experience was that crazy
or not but it was like a shibari shoot where the photographer wasn't the person
who came up with the ideas it It was like the photographer's friend and they
were like in the scene together in Seattle.
So they knew each other personally outside of photography.
(26:53):
And this guy had a bunch of different ideas that were like me being tied up
in different places around the house, which it wasn't really like extreme rope.
And I wasn't even like nude in the photos.
I was like in some latex bikini. And at the end of the shoot,
the guy said that his wife and him were both like in the scene together and
(27:18):
they were madly in love and they had just or she had just died of cancer like
six months before the shoot.
And he was writing a book about how they met each other and how this form of
like intimacy was a major part of their relationship.
And he wanted to take pictures to be an inspiration for some of the stuff he was writing in the book.
(27:42):
And so to me, that was something that I always remembered because I was like,
wow, like I just thought this was just some rope shoot, you know, just like all together.
But it had such more depth to it after that. Yeah. Wow.
Yeah. That's, that's, how did you feel about that? I felt really good about
it. I mean, he seemed to be really happy with the photos.
(28:04):
You know, I kind of was stunned in the moment when he told me that his wife
had died of cancer because they were probably, I was probably like 20 at the time.
And this guy was probably 35 or 40 at the most. So his wife must have been pretty young.
So it was kind of sad. out yeah that's that's horrible oh well it's kind of
(28:25):
beautiful that you were able to help him do something that was obviously really
meaningful for him you know.
I think that there's been a lot of times where it's like the situation surrounding
the shoot, like something that is happening in the photographer's life makes
the photos more impactful.
Like when you see a photo of like a girl standing on a cliff edge,
(28:45):
it's like one thing, but maybe, maybe that photographer was paralyzed and they
just finally had a surgery where they could walk again.
It's their first time being able to shoot after their surgery or
something like that you know absolutely yeah or
like I feel like a lot of people that
we work with are able to finally explore the
(29:05):
creative side after retiring you know it's a less extreme
example of that but I feel like it's I don't
know just going back to this creativity
as a way of exploring the world and I think a lot of people
end up in careers that may not be as gratifying
in some ways is what we're doing right now and then they finally have
like the the freedom to
(29:28):
to do things that they've always wanted to do which is really nice yeah
and definitely being an outdoor nature on location model lends itself to having
more of these unique experiences and not that you can't like inside a house
or in a studio or whatever but I just feel like Like it is more of an adventure
(29:49):
when you're doing something outside.
I think so. Yeah, you're exploring the terrain more.
I feel like if I'm in like a domestic space, then I'm more exploring myself.
You know, I'm just sort of going inward and trying to sort of feel a range of
emotions as they come up.
(30:10):
I find beauty in that as well.
It's sort of it's almost an excuse to practice sort of a meditation almost is that the right.
Word but like yeah being present yeah and
going through the flow and also you know you
generally have more of a conversation with the
(30:32):
photographer when you're I feel like when you're inside you
have more time to do what you're doing
because you don't have to hike or deal with the elements or
potential passerbys so there's more I
guess it depends on how much stuff they have to set up
at the studio but it seems like more of an opportunity to
like chit chat in between sets yes and I don't know about you but this is definitely
(30:54):
one of my favorite parts of this job is like art is such a meaningful way to
connect with another person and I love that there's no one kind of photographer
like they're coming from all walks of life like you know police officers Officers, lawyers,
like pastors, people who stack supermarket shelves, like, like everywhere in between.
Like, there's no one kind of person who has an interest in this and like getting
(31:18):
to know people and not only getting to know them a little bit,
but getting to connect with them.
Through this thing that we both have in common that's meaningful to both of
us, I just think is really beautiful. I love it. Yeah.
And there's not very many other jobs where you get to connect with that variety
of different types of people.
I agree. And I was listening to something recently that was talking about how
(31:42):
in modern culture, we're often isolated from people outside of our peer group often,
like there's not as much sharing of knowledge between generations as there used
to be when we were living sort of in deeper community.
And I was thinking man I don't you
know I feel really lucky that
we do have access to you know
(32:04):
such a wide range of you know not only walks
of life but ages because I think there's
some truth in that and I have certainly had photographers outright say this
before as well that they in their workplaces they might be surrounded by people
who are you know in their their age group and perhaps from from similar walks
of life so this is an opportunity for them to connect with the younger generation
(32:26):
you know if they never had children themselves or.
Whatever their circumstances so it's cool
to be able to offer that yeah yeah that's an interesting way to think of it
as well have you ever had to have a job where you had set hours like in the
past oh yes yep i've done i've done a lot of different kinds of jobs uh so i
(32:49):
would say that They all had said hours prior to this,
although not necessarily conventional hours.
I did a lot of work in hospitality when I was really young.
Then I did a lot of laboring jobs, like working in plantations,
orchards, factories, that kind of thing.
Sometimes they were quite late shifts, as was hospitality at times.
(33:11):
Then I worked for environmental groups doing fundraising for a long time.
And that was actually a traveling profession as well.
I was traveling to remote communities in Australia
and just yeah talking to
people about the courses that I was working for which was
very cool and yeah it was pretty
well after that that I started the life modeling and and then this is by far
(33:36):
the longest I've ever been doing one job I have to say and I think it's the
variety in this that keeps that possible because I think I like I don't know
I'm just someone who's really hungry for different experiences and I like to
learn of different things.
So yeah, the fact that this has kept me really engaged for, well,
yeah, like 15 years or so now is pretty. Wow.
(34:00):
Yeah, same. Are you ever worried that sometime in the future you'll have to
like phase out of freelancing and end up back in some kind of an hourly job?
It's so hard to imagine at this point. It really is. I'm sure you're in the same boat.
I think it's probably one of the reasons that we see so many models like
attempting to retire i have for such a long time yeah um
(34:22):
it just it's really hard to imagine putting your all
of your energy into somebody else's project but
sometimes i crave it too like i really look back on my like
hospitality days or towards other
jobs like my mom she's changed job recently but you
know she works worked for most of the last couple of
decades as a receptionist and i just always
(34:42):
feel like when you go to one place and work there
every day it just feels like it must become a home away from home and
I don't know I imagine it would be well when
I was working in cafes and stuff it was they become like your family a
little bit yeah I mean I know you're not
into you know there's a lot of like this we're a
family workplace toxicity but I
(35:03):
don't know I think amongst some staff it does kind of feel a little bit and this can
be a lot more isolated in some
ways but to your point I can't imagine it but yes I do I do worry a little bit
about but I feel like about a year ago I reached this point of freaking out
(35:25):
about what I was going to do next and I don't know,
I was just really grappling with it and feeling like I should make some moves
towards it and I started doing some like life coaching sessions trying to work
through it and that was really helpful.
But in the end I just ended up putting it down. I was like, you know,
maybe this isn't the right time to be thinking about this and I'm forcing it
(35:47):
and that's why it feels kind of...
Off. Because I feel like in the past, I've just followed my heart and ended up in the right place.
Yeah, I'm really glad that you said that. I've actually kind of dealt with similar things.
Like I hired a life coach. I'm like, oh, I'm going to have to figure out what
I'm doing next because I'm going to get too old. Like I'm turning 37 next week.
(36:11):
So I'm like, people still seem to want to
shoot with me though so at the same point it's
like if it's not broke don't fix
it if people still are emailing you to hire you then you still have good work
and I'm like I guess like my ability to be like confident in myself is my thing
(36:33):
that I need to keep up so whatever I gotta do to like
enjoy being photographed without getting self-conscious is my responsibility for myself, I guess.
Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Well, happy birthday for next week. I just turned 39 last week.
Wow. Thank you. And for me, I have to say at the age thing is like a bit of a factor,
(36:58):
but it's more with respect to the fact that I really want to have a family and,
you know, being 39 probably should be thinking about that but
also just like in a practical sense like what am i
gonna do if i'm stationary i know some i know some models travel with children
but i cannot imagine that for myself so that's where i start thinking like what
(37:18):
what can i do that would enable me to stay still yeah that's a tough one i just
have one yeah i mean if you do the
remote shoots and then do photography that's an
option yes I'm more
immersed in myself going in a completely different direction but I
(37:40):
don't know I do think of I do think of photography sometimes but
I also see how how hard it is for people to make a living doing it because I
work with such talented photographers and you know I think the ones who who
are doing weddings are are doing okay but everybody else it's it doesn't seem doesn't seem that easy,
(38:01):
well not that I need something to be easy but it just it seems like kind of.
Dwindling I suppose like everybody knows somebody with
a good camera now and I think photography is has always
been an undervalued art form compared to most other
things and I think it's becoming even more
and more that way like everybody's becoming decent more decent photographer
(38:23):
than on the business because of social media and stuff like that I don't know
yeah it's very competitive compared to being a freelance model where like being
a freelance model like doing kind of what you and I are doing is super niche.
I think it is. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you and I started,
right? Yeah. I mean, a little more open now, but. Yeah.
(38:45):
I want to take a short little break to tell you about Model Society.
Modelsociety.com is a website dedicated to featuring figurative fine art photography
for models and photographers.
What makes them different than other portfolio hosting websites is that some
of those other their websites will still host kind of tacky photography or exploitative photos.
(39:07):
Model Society screens all of their contributors for quality and authenticity,
so you only get the best of the best on there.
If you're not a photographer or model, you can still enjoy and appreciate Model
Society because they also have newsletters and magazines featuring their best
work and new articles each Check it out. ModelSociety.com.
(39:32):
I will also include a link to Model Society in the show notes.
Alright, now back to our show.
I have another question that I ask everybody on the show that I call the rising
phoenix era of your life.
Can you describe a situation where you were faced with some kind of a challenge
(39:54):
that you had to overcome?
And it could be related to your modeling or not. Hmm.
I feel like recently I have something that's sort of like followed me for the
last 10 years since I've moved to the States has been this homesickness.
(40:14):
And this has been a real challenge for me because I feel like I'm so blessed here.
And it's been really hard for me to sit in the present moment while part of
me has felt like it's someplace else.
For example I've lived in this house with
my husband for like seven years and we've
(40:37):
barely moved in I think you
know we've both had really like nomadic pasts so that's
part of it is we're not used to like settling down but I think part of
it is that it also doesn't necessarily feel
permanent because I know that I want to end up back in New Zealand eventually and
you know he's open to that and everything but neither here
nor there yeah it's it's you can
(41:00):
put things off and then realize like wow you know
an eighth a tenth or whatever of my life has just passed and I've not been fully
engaged with it and I'm not even sure what to attribute this to but that sort
of fog has lifted from me in like the last year and I'm so freaking grateful for that because
(41:21):
I just feel like I'm here now and it's just the best feeling.
So I feel like I'm able to move more fully into myself and just to appreciate.
Just everything that I have here and so yeah
that's that's the most recent rising phoenix situation
(41:42):
I I've been up against but certainly
throughout my life there have been so many iterations of myself and they've
been so dramatic that I I feel like I've lived like multiple lives that feel
like they have very little in common with one another but yeah yes sort of like
Like setting that part of my personality,
(42:04):
wanting to be somewhere else is what I'm going to look for.
Homesickness, that's also something that I can relate to because we travel so much.
Sometimes I fall in love with a city or with an area and I'm like,
oh, this has got to be my next home.
But a sense of home is priceless.
(42:27):
List it's something that not everybody has
even if they've stayed in the same town for a
very long time but feeling at home
i think that a lot of models on the podcast have expressed this you know they've
been wandering for so long they don't have roots anywhere you know that you
want to go somewhere else at
(42:49):
some point yeah it's new zealand yeah and i feel like it's sort of like a,
I don't know it's probably more prevalent
in modern society than it's ever been because I don't know about you but I've
got like my family one place my husband is here in Ohio like my friends are
(43:09):
all in other places all in the world like my work is everywhere it's sort of
like everything feels so divided and complicated and you know I really loathe.
With with or somebody like like my mother-in-law for example who's just lived
here her entire life she's barely ever been outside of the state she has like
(43:29):
all of her family here like all of her siblings all of her friends that she's
had since she was a child and i'm like she is so,
this is so undisputably her home and
what what must that feel like i don't know and i
don't know I read something recently that it was something to the
effect of what a blessing it is to
(43:49):
have many homes rather than one and I'm really turning into
that feeling but Ohio is not
feeling like it right now is that right
well it wasn't but now I'm like
no this is cool like this this is this is where it's
at for the moment and it definitely did
for the last most of the last 10 years feel like well this isn't
(44:10):
it like what am I doing well I knew what I was doing this was
the right place to be for quite a few logistical reasons but
I was struggling with it and now hopefully this
is a sustained feeling but yeah I just have been feeling totally cool with it
for now which is great that's good that's good definitely the fact that I'm
traveling all the time and getting exposed to yeah I think the the lack of obvious
(44:36):
nature and ocean and stuff here was a big part of.
The feelings that I was experiencing but that's always something
you know I've been satiated with that when I'm traveling but I
definitely feel like engaging with the nature that is here like
just finding a nature trail and walking in
it like every week throughout the year
and just seeing the way that the plants and environment changes is actually
(45:00):
part of what has helped me feel more seated here even if it's not you know a
mountain or the ocean or lake or anything grand like that it's you know columbus
it's really a it's a city it's a city city,
it's yeah i definitely feel like it's been a factor and my feeling more at peace
(45:22):
being here right now that's good it's good to find you know joy in your local
nature areas right now i'm in
Seattle, which is my original home.
And I'm just visiting though.
And I was walking around today and it smells like the ocean and the sun is warm,
but there's a cool breeze.
(45:44):
And later this year, we're going to be relocating to Phoenix.
Oh my goodness. I love it. I love Seattle.
Phoenix is closer to a lot of the cool southwest locations that I really enjoy
being at, but I'll be landlocked.
There's not going to be the ocean or any big lakes nearby unless I go to Lake
(46:07):
Powell, which is, you know, I don't know if people really swim that much in Lake Powell.
I am not sure either. Yeah, I love Phoenix.
I could imagine like living there for a short you
know like a few months or a year or something like that but it's
so wildly different from new zealand for example which
(46:27):
is like i think new zealand is a lot more like seattle actually i love the pacific
northwest it's probably my favorite part of the country but i feel like i'm
cheating because it it probably is just that way because it reminds me of home
the most like overcast rainy like i'm all for it is new zealand or where you're
from in New Zealand often overcast and raining?
(46:47):
New Zealand is typically overcast and
rainy in general yeah the native name for the country Aotearoa actually
means land of the long white cloud which is because when
you look at it from the ocean as they would have from their canoes or waka they
were seeing like a cloud over it all the time it's because of I expect it's
(47:08):
because of the mountain range that rigid mountains that runs through down most
of the country where it was pushed up from the ocean.
I think it's sort of like two tectonic plates that have pushed up this mountain
ridge, which gathers clouds.
Yeah. Yeah, like Seattle, it tends to be cold, not because we get a lot of snow
(47:29):
on the ground, but because the snow is on the mountains and it gets blown,
you know, the cold air from the mountains blows to us.
On most of the country it's fairly long so we do have quite a
variety for a relatively small country like at the top
of it it is warmer but not not the place where
i'm from that sounds beautiful though have
(47:50):
you been there i have been to new zealand once i i did like just like an excursion
with my at the time boyfriend and i had traveled through and we went to hobbit
town and we We went to Mount Doom,
which is actually called the Tongariro Crossing.
(48:10):
That was pretty epic.
Yeah, so we were like on the northern part of New Zealand and the northern coast and stuff.
Nice. Yeah, I think a lot of the like natural draws are there.
Well, I feel like everywhere. A lot of people would like right down south to
Queenstown and Wanaka where they have like a lot of the skiing and stuff like that.
(48:33):
But yeah, I think if I had to choose one island to recommend to somebody,
I think the North Island has a lot of cool, like really cool geothermal stuff
and really big trees and I don't know. It was beautiful.
It was super beautiful. The hike that we did was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life.
Excellent. Yeah.
(48:56):
Yeah. Some steep inclines. Yeah.
Have you ever hiked the Tongariro Crossing? rushing
I have not I regret to say that I've
not done any like any of the serious hikes in
New Zealand probably because like when we were traveling as
a family I I don't know
I would have been way too annoyed to take like a really long hike I was such
(49:18):
a homebody child so I just remember my entire childhood being dragged to all
these like beautiful places and just complaining and whinging the whole time
I just wanted to be like cozied up at home so yeah we did a lot of It's awesome. But nonetheless.
Uh-huh right which now I've
made my like entire lifestyle all about
(49:39):
traveling around and going on walks in nature which is kind of funny how it
comes full circle but yeah a lot of a lot of day hikes or half day hikes but
none of those serious overnight ones but I would love to do that yeah it wasn't
I don't think that you would want to do that one overnight they basically you have to get
dropped off like you park somewhere
(50:01):
and a bus like goes to the other side of the mountain you don't go up and back
you go across it and you have to get to the end of the hike by a certain time
because the bus only picks you up until time yeah yeah that's a good incentive to keep going,
yeah it was it was i
(50:22):
think they measured it in kilometers obviously but i think i calculated it was
between 13 and 14 miles oh that's pretty substantial yeah it was intense it
was beautiful though it was worth it see if i can rope one of my parents into.
To going on a on a hike with me yeah yeah
(50:45):
so where are you traveling to in the near future
maybe photographers that hear this episode can be like
oh a noosh is coming i'll actually be
be going to seattle on my next trip oh no way
excited to hear that you're there i'm going to be
i'm going to be starting in northern california at the uh and
last half of august and then i'm going to be in portland oh
(51:07):
no sorry middle of august norcal then heading to
portland and then seattle is from like the 30th of august through to the fourth
or third third of september it'll be beautiful oh my gosh I'm so excited I it's
not I don't get to the Pacific Northwest as often as other places but I really like it there.
(51:29):
It is the place to be in the summertime for sure. Yes, you can get heat waves
there, right? But not as much as us.
Yeah, it gets so hot rarely. Like it'll very rarely get over 100 degrees.
But because it doesn't get hot so often, a lot of people here don't have air
(51:50):
conditioning and people die.
Like especially elderly folks may pass away if they don't have air conditioning.
And there's just not enough services
in the area to help everybody out so it
can get kind of bad up here yeah that's
a really scary symptom of like climate breakdown because i
know it's the same in new zealand it's just yeah it's not typically hot a lot
(52:13):
of people don't have air conditioning and as things change there
well i feel like we're really under equipped i
mean you like you see in texas with all the flooding it's
like they i guess historically have not
had that much water so they don't have the infrastructure to let
it go away it's yeah we're the times
(52:33):
are changing yes they are and here on the whole west coast it hasn't happened
yet but i'm anticipating it will happen we've been having smoke season for the
last five or six years where prior to that we We did not have smoke season.
Yes, that I have seen like people sharing pictures.
(52:55):
It just, yeah, I feel like we've been like knock on wood lucky this year with,
well, at least in this part of the country, we haven't had, because I feel like
the last two summers were crazy smoke around June, July from coming down from Canada and elsewhere.
But yes, I do have, you know,
it's, I know it's common enough now that when I do plan trips to california
(53:18):
or to the pacific northwest in the back of my head i'm like thinking is
it you know are they going to have a cozy wildfire outbreak
that's going to interfere with bookings like or
just comfort of being there yeah i
did have to cancel a road trip through northern california once in i believe
it was 2020 because of the there's a massive forest fire that That was blocking
(53:43):
my entry into Northern California.
So, you know, it might be that season when you get there. We'll cross our fingers
that there's not a bunch of forest fires.
Oh, I hope so too. Oh my gosh. At that event that I met you at,
at Madonna Inn, driving back to Los Angeles from that was the most intense wildfire,
(54:04):
the situation I've ever driven through. Oh yeah. Happened to me for a year that way.
There was. And I think we were lucky to have been able to get through the road,
but it was, you know, driving down that freeway along the coastline and like
literally burning palm trees on the side of the road and like crazy apocalyptic
(54:25):
looking. It was, yeah. Yeah.
I'd forgotten about that. Yeah, it can happen.
On your Instagram page, you do describe yourself as an environmentalist.
And I just want to say, I think I really think that that's amazing.
And more people should definitely be wary of nature.
(54:46):
Yeah, it's something that I've done a lot of working in the past.
And it's definitely where I see my future.
I feel like I'm at the point in my life where I'm just having to try to lay
a foundation for, you know, myself and my family for the future.
And I think protecting the environment isn't something that's going to help
(55:07):
me make money, unfortunately.
But, yeah, ultimately I would really love to work in revegetating forests or waterways.
I can't think of anything that would be more satisfying than sort of, you know,
seeing dormant farmland come back
to life and become habitat for nature that's
really what i want to move into someday so that's a my
(55:30):
long term yeah that's something that would
really contribute to the world and i guess that's something that i kind of debate
with myself is what i'm doing really contributing to the world like beyond just
like giving people images that they enjoy that make the world a better place
but But doing something that is truly meaningful,
(55:51):
such as environmental work, would feel fulfilling in a different kind of way.
I think you'd be surprised by how many lives you touch doing this,
whether that's through meeting people in person and being able to share your light with them.
But also, I'm surprised sometimes at the just lovely comments that people might
(56:13):
send me about how an image really touches them or speaks to them.
And I, you know, imposter syndrome is real. So I guess I don't like look at
what I'm doing right now as being particularly valuable either.
And then I get like messages like that. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. you
know because you know what it feels like when a song really just speaks
(56:34):
to you at the right time of your life or you know
I don't really can move you and it's so hard to I think
see what I am doing in even the same sphere as like a really amazing song or
something like that and then occasionally I get a message that you know that
that somebody just seems to be losing their mind about something and I think,
(56:58):
wow, that's amazing that something is speaking to them in that way.
But yes, the personal relationships too. I'm sure that you are.
Really touching a lot of lives with all of the people you talk to and also doing this you know,
sharing these um adventures but we also go through so many stages in our lives
too so i know this is one phase and who knows where either of us will end up
(57:21):
next but hopefully we both have a long while to like make all sorts of different
kinds of impact that's true you know a person's circle
of influence within whatever they're doing has an impact.
And this is going to sound really odd and out of left field,
but I've recently kind of gone down the rabbit hole on Jerry Springer.
(57:43):
Apparently, he had a massive positive impact on his community,
despite the fact that he's known for having the TV show with the crazy drama
that's fabricated on there.
But apparently, Apparently he was really active in politics before and a lot
of the people that were involved on his show did have a positive impact on it.
(58:06):
So it's just kind of interesting to think about how it doesn't really matter
what you're doing, like you could impact others in a positive way. Yeah, absolutely.
And like never underestimate, you know, I don't know,
just not to sound super cheesy, but just like
just being a generally good person and smiling
(58:26):
at people when you walk in the street or just I don't
know I I think that just going
about your life in a way that is kind
can be so impactful like it
it spreads out from there and you never
know whose day you might light up just by saying hello
(58:47):
or you know they might they might
be going through something awful and then you can
help them just have like a positive change in
their day and then they go and smile at somebody else you just never know yeah
that's true I love the cheesiness though I'm all about it like I agree with
everything that you said I usually the things that are cheesy and like overdone
(59:10):
it's because they're true right yeah totally yeah all for the cheese.
Well, Anoush, it's been a little over an hour, and that's usually the amount
of time that I do these podcasts for.
Is there anything else that you wanted to bring up before we say goodbye?
No, I think we've covered everything. It's been such a delight to talk to you.
(59:32):
I can't thank you enough for thinking of me and inviting me onto the show and
for just doing this and highlighting this really niche community.
It's such a cool idea. dear. I've always admired you, by the way,
in a way that I just see you as being really inspirational in terms of,
I feel like I'm always seeing you exploring new things. Oh, thanks.
(59:57):
Broadening your horizons in a way that I just don't feel like I do.
Yeah, I enjoy it. Thank you for saying that.
Part of it is just dodging burnout, out. But another part of it is I can't just do one thing.
Like there's always a new project that pops into my mind. I'm like,
oh, I have to do that. Even if it's half-assed, like I have to do it.
(01:00:18):
I, yeah, I, I'm, I have a lot of like, even less than half-assed things.
Nothing that suits the light of day, but no, you're amazing.
Thank you so much and safe travels today and happy birthday for next week.
Yeah. Thank you so much. Awesome. All right. And you're.
Music.
Music.
(00:09):
Freelance models. And today I have Anoush Anu on the line. Say hello.
Hey, Christy. Hey, everyone. It's lovely to be here. Thank you so much for taking
the time to do the podcast with me.
I'm really excited to get to know you a little bit better.
Thank you so much for inviting me. And likewise, I know we spent a few days
together a few years ago, but I don't feel like I really got to talk to you much across that time.
(00:33):
Yeah, there was a lot going on. There was, I
mean 10 or 15 models there there was
a lot going on oh my gosh and I had poison oak all
over my body the week before and I wasn't able to sleep so I was not feeling
my best self that week oh my god other than that it was an amazing event wow
(00:55):
that's intense I I've never experienced,
poison oak or poison ivy actually
oh it's the worst yeah i we don't
have it where i'm from so i i came to the states completely
oblivious to its existence and that was my second
time dealing with it the first time kind of
made sense i had no idea that this plant existed
(01:17):
so i was posing with it and that was the whole thing and
then i was so paranoid about it forever after that so i was always looking out
for it i knew exactly what it looked like but i didn't realize that in like
the fall and winter when its leaves have dropped it's still poisonous so I think
the second time I was not having my eyes open for like sticks that could be poisonous basically.
(01:40):
Man you know I was actually in the forest a couple days ago and I think that
there was poison ivy around it looked like poison ivy and my friend and I who
were shooting together were like you know,
I've never had like a poison ivy rash and we've been in the forest a lot.
And I heard somewhere that only like 30% of people are like not very affected
(02:05):
at all by poison ivy and poison oak.
And I feel like maybe I'm one of them.
I hope you are. Yeah. I'm so envious of those people because it's pretty gross.
And I think it affects me worse than most people. I mean, it lasts for,
well, the disgusting part.
I don't I don't want to like grit at your listeners with it,
but the initial part lasts for a few weeks on me, which is, I think it's quite
(02:29):
a long time, but the scarring lasts for like.
You know more than half a year it's really intense yeah
wow one of the occupational hazards that
we face yeah i would seriously want to
avoid poison oak and poison ivy in that case like
that that's awful it leaves scarring and everything shit definitely definitely
(02:52):
yes so i was not sleeping very well at the time that i met you because it's
so itchy throughout the night oh man i mean the The things that art models have
to deal with that people don't even think about,
like the threat of getting tetanus like once a week, probably.
Tetanus, ticks, poisonous plants, I don't know, snakes, depending on where you are.
(03:14):
Anyway, sorry to dive directly into the disgusting health.
It's real, though. It is a real part of the job for sure.
Cool. For our listeners, I would like to hear how you first got into modeling
and then how your career has progressed and led you to where you are today.
(03:35):
Yeah, so I initially got into photographic modeling through life modeling for
painters and sketch artists, sculptors, which I think is a not uncommon way of getting into this.
And that was in Australia about sort of 16 years ago.
I had sort of been traveling around the world
doing a lot of different laboring jobs for many years
(03:56):
leading to that point and I decided that
I wanted to have a go at living somewhere so I sort of settled on Australia
I'm originally from New Zealand and I had spent some time in Melbourne Australia
and it had just struck me as being a really nice city so when I decided I wanted
to have a go at staying still for a while and you know maybe getting to know
people for more than a week at a time, taking some classes, stuff like that.
(04:18):
I thought of Australia.
I was sort of in India while I concocted this plan.
And I was thinking, well, I'm going to need like, you know, a non-seasonal job,
like something that I could do in the city. What wouldn't drive me crazy?
And I had done one life modeling session when I was much younger,
when I was studying photography, actually, when I was like 17 through 18, I tried it out then. And.
(04:44):
It was an interesting experience and I think I had really just done it for the experience.
And then I was like, oh my gosh, that's so painful. I'm never doing that again.
And then, you know, flash forward quite a few years later when I was thinking
about what I might be able to do for a couple of years, it just sort of ticked all the boxes.
I thought it's something that I'm going to be around creative people.
I'm going to be around people who are enjoying what they're doing.
(05:06):
It's something that's flexible. Like I can still call my own hours and travel if I want to.
So yeah I just sort of started life modeling I
did that full-time for three years and just through
being involved in that creative community in Australia I was occasionally meeting
photographers who were you know like painters and photographers both who might
invite me to do a photo shoot or even just to do photography for reference for
(05:31):
their paintings and I sort of
just slowly but surely got involved in photographic modeling through that.
Wow that's pretty cool so you You started out as a life model doing like painting
and sketching sessions and then moved into photographic modeling,
like kind of transitioned into that.
(05:53):
Yes, exactly. There was a, yeah, so I developed like a small photographic portfolio
across, I think it was like in 2010.
And then towards the end of that year, I was invited to a group event hosted
by an American woman in Australia.
Earlier and there were a lot of the full-time amazing models who you and I both
(06:13):
know, like Rebecca Lawrence, Keira Grant,
a few of those gorgeous people were there and I sort of was like,
oh, that's how I could do this full-time would be to travel.
So I booked my first trip a month after that and I haven't looked back.
Definitely part of the reason for that was that it was just so painful,
like the modeling, like staying still.
I mean, this is very physically demanding as well, but I just didn't really want to see what.
(06:38):
The long poses you know staying still
for 20-30 minutes at a time would do to my body long term because
it's pretty unnatural I think we're always moving even when we're asleep we
you know have have freedom of movement yeah I've only done the drawing sessions
like a couple of times but from what I remember I think the first time I ever
(06:59):
tried it I picked a pose and the person
leading the class was like, are you sure you want to do that pose?
And I was like, I'll be fine. And then after a few minutes, I was not fine.
There is nothing you can choose that is not going to hurt or leave you sort
of like limping and able to walk by the time that you hear the alarm go off.
(07:24):
Yeah. And it's nice to be able to have a posing flow, especially now that there's digital photography.
They can snap one and then you move into the next and snap another one.
It is a lot more movement for sure.
Definitely. Like I still do a lot of like wet plate photography and stuff like
that where you have to hold a pose for a long time, but it's nothing like the modeling.
(07:44):
And I love with digital photography how you can really like literally use movement.
It's definitely one of my favorite ways of working. There's just a spontaneity
to it that you can't get with the longer poses.
Yeah, absolutely. And when I look at your photos that you share,
I definitely get this strong vibe that you curate the photographers that you'll
(08:09):
work with to be like primarily fine art style photographers.
And I think that like that really lends itself to like your style and your essence as a model. all?
Yeah, I feel like I've definitely pigeonholed myself over the years,
which has been kind of nice.
I feel like when I first began, I tried a bit of everything as I think most people do.
(08:33):
I sort of reasoned that there was logic instead of having a really diverse portfolio
and therefore I would appeal to a really diverse range of photographers.
But over the years, I've just learned what I like and what I'm good at.
And I think luckily in my case, that's the same thing. I don't think that's
always true but you know it certainly makes it easier to do a good job when
(08:55):
it's something that you're really passionate about and to me that is is mostly
the the fine art nudes in nature I love work that sort of really showcases the connection between.
Humans and nature because we are a part of nature and I think we forget that
a lot of the time so I love that but I just also love portraits I think there's
a a portrait element and a lot of the
(09:17):
work that I love most and that that can still be like a full-length nude but
I like there to be sort of an emotional or narrative quality to that if that
makes sense yeah so since you do a lot of outdoor modeling what do you do in
the winter time when it's too cold um.
(09:38):
I go to the warmer states for sure. And I used to try to go home once a year
to like New Zealand and Australia and tour there a bunch.
I must say I haven't been doing it as much recently.
I think it just got really complicated during a pandemic and then I've just
sort of fallen out of the habit of it.
But yeah, I definitely slow down a little bit in the winter, which is nice,
(10:01):
but I do still you know
travel at least once a month usually to you
know Arizona or Texas or Utah or somewhere
that you can sort of get away with being well actually
no Utah gets really cold during the winter doesn't it yeah I think I've mostly
been there in the spring in the fall but yeah I stay busy I've been doing remote
(10:22):
shoots too since since the pandemic which has been a nice option to have in
in downtime not that I feel like I have a lot of downtime time.
I know exactly how you feel about that. It's like, I don't have a job job. How am I so busy?
Right? I know. I think it's a curse. There's a blessing and a curse of freelancing.
(10:43):
I think it's so great if it's a lifestyle that works for you.
And I think that anybody who's stuck with this for a reasonable amount of time
is doing it because they're passionate about it.
It would just be miserable if you weren't because there's so many unpaid hours.
But it's a lifestyle. And And I think, yeah, the downside is there's always
(11:03):
something you could be doing to better yourself or to better your career.
There's always, in my case, like I'm never completely caught up on my emails,
which has been a big stress factor in my life in recent years and something
I'm trying to work through.
But yeah, there's just always something you could be doing. It's really hard
for me to switch off and just take a walk or take a bath or something knowing
(11:27):
that I owe people messages.
Messages and they're like people I know too you know because most people I've
worked with I work with I'm planning to work with I have worked with multiple
times so they feel like friends and I just hate.
I feel like I'm constantly much slower than I would like to be.
Yeah. I guess in a way, though, it's good to be busy because that means like,
(11:49):
you know, even if it's just casual conversations that you need to respond to,
I'm sure some of them are work emails that it all means that people want to
work with you. So that's good.
Oh, absolutely. Yes. No, I have no complaints there.
I feel very, very blessed to feel so supported and part of this community.
I'm so grateful. and this is yeah living in the states right now i think it's
(12:12):
a really great place for me to be in that respect i just couldn't have the same
level of busyness back home i don't think.
Yeah and i feel like living in the city alone makes one busier somehow i think
so too i i feel like i've almost kept myself at a length from the city that
i'm currently living in for that reason because I just feel so filled up by
(12:37):
everything that's going on with the work trips and stuff.
And the last city I lived in, I was really a strong part of a social scene there.
And that was always a lot in and of itself.
Whereas now I feel like I almost have created this sanctuary for myself so that
I can just curl up in a ball when I'm home from trips and concentrate on refueling
(12:57):
and healing my body and catching up on the admin side of things,
which as you know is ever present
that resonates a lot with me because like
currently i'm staying in a city and i can't wait to get
back to the middle of nowhere but my boyfriend is very
social and he wants to set up all these social activities for us that i do want
(13:19):
to do but the schedule of all of them the day after the next stresses me out
and like oh i have to write my newsletter newsletter and post to Instagram and edit these photos.
Oh my gosh yes I can definitely relate to that although my husband is an introvert
as well it's always kind of great actually we're just going to sit at home and
(13:42):
stare lovingly into each other's eyes when I'm here and then I go,
away and it's just like non-stop from the second I leave home till the second
I get back I think that kind of um I think that's hard to relate to for a lot
of people who aren't in this specific career of travel so when you go on your
(14:03):
tours how how long are your tours right now,
right now I've sort of found myself in a pattern of like two to two and a half
weeks and that's shorter than it has ever been historically and I feel like
this being I mean I've definitely experimented with different things over the
years and I think that's the sort of variety of
you know, places I've been and lengths of trips and stuff has helped to keep
(14:27):
things feeling fresh to me.
But I feel like there has been a general trend of them getting shorter.
I get, you know, a lot of familial responsibilities at home now.
So it's, I've got to carve out a lot of time for that.
I don't know, it just feels like a good length, I think, two and a half weeks,
two to two and a half weeks. I feel like I'm giving my best that entire time.
(14:47):
I feel like I probably, I've always booked intensely, but when I was booking
for longer, like four, six weeks, that kind of thing, I think I definitely had
a little bit of downtime in those trips.
And now I certainly do not at all.
All day, every day for that time, I might have like one or two half days,
possibly three but sometimes not
(15:10):
even that wow that that does sound
pretty intense actually I mean how many
cities are you going to in the two and a half weeks
I would say usually three or four yeah how does that look against what you're
doing at the moment so I mean maybe my experience is different because when
(15:32):
I started modeling I was basically gone for two weeks and then I'd be home for two weeks.
So two weeks between two to three cities has been like the most intense that I've toured.
But most of the bookings that I had at the time that was like between 2012 to 2017, I was doing that.
(15:53):
It was mostly like two to four hour shoots.
And a lot of them were like like glamour GWCs in a hotel or a basement.
And I burned out of that really hard at the end.
And that's when I sort of wanted to morph more into the like fine art like genre,
because I find that a lot of the fine art photographers want to book.
(16:18):
I mean, not always, but often they want to book longer shoots.
And it seems like less of a hustle to shoot a bunch of different striptease
outfit type things so yeah the
what I'm doing now it feels more fulfilling and I try to space it out more.
I can definitely relate to what you're saying. I feel like when I'm in New York
(16:42):
specifically, where I just visited actually for the first time in quite a few
years, and part of the reason for that is it always felt like such a grind.
And although it's like I'm still working in the fine art genre there because
it's New York and it's not a ton of nature and everybody's in like tiny spaces,
I feel like all of the bookings are always really short and everything
(17:03):
is like such just feels like like a grind
to get from one place to the other so it's yeah it's
just sort of like putting together a bunch of two-hour shoots and
wildly different places from one another it just
it does feel like a lot more work yeah and then you
have to carry everything up and down the stairs to get to it
i'm never not on the
(17:24):
fifth floor and every single building I'm going to
in New York I feel like this is like a hard and fast roll yes
and why do I bring so much stuff I'm a
nude model yeah same same I'm gonna be heading out on a trip today after this
podcast and I'm like oh I have like 50 outfits but like I'm only gonna use three
(17:45):
of them you don't know which three they're gonna be so totally totally essential yeah and And now,
at least with the way that my social media is treating me,
I can't get away with posting something if I'm not wearing something.
You have to bring options if people are like, oh, I want to be able to do a collaborator post.
(18:06):
And it's such a shame because you do the most impressive, just your stuff in
nature that I see posting.
It's often your self-portraits. They're just so incredible. well
I hate there's not a lot more places that
are open to showing them but those are the rules we are playing by
I suppose is I'm not a great social media
(18:28):
person so I I just choose to
not yeah I mean it's hard it brings like another full-time job on top of your
full-time job I you know I came to the realization a few years ago that I think
I could be wrong but I feel like Like a lot of people enjoy that side of it
and I'm like, I just don't.
(18:51):
It does feel like a job to me and I could be wrong, but I think for a lot of
people they enjoy that aspect of sharing and that's awesome and I don't know why I don't.
Maybe it's just the introvertedness, but I really love the creative process. I love creating.
I love like meeting with somebody who I know or somebody who I don't know and
just going into this new situation and creating something that didn't exist.
(19:12):
Like to me that's just so magical but then I have like zero part of me that.
Feels an urge to share that with the world I don't know
I don't know yeah that's interesting I think
that for me when I'm posting I do
because Instagram will drive
photographers to say that they want to shoot with
(19:34):
me in the comments of a photo I think that makes me
want to post more I definitely get a
dopamine hit of some kind when I book a shoot
and I know that's become a
problem for me over time because in the past I would
just book a ton of shoots for my tours and then
sometimes if I didn't do my research on the person
(19:55):
in advance I would get myself to the shoot thinking oh
I was so excited when I solidified the details for
this but sometimes I get there and it's like not what
I thought it was going to be oh no I mean
I think we all end up in those situations like sometimes you you
know and I'm fairly particular about who I work with in terms
of the style just because I don't know
(20:17):
I feel like if I'm not really connecting with the style that's shown in their
portfolio that would be better served by finding someone who is really excited
about it who's going to be able to put their heart into it but um sometimes
I get there and they just have this like totally wild card thing that they want to try that is not at all.
What sort of their portfolio demonstrated and you're
(20:39):
like oh okay well I guess we're doing this now yeah you
never know sometimes you never know and then
there's always the like oh I've never seen this in your portfolio so it must
mean that you've wanted to try yeah speaking of like funky crazy weird photo
(21:00):
shoots I have this question that I ask everybody I call this segment the photo.
At a photo shoot it could be something that happened surrounding the shoot was
crazy maybe the photographer said or did something crazy or what's one of your
(21:22):
crazy photo shoot stories.
I I honestly can't think of any
that are crazy in like a bad way I
mean I've had like rookie bad things you know
like photographer grabbing my leg to move it for me
like I can't or like in one case actually like hurting me
trying to pull my leg in a direction it doesn't physically go
(21:42):
that kind of thing but okay there's one coming to me now that's like a little
little quirky I definitely remember being put in a tutu once while being asked
to hold like a clothesline that had a bunch of paper fish pegged to it what
that's kind of interesting this was a long time
ago but I don't know I feel like most of my crazy photo
(22:05):
shoots have been crazy and like a
cool way like really conceptual underwater stuff where I was body painted like
holding a shield and sword that was more the cool one or like just really interesting
locations that photographers have had access to that you just wouldn't know
were there like there was one photography who one
(22:26):
photographer who photographed me in these catacombs under Melbourne City,
which I had no idea even existed. Wow.
Yeah, he was doing this shoot where I was meant to be like an apparition kind
of in this like weird, dark setting. And that was the location.
I was like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. But I'm cool.
(22:49):
There's one shoot that I always remember. And it's not too crazy,
but it was just really thought provoking to me.
It was in Australia, again, and it was myself and, like, a headdress designer
and a makeup artist and a photographer.
And we ended up, like, out in the middle of nowhere on this waterfall, like, on the top.
(23:14):
I was sitting on the top of a waterfall wearing this crazy, like,
headdress with these antlers.
And I was holding this, like, really, really, really long piece of fabric that
was, like, going down the length of the waterfall.
Fall and we were there at like 5 6 a.m or something
insane and I just thought
(23:34):
I just remember thinking at the time how amazing it
was that we all this was like a just a collaborative shoot for all of our portfolios
at the time I just was like this is so amazing that we're all willing to go
to these sort of lengths to just create this thing and I just really feel like photography is
(23:58):
it like an excuse to explore the
world in a different way like yeah wouldn't be
on top of a waterfall at 6 a.m you know just because you wanted to be on your
own steam but realistically you know you're probably going to be asleep so I
don't know I just think it gives us a reason and to get out and engage with
(24:21):
the world in this incredible way.
And I don't even remember seeing the photos from the shoot, but it didn't even
feel that important. Like, you know, it was about this experience.
I just think that's really cool. So that's one shoot that always stands out in my mind is being,
yeah, I don't know about crazy, but just I just like that memory and I just
(24:41):
like thinking of our innate creativity creativity,
and just feeling so blessed that I'm in this realm where we get to explore the world in such ways.
That's true. You're totally right about that. And there's a lot of stuff that
I never would have initiated or thought about going to explore, but a photographer,
(25:02):
you know, said, hey, I know this cool place I would have heard of or been to
if it wasn't for them having the
idea to go do a shoot there like historical places or
unique nature places and stuff like that
exactly and i get asked all the time whether
i do like sightseeing when i travel and i
(25:23):
don't because i just don't have time to like i don't
at this point in my life carve out time to do those things
hopefully i might travel in a more balanced way in the future but i don't really
feel like i'm missing out just because of that you know photographers are locals
to the area and they know these beautiful natural locations or really interesting
buildings around and stuff. So you get to see a lot of cool stuff.
(25:47):
Yeah yeah and that in itself is its own sightseeing but I mean honestly for me like going to see,
Mount Rushmore or the Statue of Liberty doesn't really
excite me as much as like a really cool cliff edge me
too I'm very crowd phobic so I feel
like most of the the typical things that people want to go on sightsee don't
appeal to me that much I would love to see more like art
(26:08):
galleries it would be one thing that I
would love to make a habit of doing at some point but um
anyway I felt like my shoot story wasn't very crazy do
you have a crazy shoot story lots of
crazy stories I mean like
pick a topic I think that
I mean there's one experience that's popping
(26:30):
into my mind I don't know if I would say that the experience was that crazy
or not but it was like a shibari shoot where the photographer wasn't the person
who came up with the ideas it It was like the photographer's friend and they
were like in the scene together in Seattle.
So they knew each other personally outside of photography.
(26:53):
And this guy had a bunch of different ideas that were like me being tied up
in different places around the house, which it wasn't really like extreme rope.
And I wasn't even like nude in the photos.
I was like in some latex bikini. And at the end of the shoot,
the guy said that his wife and him were both like in the scene together and
(27:18):
they were madly in love and they had just or she had just died of cancer like
six months before the shoot.
And he was writing a book about how they met each other and how this form of
like intimacy was a major part of their relationship.
And he wanted to take pictures to be an inspiration for some of the stuff he was writing in the book.
(27:42):
And so to me, that was something that I always remembered because I was like,
wow, like I just thought this was just some rope shoot, you know, just like all together.
But it had such more depth to it after that. Yeah. Wow.
Yeah. That's, that's, how did you feel about that? I felt really good about
it. I mean, he seemed to be really happy with the photos.
(28:04):
You know, I kind of was stunned in the moment when he told me that his wife
had died of cancer because they were probably, I was probably like 20 at the time.
And this guy was probably 35 or 40 at the most. So his wife must have been pretty young.
So it was kind of sad. out yeah that's that's horrible oh well it's kind of
(28:25):
beautiful that you were able to help him do something that was obviously really
meaningful for him you know.
I think that there's been a lot of times where it's like the situation surrounding
the shoot, like something that is happening in the photographer's life makes
the photos more impactful.
Like when you see a photo of like a girl standing on a cliff edge,
(28:45):
it's like one thing, but maybe, maybe that photographer was paralyzed and they
just finally had a surgery where they could walk again.
It's their first time being able to shoot after their surgery or
something like that you know absolutely yeah or
like I feel like a lot of people that
we work with are able to finally explore the
(29:05):
creative side after retiring you know it's a less extreme
example of that but I feel like it's I don't
know just going back to this creativity
as a way of exploring the world and I think a lot of people
end up in careers that may not be as gratifying
in some ways is what we're doing right now and then they finally have
like the the freedom to
(29:28):
to do things that they've always wanted to do which is really nice yeah
and definitely being an outdoor nature on location model lends itself to having
more of these unique experiences and not that you can't like inside a house
or in a studio or whatever but I just feel like Like it is more of an adventure
(29:49):
when you're doing something outside.
I think so. Yeah, you're exploring the terrain more.
I feel like if I'm in like a domestic space, then I'm more exploring myself.
You know, I'm just sort of going inward and trying to sort of feel a range of
emotions as they come up.
(30:10):
I find beauty in that as well.
It's sort of it's almost an excuse to practice sort of a meditation almost is that the right.
Word but like yeah being present yeah and
going through the flow and also you know you
generally have more of a conversation with the
(30:32):
photographer when you're I feel like when you're inside you
have more time to do what you're doing
because you don't have to hike or deal with the elements or
potential passerbys so there's more I
guess it depends on how much stuff they have to set up
at the studio but it seems like more of an opportunity to
like chit chat in between sets yes and I don't know about you but this is definitely
(30:54):
one of my favorite parts of this job is like art is such a meaningful way to
connect with another person and I love that there's no one kind of photographer
like they're coming from all walks of life like you know police officers Officers, lawyers,
like pastors, people who stack supermarket shelves, like, like everywhere in between.
Like, there's no one kind of person who has an interest in this and like getting
(31:18):
to know people and not only getting to know them a little bit,
but getting to connect with them.
Through this thing that we both have in common that's meaningful to both of
us, I just think is really beautiful. I love it. Yeah.
And there's not very many other jobs where you get to connect with that variety
of different types of people.
I agree. And I was listening to something recently that was talking about how
(31:42):
in modern culture, we're often isolated from people outside of our peer group often,
like there's not as much sharing of knowledge between generations as there used
to be when we were living sort of in deeper community.
And I was thinking man I don't you
know I feel really lucky that
we do have access to you know
(32:04):
such a wide range of you know not only walks
of life but ages because I think there's
some truth in that and I have certainly had photographers outright say this
before as well that they in their workplaces they might be surrounded by people
who are you know in their their age group and perhaps from from similar walks
of life so this is an opportunity for them to connect with the younger generation
(32:26):
you know if they never had children themselves or.
Whatever their circumstances so it's cool
to be able to offer that yeah yeah that's an interesting way to think of it
as well have you ever had to have a job where you had set hours like in the
past oh yes yep i've done i've done a lot of different kinds of jobs uh so i
(32:49):
would say that They all had said hours prior to this,
although not necessarily conventional hours.
I did a lot of work in hospitality when I was really young.
Then I did a lot of laboring jobs, like working in plantations,
orchards, factories, that kind of thing.
Sometimes they were quite late shifts, as was hospitality at times.
(33:11):
Then I worked for environmental groups doing fundraising for a long time.
And that was actually a traveling profession as well.
I was traveling to remote communities in Australia
and just yeah talking to
people about the courses that I was working for which was
very cool and yeah it was pretty
well after that that I started the life modeling and and then this is by far
(33:36):
the longest I've ever been doing one job I have to say and I think it's the
variety in this that keeps that possible because I think I like I don't know
I'm just someone who's really hungry for different experiences and I like to
learn of different things.
So yeah, the fact that this has kept me really engaged for, well,
yeah, like 15 years or so now is pretty. Wow.
(34:00):
Yeah, same. Are you ever worried that sometime in the future you'll have to
like phase out of freelancing and end up back in some kind of an hourly job?
It's so hard to imagine at this point. It really is. I'm sure you're in the same boat.
I think it's probably one of the reasons that we see so many models like
attempting to retire i have for such a long time yeah um
(34:22):
it just it's really hard to imagine putting your all
of your energy into somebody else's project but
sometimes i crave it too like i really look back on my like
hospitality days or towards other
jobs like my mom she's changed job recently but you
know she works worked for most of the last couple of
decades as a receptionist and i just always
(34:42):
feel like when you go to one place and work there
every day it just feels like it must become a home away from home and
I don't know I imagine it would be well when
I was working in cafes and stuff it was they become like your family a
little bit yeah I mean I know you're not
into you know there's a lot of like this we're a
family workplace toxicity but I
(35:03):
don't know I think amongst some staff it does kind of feel a little bit and this can
be a lot more isolated in some
ways but to your point I can't imagine it but yes I do I do worry a little bit
about but I feel like about a year ago I reached this point of freaking out
(35:25):
about what I was going to do next and I don't know,
I was just really grappling with it and feeling like I should make some moves
towards it and I started doing some like life coaching sessions trying to work
through it and that was really helpful.
But in the end I just ended up putting it down. I was like, you know,
maybe this isn't the right time to be thinking about this and I'm forcing it
(35:47):
and that's why it feels kind of...
Off. Because I feel like in the past, I've just followed my heart and ended up in the right place.
Yeah, I'm really glad that you said that. I've actually kind of dealt with similar things.
Like I hired a life coach. I'm like, oh, I'm going to have to figure out what
I'm doing next because I'm going to get too old. Like I'm turning 37 next week.
(36:11):
So I'm like, people still seem to want to
shoot with me though so at the same point it's
like if it's not broke don't fix
it if people still are emailing you to hire you then you still have good work
and I'm like I guess like my ability to be like confident in myself is my thing
(36:33):
that I need to keep up so whatever I gotta do to like
enjoy being photographed without getting self-conscious is my responsibility for myself, I guess.
Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Well, happy birthday for next week. I just turned 39 last week.
Wow. Thank you. And for me, I have to say at the age thing is like a bit of a factor,
(36:58):
but it's more with respect to the fact that I really want to have a family and,
you know, being 39 probably should be thinking about that but
also just like in a practical sense like what am i
gonna do if i'm stationary i know some i know some models travel with children
but i cannot imagine that for myself so that's where i start thinking like what
(37:18):
what can i do that would enable me to stay still yeah that's a tough one i just
have one yeah i mean if you do the
remote shoots and then do photography that's an
option yes I'm more
immersed in myself going in a completely different direction but I
(37:40):
don't know I do think of I do think of photography sometimes but
I also see how how hard it is for people to make a living doing it because I
work with such talented photographers and you know I think the ones who who
are doing weddings are are doing okay but everybody else it's it doesn't seem doesn't seem that easy,
(38:01):
well not that I need something to be easy but it just it seems like kind of.
Dwindling I suppose like everybody knows somebody with
a good camera now and I think photography is has always
been an undervalued art form compared to most other
things and I think it's becoming even more
and more that way like everybody's becoming decent more decent photographer
(38:23):
than on the business because of social media and stuff like that I don't know
yeah it's very competitive compared to being a freelance model where like being
a freelance model like doing kind of what you and I are doing is super niche.
I think it is. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you and I started,
right? Yeah. I mean, a little more open now, but. Yeah.
(38:45):
I want to take a short little break to tell you about Model Society.
Modelsociety.com is a website dedicated to featuring figurative fine art photography
for models and photographers.
What makes them different than other portfolio hosting websites is that some
of those other their websites will still host kind of tacky photography or exploitative photos.
(39:07):
Model Society screens all of their contributors for quality and authenticity,
so you only get the best of the best on there.
If you're not a photographer or model, you can still enjoy and appreciate Model
Society because they also have newsletters and magazines featuring their best
work and new articles each Check it out. ModelSociety.com.
(39:32):
I will also include a link to Model Society in the show notes.
Alright, now back to our show.
I have another question that I ask everybody on the show that I call the rising
phoenix era of your life.
Can you describe a situation where you were faced with some kind of a challenge
(39:54):
that you had to overcome?
And it could be related to your modeling or not. Hmm.
I feel like recently I have something that's sort of like followed me for the
last 10 years since I've moved to the States has been this homesickness.
(40:14):
And this has been a real challenge for me because I feel like I'm so blessed here.
And it's been really hard for me to sit in the present moment while part of
me has felt like it's someplace else.
For example I've lived in this house with
my husband for like seven years and we've
(40:37):
barely moved in I think you
know we've both had really like nomadic pasts so that's
part of it is we're not used to like settling down but I think part of
it is that it also doesn't necessarily feel
permanent because I know that I want to end up back in New Zealand eventually and
you know he's open to that and everything but neither here
nor there yeah it's it's you can
(41:00):
put things off and then realize like wow you know
an eighth a tenth or whatever of my life has just passed and I've not been fully
engaged with it and I'm not even sure what to attribute this to but that sort
of fog has lifted from me in like the last year and I'm so freaking grateful for that because
(41:21):
I just feel like I'm here now and it's just the best feeling.
So I feel like I'm able to move more fully into myself and just to appreciate.
Just everything that I have here and so yeah
that's that's the most recent rising phoenix situation
(41:42):
I I've been up against but certainly
throughout my life there have been so many iterations of myself and they've
been so dramatic that I I feel like I've lived like multiple lives that feel
like they have very little in common with one another but yeah yes sort of like
Like setting that part of my personality,
(42:04):
wanting to be somewhere else is what I'm going to look for.
Homesickness, that's also something that I can relate to because we travel so much.
Sometimes I fall in love with a city or with an area and I'm like,
oh, this has got to be my next home.
But a sense of home is priceless.
(42:27):
List it's something that not everybody has
even if they've stayed in the same town for a
very long time but feeling at home
i think that a lot of models on the podcast have expressed this you know they've
been wandering for so long they don't have roots anywhere you know that you
want to go somewhere else at
(42:49):
some point yeah it's new zealand yeah and i feel like it's sort of like a,
I don't know it's probably more prevalent
in modern society than it's ever been because I don't know about you but I've
got like my family one place my husband is here in Ohio like my friends are
(43:09):
all in other places all in the world like my work is everywhere it's sort of
like everything feels so divided and complicated and you know I really loathe.
With with or somebody like like my mother-in-law for example who's just lived
here her entire life she's barely ever been outside of the state she has like
(43:29):
all of her family here like all of her siblings all of her friends that she's
had since she was a child and i'm like she is so,
this is so undisputably her home and
what what must that feel like i don't know and i
don't know I read something recently that it was something to the
effect of what a blessing it is to
(43:49):
have many homes rather than one and I'm really turning into
that feeling but Ohio is not
feeling like it right now is that right
well it wasn't but now I'm like
no this is cool like this this is this is where it's
at for the moment and it definitely did
for the last most of the last 10 years feel like well this isn't
(44:10):
it like what am I doing well I knew what I was doing this was
the right place to be for quite a few logistical reasons but
I was struggling with it and now hopefully this
is a sustained feeling but yeah I just have been feeling totally cool with it
for now which is great that's good that's good definitely the fact that I'm
traveling all the time and getting exposed to yeah I think the the lack of obvious
(44:36):
nature and ocean and stuff here was a big part of.
The feelings that I was experiencing but that's always something
you know I've been satiated with that when I'm traveling but I
definitely feel like engaging with the nature that is here like
just finding a nature trail and walking in
it like every week throughout the year
and just seeing the way that the plants and environment changes is actually
(45:00):
part of what has helped me feel more seated here even if it's not you know a
mountain or the ocean or lake or anything grand like that it's you know columbus
it's really a it's a city it's a city city,
it's yeah i definitely feel like it's been a factor and my feeling more at peace
(45:22):
being here right now that's good it's good to find you know joy in your local
nature areas right now i'm in
Seattle, which is my original home.
And I'm just visiting though.
And I was walking around today and it smells like the ocean and the sun is warm,
but there's a cool breeze.
(45:44):
And later this year, we're going to be relocating to Phoenix.
Oh my goodness. I love it. I love Seattle.
Phoenix is closer to a lot of the cool southwest locations that I really enjoy
being at, but I'll be landlocked.
There's not going to be the ocean or any big lakes nearby unless I go to Lake
(46:07):
Powell, which is, you know, I don't know if people really swim that much in Lake Powell.
I am not sure either. Yeah, I love Phoenix.
I could imagine like living there for a short you
know like a few months or a year or something like that but it's
so wildly different from new zealand for example which
(46:27):
is like i think new zealand is a lot more like seattle actually i love the pacific
northwest it's probably my favorite part of the country but i feel like i'm
cheating because it it probably is just that way because it reminds me of home
the most like overcast rainy like i'm all for it is new zealand or where you're
from in New Zealand often overcast and raining?
(46:47):
New Zealand is typically overcast and
rainy in general yeah the native name for the country Aotearoa actually
means land of the long white cloud which is because when
you look at it from the ocean as they would have from their canoes or waka they
were seeing like a cloud over it all the time it's because of I expect it's
(47:08):
because of the mountain range that rigid mountains that runs through down most
of the country where it was pushed up from the ocean.
I think it's sort of like two tectonic plates that have pushed up this mountain
ridge, which gathers clouds.
Yeah. Yeah, like Seattle, it tends to be cold, not because we get a lot of snow
(47:29):
on the ground, but because the snow is on the mountains and it gets blown,
you know, the cold air from the mountains blows to us.
On most of the country it's fairly long so we do have quite a
variety for a relatively small country like at the top
of it it is warmer but not not the place where
i'm from that sounds beautiful though have
(47:50):
you been there i have been to new zealand once i i did like just like an excursion
with my at the time boyfriend and i had traveled through and we went to hobbit
town and we We went to Mount Doom,
which is actually called the Tongariro Crossing.
(48:10):
That was pretty epic.
Yeah, so we were like on the northern part of New Zealand and the northern coast and stuff.
Nice. Yeah, I think a lot of the like natural draws are there.
Well, I feel like everywhere. A lot of people would like right down south to
Queenstown and Wanaka where they have like a lot of the skiing and stuff like that.
(48:33):
But yeah, I think if I had to choose one island to recommend to somebody,
I think the North Island has a lot of cool, like really cool geothermal stuff
and really big trees and I don't know. It was beautiful.
It was super beautiful. The hike that we did was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life.
Excellent. Yeah.
(48:56):
Yeah. Some steep inclines. Yeah.
Have you ever hiked the Tongariro Crossing? rushing
I have not I regret to say that I've
not done any like any of the serious hikes in
New Zealand probably because like when we were traveling as
a family I I don't know
I would have been way too annoyed to take like a really long hike I was such
(49:18):
a homebody child so I just remember my entire childhood being dragged to all
these like beautiful places and just complaining and whinging the whole time
I just wanted to be like cozied up at home so yeah we did a lot of It's awesome. But nonetheless.
Uh-huh right which now I've
made my like entire lifestyle all about
(49:39):
traveling around and going on walks in nature which is kind of funny how it
comes full circle but yeah a lot of a lot of day hikes or half day hikes but
none of those serious overnight ones but I would love to do that yeah it wasn't
I don't think that you would want to do that one overnight they basically you have to get
dropped off like you park somewhere
(50:01):
and a bus like goes to the other side of the mountain you don't go up and back
you go across it and you have to get to the end of the hike by a certain time
because the bus only picks you up until time yeah yeah that's a good incentive to keep going,
yeah it was it was i
(50:22):
think they measured it in kilometers obviously but i think i calculated it was
between 13 and 14 miles oh that's pretty substantial yeah it was intense it
was beautiful though it was worth it see if i can rope one of my parents into.
To going on a on a hike with me yeah yeah
(50:45):
so where are you traveling to in the near future
maybe photographers that hear this episode can be like
oh a noosh is coming i'll actually be
be going to seattle on my next trip oh no way
excited to hear that you're there i'm going to be
i'm going to be starting in northern california at the uh and
last half of august and then i'm going to be in portland oh
(51:07):
no sorry middle of august norcal then heading to
portland and then seattle is from like the 30th of august through to the fourth
or third third of september it'll be beautiful oh my gosh I'm so excited I it's
not I don't get to the Pacific Northwest as often as other places but I really like it there.
(51:29):
It is the place to be in the summertime for sure. Yes, you can get heat waves
there, right? But not as much as us.
Yeah, it gets so hot rarely. Like it'll very rarely get over 100 degrees.
But because it doesn't get hot so often, a lot of people here don't have air
(51:50):
conditioning and people die.
Like especially elderly folks may pass away if they don't have air conditioning.
And there's just not enough services
in the area to help everybody out so it
can get kind of bad up here yeah that's
a really scary symptom of like climate breakdown because i
know it's the same in new zealand it's just yeah it's not typically hot a lot
(52:13):
of people don't have air conditioning and as things change there
well i feel like we're really under equipped i
mean you like you see in texas with all the flooding it's
like they i guess historically have not
had that much water so they don't have the infrastructure to let
it go away it's yeah we're the times
(52:33):
are changing yes they are and here on the whole west coast it hasn't happened
yet but i'm anticipating it will happen we've been having smoke season for the
last five or six years where prior to that we We did not have smoke season.
Yes, that I have seen like people sharing pictures.
(52:55):
It just, yeah, I feel like we've been like knock on wood lucky this year with,
well, at least in this part of the country, we haven't had, because I feel like
the last two summers were crazy smoke around June, July from coming down from Canada and elsewhere.
But yes, I do have, you know,
it's, I know it's common enough now that when I do plan trips to california
(53:18):
or to the pacific northwest in the back of my head i'm like thinking is
it you know are they going to have a cozy wildfire outbreak
that's going to interfere with bookings like or
just comfort of being there yeah i
did have to cancel a road trip through northern california once in i believe
it was 2020 because of the there's a massive forest fire that That was blocking
(53:43):
my entry into Northern California.
So, you know, it might be that season when you get there. We'll cross our fingers
that there's not a bunch of forest fires.
Oh, I hope so too. Oh my gosh. At that event that I met you at,
at Madonna Inn, driving back to Los Angeles from that was the most intense wildfire,
(54:04):
the situation I've ever driven through. Oh yeah. Happened to me for a year that way.
There was. And I think we were lucky to have been able to get through the road,
but it was, you know, driving down that freeway along the coastline and like
literally burning palm trees on the side of the road and like crazy apocalyptic
(54:25):
looking. It was, yeah. Yeah.
I'd forgotten about that. Yeah, it can happen.
On your Instagram page, you do describe yourself as an environmentalist.
And I just want to say, I think I really think that that's amazing.
And more people should definitely be wary of nature.
(54:46):
Yeah, it's something that I've done a lot of working in the past.
And it's definitely where I see my future.
I feel like I'm at the point in my life where I'm just having to try to lay
a foundation for, you know, myself and my family for the future.
And I think protecting the environment isn't something that's going to help
(55:07):
me make money, unfortunately.
But, yeah, ultimately I would really love to work in revegetating forests or waterways.
I can't think of anything that would be more satisfying than sort of, you know,
seeing dormant farmland come back
to life and become habitat for nature that's
really what i want to move into someday so that's a my
(55:30):
long term yeah that's something that would
really contribute to the world and i guess that's something that i kind of debate
with myself is what i'm doing really contributing to the world like beyond just
like giving people images that they enjoy that make the world a better place
but But doing something that is truly meaningful,
(55:51):
such as environmental work, would feel fulfilling in a different kind of way.
I think you'd be surprised by how many lives you touch doing this,
whether that's through meeting people in person and being able to share your light with them.
But also, I'm surprised sometimes at the just lovely comments that people might
(56:13):
send me about how an image really touches them or speaks to them.
And I, you know, imposter syndrome is real. So I guess I don't like look at
what I'm doing right now as being particularly valuable either.
And then I get like messages like that. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. you
know because you know what it feels like when a song really just speaks
(56:34):
to you at the right time of your life or you know
I don't really can move you and it's so hard to I think
see what I am doing in even the same sphere as like a really amazing song or
something like that and then occasionally I get a message that you know that
that somebody just seems to be losing their mind about something and I think,
(56:58):
wow, that's amazing that something is speaking to them in that way.
But yes, the personal relationships too. I'm sure that you are.
Really touching a lot of lives with all of the people you talk to and also doing this you know,
sharing these um adventures but we also go through so many stages in our lives
too so i know this is one phase and who knows where either of us will end up
(57:21):
next but hopefully we both have a long while to like make all sorts of different
kinds of impact that's true you know a person's circle
of influence within whatever they're doing has an impact.
And this is going to sound really odd and out of left field,
but I've recently kind of gone down the rabbit hole on Jerry Springer.
(57:43):
Apparently, he had a massive positive impact on his community,
despite the fact that he's known for having the TV show with the crazy drama
that's fabricated on there.
But apparently, Apparently he was really active in politics before and a lot
of the people that were involved on his show did have a positive impact on it.
(58:06):
So it's just kind of interesting to think about how it doesn't really matter
what you're doing, like you could impact others in a positive way. Yeah, absolutely.
And like never underestimate, you know, I don't know,
just not to sound super cheesy, but just like
just being a generally good person and smiling
(58:26):
at people when you walk in the street or just I don't
know I I think that just going
about your life in a way that is kind
can be so impactful like it
it spreads out from there and you never
know whose day you might light up just by saying hello
(58:47):
or you know they might they might
be going through something awful and then you can
help them just have like a positive change in
their day and then they go and smile at somebody else you just never know yeah
that's true I love the cheesiness though I'm all about it like I agree with
everything that you said I usually the things that are cheesy and like overdone
(59:10):
it's because they're true right yeah totally yeah all for the cheese.
Well, Anoush, it's been a little over an hour, and that's usually the amount
of time that I do these podcasts for.
Is there anything else that you wanted to bring up before we say goodbye?
No, I think we've covered everything. It's been such a delight to talk to you.
(59:32):
I can't thank you enough for thinking of me and inviting me onto the show and
for just doing this and highlighting this really niche community.
It's such a cool idea. dear. I've always admired you, by the way,
in a way that I just see you as being really inspirational in terms of,
I feel like I'm always seeing you exploring new things. Oh, thanks.
(59:57):
Broadening your horizons in a way that I just don't feel like I do.
Yeah, I enjoy it. Thank you for saying that.
Part of it is just dodging burnout, out. But another part of it is I can't just do one thing.
Like there's always a new project that pops into my mind. I'm like,
oh, I have to do that. Even if it's half-assed, like I have to do it.
(01:00:18):
I, yeah, I, I'm, I have a lot of like, even less than half-assed things.
Nothing that suits the light of day, but no, you're amazing.
Thank you so much and safe travels today and happy birthday for next week.
Yeah. Thank you so much. Awesome. All right. And you're.
Music.
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