@_evelyn_rose was someone I was to meet at 23 years old for a shoot, but it never happened. It was 24 when Evelyn popped her head through the door. In those moments, we become like lost friends, close strangers, existing larger than life, celebrating one another, before we went separate ways. 26, I was wrapping up a campaign in Malibu. We were 5min from each other. Evie wrote “wanna shoot?” and we created for an hour. It was still Evelyn, matured, but a kid at heart. 27, our schedules aligned, and we shot for 10 hours; in that period of time, I became the digital amateur that every film photographer resented; overshooting by 10k stills. Let me explain. If I were to describe Evelyn, she’s easily one of the best humans I’ve ever worked with. Some models will have a go-to routine; the poses or looks that they know works. But once that dance ends, some will keep repeating it, never to leave that comfort zone. Evelyn will flip on this switch, and suddenly there’s this heavy, gravitational shift pulling you towards her. My peripheral starts to narrow and darken. Every moment will never repeat itself. If you miss it, it’s gone forever. There’s no “Oh, can we go back to that pose real quick?” When she moves, it’s slow, methodical, and unfamiliar territory. Evelyn isn’t making these leaps of changes; She’ll slowly move one leg toward, gracefully lean her back forward, and sensually move her arms, caressing her skin with her fingers up to her thigh. She looks over, entering your space now, tilting her head, and change that one eyebrow that makes all the subtle difference. It’s dynamically fluid, it’s unhinged rawness, surgically creative. When you have someone who can care so much, not be afraid to fail, and if they do, get right back up and keep giving you everything they got. At 30, Evelyn is my integrative health coach. She’s taught me to eat healthier, sleep deeper, and motivated me to put in work on myself. We don’t hang out with each other all the time, but over the years, watching us evolve into people we wanted to be, rooting for that constant desire for transformation, is a beauty to life that solidifies the idea; that I’m not afraid to get old anymore.