20 on Tuesday: Gail Pomare

We had such a great time in California last week!  It was the perfect end to a full summer.   I’m busy, busy, busy editing the four sessions I had while we were there.  Sneak peeks to come in the next few days!

Have you ever “met” someone online and knew, without a doubt, that you could be best friends IRL?  That’s what I think the more I get to know Gail Pomare.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that about her, though.  She just has that fun, friendly, downright funny personality.  Her comments make me giggle, her passion inspires me, and her images warm my heart.  Read all about her and tell me she couldn’t be your best friend IRL, too.

Hi, Gail!

Where are you from?

The ‘TMI’ thing about asking a New Zealander where they are from is the long pause that will inevitably follow, especially if they are of Maori heritage like me.  I was born and raised in the paradise of New Zealand but I am from a great line of magnificent people – who in one way or another have contributed to my ‘whole’. For me/us, we are ‘from’ your ancestors, ‘from’ their loins, ‘from’ their lands, ’from’ their connections and ancestral places.  I *whakapapa back to Horeke in the far north of the North Island. (*where my ancestors are from) However I was born in Christchurch, New Zealand – the most English of cities outside of England.

Where is home now?

Home is wherever my Michael is and wherever my children are. Right now home is beautiful Santa Cruz, California. However when I say a tearful “I want to go ‘home’ ” It always means New Zealand.  I guess it’s true what they say that ‘you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl’.

Are you formally educated or self-taught in photography?

I wont say self taught because that seems to declare I am done. I’m not… I am still self teaching through being a photography addict, I glean everything I can from others, via the internet and actual real life books, then I practice, practice, practice. It’s like you need to know your camera like you know how to find your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. You do it without thinking about it. I still have to read the manual sometimes.

PLUS I’ve done a killer mix of rockin’ workshops thrown in to develop my skills and style. High fives to BLOOM WORKSHOP (Brenda Acuncius and Kristy Lane) and THELIGHTWORKSHOP by Detra. I plan on naming my next three babies after each one of these awesome women. My computer geek husband is formally educated in photography so in the beginning he was my mentor..DON’T TELL him I said this, but secretly I suspect I know more about the technical bits and pieces than he does now lol. We have very different styles though.

There are still more workshops I would like to take, when $$$ and time allows. But honestly, I will be a lifelong learner and sharer of that info.

What is your favorite kind of session to shoot and why?

Hmm, that’s a hard one to nail down a favourite kind. Sometimes I think I only like ……(insert session type here), but then I have a great (such and such) session and I think this is all I really want to shoot. Fickle I tell ya, fickle to the core! J I actually love to photograph my own family the most. They however do not feel the same….So… do you see my dilemma?

I would say that no matter what the TYPE of session, it has to be a creative mix of fabulous light, fun/crazy people and stunning surroundings. And lots and lots and LOTS of colour (with a big fat U in there to pay homage to my Kiwi roots hehe). I know what I DON’T like though. I do not like the grandma poses. For a long time I thought I had to be traditional, because that’s what big families seem to want. NOW, I  shoot in a way that is authentic to me, or represents me as a photographer, an artist. And the beauty about artistic vision is that people can choose an artist that is right for them, they wont miss out in their own vision for their portraits.   Isn’t that cool?!
What’s your best advice to avoid stiff poses and fake smiles when working with clients?

Leave Dad at home? Is that a bad thing to say? Of course I don’t really mean that I guess I find them the hardest to engage because usually they hate being photographed as much as they hate income taxes, or burnt chewy steak! But I think the best poses and smiles come naturally, and I believe they come from the relationship they have with you and each other. For family shoots, as much as I hate to say this (since I am a parent) but honestly – parents bring the emotional environment with them to a shoot. IF they are relaxed and ready to just hang out in a beautiful spot with their crazy kids THAT shows through my lens, if they are stressed and worried about their kids not smiling or looking straight at the camera, that also shows through.

Also when people are engaged in meaningful activity and they can focus less on the camera and more on the fun, it shows. My tertiary education roots are in Occupational Therapy, being involved in meaningful activity is our mantra. Plus, I can do a pretty mean one handed handstand if all else fails and I’m known in some circles for my remarkable John Wayne impersonation!

Talk to me about personal projects. Are they important and what have you done lately?

Yes, yes and yes some more! I think more than anything you need to shoot for yourself. The gift of photography should not just be for others, but for ourselves and our families. But don’t just take photos and fill your hard drive with them (guilty). PRINT THEM and display them and cherish them for the record of you and yours that they represent.

As for current projects – I am working on a crazy kind of randomness. Well, I am LDS, and my current personal project relates to advice given by the leaders of our church, that it’s good for us to display a picture of a temple inside our homes.  I am collating photos I have taken of various temples throughout the world and putting it together in a collage to make up the shape of a temple. We are international people, we are best represented in a collection of places. I want it to be something that I keep building upon ….symbolic of the, step by step, line upon line process of eternal progression… It’s going to be huge – I hope and I should be finished it sometime before 2075! Maybe lol.

How do you stay motivated and your photography current?

I seek inspiration in the every day, through my relationship with God, my family, nature and my fellow planet dwellers. The old saying ‘when you feel good you look good’ forms the basis of what I think is a way to stay motivated – but with a twist, “when you feel good, you ‘see’ good”. So I guess that’s a really long winded way of saying that when I am feeling good on the inside about life in general –  my photographic-creative eye is seeing more great photographic opportunities, I’m inspired and INTERESTED in creating an image…then photographs I love will just happen. But sadly I wax and wane, sometimes I want to throw my camera out the window, other days I want to throw myself out the window lol… But then there are those days that my camera doesn’t leave my hand. I just go with the flow and accept it for what it is. Feelings. A friend once said “feelings are like flies on a horses butt, there will be another one along any minute”…so when I’m not feeling it – I just wait!
If you could be invisible for one day with your camera…

I would want to visit heaven and photograph my grandmother. I miss her to the very depth of my soul. She is my mentor of womanhood and I do not have one photograph of her.

Name a photographer you would like to take a portrait of?

Is this weird? But ummm… I’d love to be able to take a great portrait of myself. I hope that doesn’t sound unusually vain but I never like how I look in photographs (or the mirror for that matter) and I wish I could capture my own vision of myself in the way I would LIKE to look..is this like the impossible dream? Mission impossible? Or what?!. Failing that, I would like to photograph Brenda Acuncius because she doubts her own beauty so much.  Because her heart is closed to the stunning woman she is, and I want to show her that and have her accept it then hit her over the head for not seeing it before. But then hug her tight cos she’s awesome and I adore her!

What’s your best advice for balancing work and family?

Set very clear boundaries with each. I honestly believe it’s not what we can give our children that matters, it is who we are for them that really counts. I want my children to know that using our time wisely is essential, that industry is important, that using your talents is expected. I want my clients to know that my family is my first priority. SO I book 2 weekday and 2 weekend sessions a month.  For some odd reason those sessions always seem to fall in the same week. So I have an insane week …with great rest and relax in between.  (sometimes!)

What’s in your camera bag?

Right Now? A lot of lint, a few sticks of gum, a bottle of water and one very dirty camera and a few filthy lenses. I should hang my head in shame right? Right.  I have a Nikon D300S camera body. I will be upgrading that soon though. I just got the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 which I am a having a lustful affair with… I also have a 50mm f/1.4 which rocks my soul and a 18-200mm f/3.5 my husband got me, it’s a great general lens and a 12-24mm f1.8 wide-angle… I really should do something about that lint and filth though.
When you’re not photographing, where can we find you?

Hiking in the mountains somewhere? Going insane in a corner of my office? Nah! Usually I would say out on the trampoline, but recently we moved and traded the trampoline for a pool… so now it would be swimming with my boys. Or still unpacking and organizing our huge 5 bedroom house contents down into a 2 bedroom space.  It’s like a complicated game of tetris but without the high score! I know where you WONT find me… in the kitchen. Hate cooking, hate kitchens, but love food. Dilemma!

If not a photographer what would you have been?

I am an occupational therapist; it’s still a part of who I am and how I see the world. I am just not paid for it anymore.
If you could live anywhere on this awesome planet where would you build your dream home?

Oh trick question! I couldn’t build just one! I need several to truly capture my dream, and not in a way that means I am being a collector of material commodities – that’s not me at all…. It’s that I’ve lived in Italy, New Zealand and the US. I love things about each place, I need things about each place so I would need a dream home IN each place thanks, like tomorrow – k?!.

What talent would you most like to have?

Photography? lol Actually, the ability to sing in tune all of the time would be pretty great for me and my family. I manage it 65% of the time and no matter how hard I try that 100% ability escapes me.
What are the three words your spouse would use to describe you?

Intelligent, humorous and radiant, I wish/hope haha. I just asked him….he said smart, funny, cute. Close enough!
Something that is over rated…

self promotion.

Your favorite movie of all time?

Hmm… another difficult one. The very first movie that popped into my mind was “Born into Brothels” It’s raw, gutsy, about photography, about people striving to empower others to improve their lot – through very real and practical ways. I am so jiggy with that!
If you could change one thing you did while starting your photography business, what would it be?

Why is this question the easiest to answer? 2) Not having a clear vision of branding. And not valuing my work.

Name one blog you stalk regularly.

Bobby Earle (http://bobbyearle.com/blog/). I stalk him not just for his fabulous photography skills, but his humbleness, gratitude and stirring life philosophy and outlook. I totally dig the way he talks about his wife.  I wish to raise my sons to be men like him – men of substance. Inspirational.

Gail’s work can be found HERE.

Thanks, Gail (my virtual BFF)