NSFW Pod 028 - Ayla Evangelista

NSFW28_Ayla 

[00:00:00] Matthew Holliday: Good day, everyone. And welcome back to the not safe for work photography podcast. There are thousands of models and photographers, creating adult content, using modern platforms and taking control of their own creative lives. Today we're interviewing Ayla moon, also known as Ayla evangelists, sta Ayla has been modeling for almost five years. 

She is a 47 year old mother and a professional cosmetics consulting. Ayla credit's modeling for drastically increasing her self-confidence and body acceptance. She is probably most well-known for her boudoir and fetish modeling, but as experienced in many different genres from fashion to conceptual ALA places, an emphasis on positively representing both mature and full-figured models in the industry. 

Her favorite part of modeling is traveling, meeting other artists and creating unique art. How's it going tonight? ALA?  

[00:01:00] Ayla Evangelista: Um, well, Matthew, thank you for having me and I hope you're doing good also 

[00:01:05] Matthew Holliday: I am doing pretty good or more than halfway done through the week. So I am super excited.  

[00:01:11] Ayla Evangelista: yea, on the downside. 

[00:01:13] Matthew Holliday: know. Right. Uh, just coasting, ALA, how did you get involved in modeling?  

[00:01:19] Ayla Evangelista: Well, it was quite unintentional. As an undergrad in college, I was an art major with an emphasis on photography and printmaking. Now, mind you, this was back in the mid to late nineties when we didn't have digital cameras and it was all film in 35 millimeter, dark rooms, all that fun stuff. So at the time, um, let's see, almost five years ago, a friend of mine who had been in school with me. 

At my university and we had done photography classes together. He wanted to set up a studio locally to do portraits, family portraits, wedding photography, maternity photography, and things like that. So he asked me for my help, since I knew the equipment knew like a dark room set up and that type of thing. 

So I did work with him and we got the studio set up and running and I would help out in certain instances. And it was through my friend and working with him in that capacity that I started to meet local, like Richmond area photographers. I live in Farmville, Virginia, right in the middle of Virginia. So Richmond is the closest city to me. 

So some photographers would come through and use his space, which he would run out to them. I would help them out sometimes. And because of that, I was a stand in for a model at one point, and I didn't really want to do it, but I didn't want to be rude. And there wasn't really any other options. So I did it and I really enjoyed it. 

Um, It was very natural. The posing was, and they told me I was, I did a great job and I was just, you know, very intrigued with the whole idea of modeling because I'd only ever been on the other side of the camera. I just kind of branched out from there and networked and did mostly local farm bill or Richmond shoots at that time. 

And then started doing group shoots. And then I would network with other models from different areas. They would tell me, oh, you should check out this photographer or, oh, you're interested in doing rope work. Well, you should talk to this photographer. So it all kind of started just helping my friends set up a studio. 

[00:03:45] Matthew Holliday: Interesting. And what that background in photography, do you currently do any photography as well, or is It just modeling? 

[00:03:52] Ayla Evangelista: It is 90% modeling and about 10% photography. I, um, I'm not what they call. I hate this word, but a model log refer. I'm definitely not labeling myself as a model auger for. I did great, you know, back in the 35 millimeter photography class days. And so whenever a photographer finds out now, um, that I, you know, took photography classes, 35 millimeter and dark room based, they say, oh, wow, well then digital must be a breeze for you. 

Well, no, it's not because with the 35 millimeter set up, you basically have three things to adjust manually for your photo. And for digital, it just, there are so many different settings and ways you can handle that. You can edit inside the camera. You can edit on your computer. After the photos have been taken, it's just overwhelming to me. 

It's too many choices.  

[00:04:57] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:04:58] Ayla Evangelista: But I do have, um, a DSLR camera and hopefully I'll have more time in the future to kinda get more into that and, and learn, you know, the differences and how I can sort of manipulate those. I, I really love doing photos of old architecture, abandoned houses, barns that are collapsing, that sort of thing, like creepy urbex type situations or. 

Rural abandoned places, which I also model in those places was one of my favorite genres, but I just love capturing kind of the dark beauty of places that were once thriving. And now they're just kind of discarded.  

[00:05:42] Matthew Holliday: Well, that's dark.  

[00:05:44] Ayla Evangelista: Yeah, I know. I know. But I have both sides. I have like the feminine happy pastel color side, and then I have like my dark goth side as well. 

So. 

[00:05:56] Matthew Holliday: I mean there's so there's something I, what you're talking about about the old film photography, and I'm not talking about necessarily the Ansil Adams style of picking out your various, you know, developing chemicals and stuff. That's a little ridiculous, but the. Kind of the nostalgia nostalgic look of like the pictures you took in high school from like an instant camera or from, you know, those little disposable 24 shot ones that you throw them in the developer bend and got your little three by fives out  

[00:06:28] Ayla Evangelista: Right. Having to wait to see your photos. And if you screw it up, then you screwed up that whole roll of film and it's gone forever. 

[00:06:38] Matthew Holliday: now, but, but I appreciate what you're saying though, because I I'm 42. So I'm about your age and I definitely like that early nineties, like I'm super nostalgic for that. Look.  

[00:06:51] Ayla Evangelista: Yeah. And there, there, there is a handful of specialized. who, who still do 35 shots and images. And, um, it's, it's a little challenging because as you said, unless you send the film away, which most of them do, um, you know, you have to have the whole dark room set up and the chemicals and there's the whole crazy shipping of chemical. 

Legal issues. So, you know, you don't see that a lot, but I'm, I'm with you. I, I love black and white photography just generally. Um, whether it be digital or 35. And, um, I just feel like. Some of my friends call me the photography snob because I, I generally prefer black and white, except in cases where I feel like the content would not translate as well in black and white. 

I just feel like it classes it up, you know, and without all the extraneous colors going on, you are made to focus your attention on the theme, the subject of the photo. 

[00:08:05] Matthew Holliday: Yeah. I don't know. Maybe that's maybe that's what I should do. I, I find what I struggle with in terms of digital photography is there's too many options. I, you know, get the, get the photographs off there onto a light room, and then I'm like, What do I do with it?  

[00:08:23] Ayla Evangelista: So many  

[00:08:23] Matthew Holliday: filters. I could do black and white. 

We could do high contrast. Like I just, I just struggle. I  

[00:08:31] Ayla Evangelista: you too. And that that's my main. I guess dislike of, um, digital photography is just, it overwhelms me. And then there's also the case of I've spoken to, um, my friend, Anastasia, who models, and also does photography. I've spoken to her about this situation and she agrees with me when you're editing a photo and you're, you're like, okay, I'm going to. 

Change this contrast just a little bit. Okay. Now. All right. Should I tweak it a little more or leave it like that? And I feel like I always go just beyond where I should've stopped. 

[00:09:10] Matthew Holliday: Well, because every time you said it, it reset your baseline, you said it, and then you're looking at it and you're like, eh, that's not bad, but let's go a little more. And they're like, oh no, that's still good. And then, but yeah, if you reset it back to normal, you're like, whoa, I went way too far that direction.  

[00:09:26] Ayla Evangelista: Exactly. Exactly. And I'm just, uh, I don't know. There are a few souls who say they love editing, but I'm not one of those  

[00:09:35] Matthew Holliday: all liars. Now  

[00:09:37] Ayla Evangelista: lies. 

[00:09:38] Matthew Holliday: I'm starting to see the attraction. I know there's some photographers, some really nice rich photographers that'll buy like single purpose cameras that can only shoot them for at, or only shoot black and white. But It does really simplify their editing, 

[00:09:52] Ayla Evangelista: It sure does. 

[00:09:53] Matthew Holliday: only shoots black and white. 

They don't have to. I deal with a lot of stuff. Maybe I should just, maybe I should just pick like a preset and the camera and be like this shoot. I am just using this preset and whatever it comes out with, it comes out.  

[00:10:09] Ayla Evangelista: There are people who do that. And there are photographers who have, they have a particular style and they know those presets and they, their camera or their editing program stays on those presets. 

[00:10:21] Matthew Holliday: yeah, that that's helpful. I just haven't figured out what my style is. Therefore, I don't have those yet.  

[00:10:26] Ayla Evangelista: That's part of the adventure and the fun. 

[00:10:30] Matthew Holliday: Yeah. You mentioned that you started modeling into your forties. That seems like that's definitely not the normal route for models.  

[00:10:39] Ayla Evangelista: It is not you're correct. I was about to turn 43, but in fairness, not trying to brag, but I do look a lot younger than my actual age. I attribute that to good genetics and taking care of my skin. But, um, but yeah, I was 42 and like I said, it was. Really something that I said, okay, I'm making the choice to model now. 

I just kind of stumbled into it and liked it and seemed to be doing okay with it. So, yeah. Um, but then when I started going to group shoots, following other models on social media and that type of thing, I started to feel kind of more out of place kind of uncomfortable at first because. It seems like the majority of models are like 18 to 30 with the most, I think being between probably 21 and 25 ish. 

And I mean, it makes sense because you know, a lot of girls, I'm sure it's appealing to them and you know, they w they want to be the next big thing. And it's fun. It's a lot of fun and you meet cool people, you make art, but then, you know, you're. Starting your life out. You have your whole life ahead of you. 

So if you know, you'll meet someone, you'll get married, have kids, you know, get a different job. So I can see why that particular demographic is the majority of models. But at that time, when I started learning that I was way in the minority, it was actually really challenging because I would compare myself to these other models and. 

You know, I will, I weighed like 160, 170 pounds. They weigh like one 20 on their heaviest day. They haven't had kids. So their body's still perfect gravity hasn't, you know, made things, sag and droop yet. And I would just like, it would get, I would get in my own head about it and was really uncomfortable with it for awhile. 

But then I just decided people started. People my age started coming up to me and telling me, thank you for representing us positively. And you know, you've inspired me to try this or, you know, or younger models even saying, you know, it's awesome. What you're doing. I hope I'm still modeling when I'm 42 or 43. 

Um, so you know, they start saying that to me. And then I said, you know, why am I comparing myself to these people? I know better than anyone else that it's like apples to oranges, you know, you can't do that. That's just not, you're not going to have reasonable expectations if you do things like that. So then I started, you know, just seeing me as. 

I started to feel better about myself. And I was like, Hey, you know, for 42, I look awesome. So stop comparing yourself and getting all in your head about not looking like a 20 year old, you know, I've been there and done that now. It's someone else's. 

[00:14:01] Matthew Holliday: Do you see differences in the type of jobs here offered? Or do you get the same types of jobs as younger models where the photographers are just looking for an older model?  

[00:14:12] Ayla Evangelista: Both. Um, I see a variety. There will always be photographers who may not come out and say it, but you can look at their portfolio and see that they're only going to hire a certain. Body type, um, a certain age category, possibly both. And that's okay. You know what I don't like what really pisses me off is when I know that's the situation, but they make up some other dumb ass excuse or they ghost me, you know, just, um, I'm a big girl. 

I can handle it. You know, just tell me, um, you're, you're not really the body type I'm looking for for the. You know, or, um, you're a little older than what I wanted. That's fine. You know, I respect that everybody has a certain concept in mind when they know what they want to do, and if I don't fit that, that's okay. 

[00:15:10] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:15:11] Ayla Evangelista: But yeah, I, um, I've had shoots that were specifically geared for my maturity level, but then I've also had, you know, CCO model nude, shoots, erotic shoots with models in their twenties amps. And you know, it really doesn't, it doesn't bother me. I love to put as much variety in my portfolio as possible. And I love to see, you know, try these things out and see what I like and see what I'm good at. 

Because like, you know, if I hadn't helped that friend out and been a stand-in model that day, I would never have even known that. That I had that skill and that I would enjoy that. 

[00:15:55] Matthew Holliday: You mentioned posting with younger models. Is that, so this is. Kind of weird, you know, the whole mommy stepped out her step-mom thing lately. Is that kind of in pursuit of that?  

[00:16:10] Ayla Evangelista: no. I had a pitch for a, um, teacher and school girl, she one time. And of course I was, the teacher was going to be the teacher, um, that one never worked out, but that's like the closest to the age play type thing that I've done in terms of photography. Um, usually I get asked to be. Like the dominant partner and a girl, girl shoot, like the dominatrix type. 

I guess it's a vibe I give off, but, but, um, you know, that's, I guess that's probably about as much as what you're talking about. I mean, I know, you know, there's like a whole John Rowe. Like porn and different things that that's the draw, you know, it's like mommy daughter or mommy stepdaughter. I definitely enjoy, um, shooting with other models. 

It's how I've made some of the best friends that I have. Currently in my life and I'm definitely not too proud or above taking advice and tips and referrals from someone younger than myself. Um, hopefully we can mutually help each other out. I try to. Mentor new boss, new models. If they come to me, or if someone, a photographer that we have in common gives me their name says, Hey, you might want to introduce yourself to this person and offer any help if they need it. 

So it's fun to kind of have that mutual exchange. You know, 

[00:17:48] Matthew Holliday: How do you think your age changes? How photographers.  

[00:17:52] Ayla Evangelista: I think in most cases it doesn't change how they treat me. Um, Now sometimes when I show up for the shoot out, you know, they'll adjust certain things, poses and different things for me. But I wouldn't say that's because of age per se, because it's, it's more about my body type and my curviness. Um, and I always tell everyone like straight up, you know, Hide the mom belly whenever possible, you know, put an arm or leg in front of it or tell me to, you know, move that pillow over there and the double chins we want to avoid so 

[00:18:33] Matthew Holliday: I have that same problem. I'm not, I'm not even kidding.  

[00:18:36] Ayla Evangelista: you can relate. Huh? 

[00:18:38] Matthew Holliday: I can totally relate.  

[00:18:42] Ayla Evangelista: Yeah. I think sometimes I'm probably treated with more respect for being older, just because I feel like people know that with not even just modeling experience, but with life experience, I've probably encountered, you know, enough good, bad, and ugly people to be able to tell how things are going to go down. 

And, you know, my tolerance for shit is going to be low. A lot lower than probably a 19 year old. Who's just starting out and doesn't know what he or she is doing. And I believe, um, you mentioned there are photographers, the bad ones that look for amateur, not amateur, but new models.  

[00:19:32] Matthew Holliday: Yeah, I think, okay. I'm not sure. It's probably correct that usually it usually coincides with young.  

[00:19:38] Ayla Evangelista: Yes. Um, for new model, inexperienced models  

[00:19:43] Matthew Holliday: That's probably a better word.  

[00:19:45] Ayla Evangelista: right? That they th they feel they could more easily pull something over on, or what I hear a lot from the younger models is two things. One is getting complimented by a certain photographer over and over and over again. And where, like, they're kind of finding. 

Their comfort level with that model? Like, well, can I say something about her ass? Okay. Okay. So she was okay with that. Okay. So can I say something about like her boobs, you know, and so they'll press it as much as they can to see like how far they, okay. Well maybe, well, let's see if I can touch her, you know, like that sort of thing. 

And then there's also the type of Darfur for who will tell you. Um, if you do certain things or certain content with them, that they can make you famous, that they can, you know, just make you super popular and well-known, and well paid. And I mean, let's be honest. That's probably not going to happen. 

[00:20:51] Matthew Holliday: Yeah, the vast majority of dudes out there are not going to, or they're going to make you the wrong kind of famous.  

[00:20:56] Ayla Evangelista: Right. And the vast majority, unfortunately, are, um, what my friends and I, and, and other models called GWC guys with cameras. Um, and they're just out there to see naked women basically. And, you know, maybe they could talk somebody into doing, you know, erotic and erotic. Um, cause it happens all the time, you know, and I'll tell people who ask me more inexperienced models who asked me, I'll tell them to definitely don't do your first shoot with someone as Iraq. 

Maybe not even nude. It all depends on that person's experience and your comfort level with them. It's always good. A good idea to talk to a photographer, either via messaging or on the phone. It always makes things a little more comfortable when you get there for the shoot, because maybe, you know, Oh, well, how's your dog doing? 

Um, or, you know, oh, you just moved that's right. Oh, how how's the new place? You know, you all moved in, you, you have something to talk about and you kind of like, know their, know their personality a little bit as opposed to going into it blind. But yeah, they, um, 

[00:22:17] Matthew Holliday: often do you get the photographer to go out for a coffee or something beforehand?  

[00:22:25] Ayla Evangelista: I have had two photographers who wanted to, uh, meet and kind of talk beforehand in person. And we did do like a coffee kind of, you know, meet at Starbucks or whatever, and talk about what type of. Shoot. We want to do boundaries, limitations. What kind of content we want to get out of it? Payment rights to the photos. 

Um, everything that would go into an agreement, whether it be oral or documented. Um, I've had a couple, yeah. I want to talk to me ahead of time. Pre-shoot to get all that stuff straight. Um, but that's definitely the minority, but it has happened before. 

[00:23:14] Matthew Holliday: Interesting. Is it better to meet them in person? Would you recommend that new people do more of like a video chat call?  

[00:23:24] Ayla Evangelista: I would say,  

[00:23:24] Matthew Holliday: call.  

[00:23:25] Ayla Evangelista: I would say that would depend on the model. Um, I'm fine with just talking in messaging format, texting on the phone, whatever, but then again, And here's where the, the weird new age part of me comes in. You may laugh at this, but I'm, I'm very intuitive and I'm very empathic about when I meet a new person and it translates even through messaging. 

I can tell a lot about a person just in their choices of vocabulary. Um, there. The way they approach things. There are certain phrases that they use. And I, I don't know. I can just like feel when a person is professional when they're kind, when they're respectful. And then I, on the other hand, I can also get negative vibe sometimes. 

So I have that going for me, whereas most people don't. Um, but yeah, I would say whether you do. Like a FaceTime or zoom, um, versus in person, it all depends on you. And what would make you feel most comfortable going into that shoot? 

[00:24:42] Matthew Holliday: Yeah. A big part of is definitely intuition. I know I've heard that an awful lot of people do not listen to their intuition.  

[00:24:49] Ayla Evangelista: Yes. Yes. You, you definitely should. Um, a few, I have all these stories. Most of them, aren't my own, but stories of, um, fate kind of intervening with people who found out later. Um, well, I'll just tell you the story Anastasia had when she had just started out, maybe in her first year of modeling, she had booked with the photographer. 

Uh, can't remember where he was. Exactly, but it doesn't matter, not important. Um, she didn't know at the time that he was on pretty much every photographer, blacklist that exists for being drunk at shoots and for being a huge perv and wanting to touch and wanting to push girls to do erotic content and like spread shots and things like that. 

Um, And so the day came, when she was to go to the photo shoot and her car broke down and she never made it there. You know, you have so many people who, you know, that, who knows what that saved her from because, you know, she was just starting out and the guy seemed legit and he has like an extensive portfolio. 

Technically, he's not that great, but again, when you're starting out, you don't, you know, you don't have anything to compare it to yet, you know, being afraid to say no or not knowing enough about how a typical shoot goes or agreements that are made, you know, beforehand that can, you know, that can lead to trouble. 

So,  

[00:26:35] Matthew Holliday: Um,  

[00:26:36] Ayla Evangelista: have a story I could tell on myself where hopefully others can learn from it. One of my favorite genres is Shibari, which is rope work, rope bondage. And I met a photographer, messaged me on model mayhem, and he saw that I had put Richmond as my location. He was coming to Richmond from Montana. And wanted to do a Shabbat, every shoot while he was in Richmond. 

I get most of my paid gigs from model mayhem or I did at that time. And so I was like, sure. You know, I love Shibari. I think it's beautiful. I really appreciate it as an art form and I wanted to get into it. So I go to this hotel. And the guys there, you know, all I had to go on was his model, mayhem portfolio, mind you. 

So I get there and he introduces himself and everything, and was very respectful, very nice guy. He knew what he was doing. He had like emergency shears for the, for the rope work, which we did have to employ at one time. That was a little scary, but later I'm thinking about it. And I was like, you know what? 

I go 45 minutes from my home a hotel room of a male photographer type who I don't even know at all. You know, I just only know him from a couple of brief messages on model mayhem. Not only am I basically. Topless. I think, I, I think I just had a g-string for that one, but he ties me up. So I'm bound in a hotel room an hour, basically away from mine. 

And I look back on that now and I'm like, man, that was really, really stupid. Like I didn't check his references. I didn't talk to other models that he had worked with. Um, I didn't ask him a lot of the questions that I should've asked him upfront. yeah, so I just. Like, you know, I'm not above reprieve either. 

I've done these stupid things too. So now I try to like thoroughly check references and inspect people's portfolios. And I have, you know, standard questions that I ask, particularly if it's rope work, because Jabari is a whole, it's a whole different set of rules and standards and knowledge that you need to know to be safe. 

while you're creating this art, but I do love it, but, um, you definitely need to have someone who knows what they're doing as a rigger. 

[00:29:33] Matthew Holliday: Uh, you mentioned a standard set of questions. What are those questions that you usually ask?  

[00:29:38] Ayla Evangelista: Well, my standard questions are  

[00:29:41] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:29:42] Ayla Evangelista: typically. As an unwritten kind of rule. If a model approaches a photographer about a shoot, then the model will pay the photographer for the, for that shoot, unless otherwise agreed upon. And then it goes the other way around too. If a, if a photographer approaches a model, then the photographer pays the model for her services. 

And so that's kind of the standard that my friends and I go by. Now there are exceptions. For example, if I have very particular special content that I want, and there's a photographer who was like the shit in that particular content, and I really want their images in my portfolio, then you know, I'm going to pay. 

For that most likely. I mean, unless they say we can collaborate, which would be awesome, you know, but because of that specialized skill, I'm going to be okay with paying them. And then also, you know, if I'm experienced in a certain genre, like for example, bondage, which I am. Not a lot of models do that. And so I have different rates for different content. 

And so in that instance, someone who wants, um, a rope shoot or Shamari shoot a fetish shoot, they're going to be more willing to pay me for that service. Yeah. So I do have questions about we'll get the payments. Or whether it's a collaboration, the TFP, which is fun. Do that a lot too. Um, and then we'll talk about the content. 

I'm a really big planner on my shoots. I have a whole notebook full of ideas, themes, and different, different things that I want to shoot. A lot of times it revolves around a certain idea or maybe a piece of wardrobe or. I do drawing sometimes a lot of times it does call for particular wardrobe, pieces, and props that I may make or purchase. 

I'm not going to ask the photographer to do that. What is the idea? What content do we want out of it? Are there particular shots that we want, we need to talk about the location we need to talk about. Backup dates times and locations, if necessary, particularly, you know, like now in the winter months, when you never know it's going to be 70 degrees today and an ice storm tomorrow, perhaps because Virginia is like that. 

But yeah. So we talk about all those things. If I'm unsure about this particular person, if I don't know them at all, if they have a small portfolio or if I get a weird vibe, I'm also going to ask, I'm not asking, I'm going to state that I'm bringing an escort. Now, sometimes I'm going to tell one of my secrets here. 

Sometimes I'm never planning on bringing an escort. I just want to see what their reaction is when I say. Because if the reaction is absolutely not, you can't bring enough squirt, then I'm not shooting with that person. 

[00:33:16] Matthew Holliday: As a giant red flag.  

[00:33:18] Ayla Evangelista: Totally. Yup. You should always be allowed to bring an escort. And if you aren't, then you need to reevaluate that situation. And I've even heard of people being allowed to bring. There escort, but the escort has to stay in another room and that's not cool either. Like, don't do that now to be fair. I know because I witnessed it that photographers have to put up with a lot of shit from like significant others, boyfriends, husbands, partners, whatever, who come with the model to the shoot as their escort. 

I mean, if you're going to bring an S-corps great, I'm all for it, but make sure the escort knows how to behave too. Like they need to just sit there and shut the hell up, you know, and definitely don't give pointers or, you know, say, oh, well, what if you did this? Or. You know, you got a hair down there in your face, you know? 

Yeah. We know we're aware of all that, but don't irritate the photographer. So yeah, they have to put up with a lot sometimes. 

[00:34:29] Matthew Holliday: That's funny, actually, I, one of my first nude shoots, my wife was there and I met lady. This was on one of my first ones, but she had way better posing advice than I did.  

[00:34:40] Ayla Evangelista: Well now there are model coaches that get paid to go do that with. So that's pretty much what I discuss. And then I, I have learned to have that photographer's phone number don't count on just Instagram messages or a model may hand messages because things happen. You know, I travel many hours sometimes for shoots and I've had photographers travel to me many hours for shoots. 

We've had. Car situations. We've had sicknesses, you know, last minute  

[00:35:17] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:35:18] Ayla Evangelista: Sometimes don't get to you in time and then somebody has wasted. God knows how long. And you know, if it's the model they wasted, the driving time, the gas, hair, and makeup and wardrobe, getting all beautiful for everything. And. 

The shoot doesn't happen, or the photographer is packed and dragged out all his equipment driven, you know, giving up his time and the model can't show up, you know, so try to try to stay in touch with them at least 24 hours before the shoot. You need to touch base and, you know, be aware of, um, a number to reach the other person. 

[00:35:58] Matthew Holliday: you get most of your work, uh, local groups, social media. You mentioned model mayhem used to be your main source of.  

[00:36:06] Ayla Evangelista: It did just because at that time, and it was only five years ago, I'm acting like it was in the stone age period, but in like the Jurassic era, but, um, It seemed like the more I want to say respected, but the more serious photographers, um, would go to model mayhem because they knew there they could find the more serious models and, you know, they, they may be looking for a model in a particular area. 

So you can search that area on there. Geography wise, you can search. Certainly you can search gender age size. So yeah, it really gives you like a lot of filter tools to narrow down your search for your model and the same for, um, for photographers and videographers and body paint, things like that. So it's, it's a really cool website. 

I feel. And I will, I don't go there as much as I used to because now more photographers seem to be transferring their portfolios over to Instagram, but I'm not sure how that's going to go because Instagram is really cracking down on how much skin you can show, basically. I mean,  

[00:37:31] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:37:32] Ayla Evangelista: Um, I'm on my last morning of having my professional account deleted, you know, because I showed butt crack one too many times, or like this last, uh, image that I had removed. 

I had a bra that was, um, purple, but it had sheer nude colored mesh, like over my nipples. They didn't see that. So apparently that got pulled for nudity or pornography as they call it, which violates the community guidelines. So,  

[00:38:07] Matthew Holliday: So, someone had to report it that, right, because I see nude people on Instagram all the time.  

[00:38:15] Ayla Evangelista: well, Matthew, it's weird and I don't understand Instagram at all. I don't even pretend to, I don't try to figure it out anymore because at one time. You could show, uh, but you know, you could show a certain, certain times you could show breasts, um, in the, kind of, in the situation of breastfeeding or, um, if it has to do with mastectomies or that type of thing, without any type of censoring, then it kind of went towards. 

If you had on something shear, that was okay too. Now it's like, some people can put a nude, like, let's say the back view, you know, the rear end, whatever. Um, and it's fine. And then it'll stay there, but I might put up something extremely similar or maybe even less, you know, risk a and it might get taken down. 

I have no idea why certain people are targeted. I was told about one full figured model that we get, uh, targeted a lot more because in their, I guess, scanning program or whatever, when, when it perceives a certain amount of flesh and skin, it says, oh, Nope, too much. We're gonna take that photo down. Um, which is discrimination. 

I mean, in all honesty, but.  

[00:39:46] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:39:46] Ayla Evangelista: And then I've heard from others that if you're like Playboy or Armani or something like that, that has like millions of followers that you can get away with more stuff, because you're making more money for Instagram, which is, which also sucks and is discrimination. But 

[00:40:07] Matthew Holliday: Yeah, I haven't figured that out. Cause the thirst traps are how Instagram built  

[00:40:13] Ayla Evangelista: yes. 

[00:40:14] Matthew Holliday: I mean, yeah, there's, there's, there's all the teenagers that are doing the teenage thing. They just go to the next platform. They're all on Tik TOK now.  

[00:40:21] Ayla Evangelista: Yes, they are, 

[00:40:22] Matthew Holliday: But then the thirst traps are how they got like the thirties, forties, fifties, and 60 year old men on board. 

And then being the thirst trap is how they got all the super hot twenties and 30 models on board.  

[00:40:33] Ayla Evangelista: Yes. And you know, um, one thing I did do the first time I had my modeling account deleted. Someone actually several people gave me the tip to go into my profile and change my gender to male. And they were like, I swear to God, it works. They won't bother you after you do that. And so I did it because no one sees that unless you go in there and look for it. 

So I did that and it worked like I was not bothered by Instagram for the longest, longest time. So go figure. I don't know, but. It seems like when Facebook kind of merged with Instagram, that a lot, a lot more things were flagged and a lot of accounts were getting deleted more often. I could be wrong. 

Maybe that's just my opinion, but that's what I feel like happened. And here lately I'm getting. Several messages a week of, uh, folks wanting to wanting me to invest in their Bitcoin or cryptocurrency or whatever. Um, they'll message me. And I've had three friends of mine. Their accounts have been stolen by these, these crypto accounts. 

One model friend of mine. I had been talking to her and then the next day she posted. Photo a series of photos. One was like her all happy holding her phone. And the next one was like a picture of her bank account with like $14,000 deposited into it. And the caption said, I know, I know I didn't believe it either, but I invested less than $2,000 in cryptocurrency. 

And now this was deposited into my account today. Here's the proof overly sneaky. And and wrong because they're using this person's bio and their photographs that are all legit. So, you know, you got to got to pay attention. 

[00:42:48] Matthew Holliday: All right. So a few months ago, someone that I follow on the Nazi for photography podcast, a social media, Instagram, I believe I mentioned that there's not nearly enough discussion on mental health as a model. So I like to try and make Sure that I've been hitting on that with each model. Uh, since I saw that if we have time and it looks like we do so what's your self-care routine after a shoot or before and after shoot.  

[00:43:15] Ayla Evangelista: before a shoot. I generally, I hate to rush and I hate more than that to be late, but I'm almost always late. I mean, I I'm telling you I can plan. I can start like hours ahead of time and something is going to happen outside of my control to make me at least five or 10 minutes late. So, um, I'm giving a mass apology right now on this podcast. 

So for future photographers that I work with, I'm sorry, but I'm going to be late. So if you, if you want to shoot at 2:00 PM, just tell me one 30, let's just, let's just call it now for what it is, but. I usually start with, um, like a facial mask, kind of like relaxing, chilling, um, drink some water. Cause we all have to stay hydrated and healthy beforehand. 

I don't usually do anything special other than like I said, I try to kind of. Not really meditate, but just have like some me time, some quiet before I start the whole process of the makeup and the wardrobe or the packing or whatever I need to do. Um, but after, after is when I almost always treat myself to French fries. 

So I don't know, I get assault craving, maybe it's from my. Sweating nervously. I don't know, but, um, I have hot flashes. I deal with hot flashes there. I said it, but that's why you'll see me. Like, you'll never see me wearing a jacket. If you see me wearing a jacket, then I'm probably in Antarctica or it's like the end of the world. 

And there's like another ice age coming. But, um, but I sweat profusely almost always during photo shoots. Okay. Hopefully that'll go away soon, but I guess I sweat out all my sodium because then I want French fries afterwards. So French fries is part of the plan after shoots. And a lot of times I just like listen to my music. 

A lot of times I'll be traveling back home. So I'll listen to my music as loudly as possible. And just drive home and eat my fries and chill, but you know, people think that modeling you just stand there and look cute. Um, but I've actually been injured several times modeling, particularly in like those abandoned house type things or out in nature, or like  

[00:45:53] Matthew Holliday: Rusty nails everywhere.  

[00:45:55] Ayla Evangelista: yeah, I slipped in a Creek once and fell and. 

Busted my knee. So I'm like hiding my left knee with my right knee. Cause there's like blood trickling down the side of my leg and I'm like still finishing the photo shoot. You know, it's trying to  

[00:46:09] Matthew Holliday: just, you just reached down, you wipe the blood away and wipe it across your face  

[00:46:14] Ayla Evangelista: Oh yeah. I liked that. I should've done that next time, next time.  

[00:46:19] Matthew Holliday: a warrior princess.  

[00:46:21] Ayla Evangelista: Right. But you know, Arching your back and turning and holding certain positions and like the upside down, leaning off the bed, boot door positions and all that. 

It makes you sore as hell afterwards and particularly the next day. And so, you know, we eat our French fries afterwards. You're feeling exhausted. You're starting to feel a little sore, take some ibuprofen, drink some more water to replace your, your, uh, body. Water content. And, uh, that's pretty much it for me. 

It's all about food. So  

[00:46:56] Matthew Holliday: I love food That is why I am a chubby dude.  

[00:47:02] Ayla Evangelista: Full-figured is what we say.  

[00:47:04] Matthew Holliday: I have a full figure, dude.  

[00:47:06] Ayla Evangelista: That's right and proud of it.  

[00:47:10] Matthew Holliday: Yeah.  

[00:47:11] Ayla Evangelista: I mentioned SMR earlier. That's one thing that I, I do does kind of self-sooth sometimes if I'm having like a depressive state, um, I'll wrap up in like a warm blanket and I have like some little twinkle lights in my room, turn those on and listen to my ASM. 

And it almost always calms me down and they have specific SMR for anxiety or panic attacks, which sometimes I will listen to those. 

[00:47:40] Matthew Holliday: Yeah. I tend to, when I have depressive episodes, I guess. So for anybody listening that doesn't know the difference between type one and type two bipolar type one is what most people think of. When they think of bipolar, it has the crazy highs and the absolutely crazy lows and sometimes the manic and crazy behavior that you see from people with bipolar, bipolar too, has the highs and lows, but they tend to be more muted if you're, if you're looking at the wave diagram, Uh, the highs and lows, the highs are less high and the lows are less low.  

[00:48:12] Ayla Evangelista: Yes, but can last for a fair amount of time. 

[00:48:17] Matthew Holliday: Yeah. Yeah. Um, my wife can definitely tell when I'm having a manic period, cause I'll be like, oh, I just started this project and I just started this project and we're doing this and we're doing that. I had one last fall where I did a whole bunch of stuff within like a month. And then I've been in a low for about two months since then. 

So, I mean, it's not, it's not too bad, like I'm not, not sitting here with suicidal thoughts, but yesterday, uh, I had a migraine and I went to bed early and the migraine was. From work and just being like, ah, this is awful. I hate my job. I hate my life.  

[00:48:53] Ayla Evangelista: Sure. Been there. Been there. I get it. 

[00:48:58] Matthew Holliday: yeah, one of the things that's really, that really kills me during the winter is not being able to be physically active. Uh, I know that that's not, that's not a panacea or punish or however you pronounce it. I think Penn Neisha is the way you should pronounce it, but I'm told actually panacea, but panacea sounds.  

[00:49:16] Ayla Evangelista: I've read the word, but I've never tried to say the word. 

[00:49:19] Matthew Holliday: Yeah, my wife makes fun of me all the time. Cause every time I mispronounce a word, she knows that I've read it and never heard it. Uh,  

[00:49:27] Ayla Evangelista: At least you tried. 

[00:49:29] Matthew Holliday: yeah. Yeah. But regular physical activity helps me. Uh, I definitely try and get my 10,000 steps a day, um, try to walk for, you know, half an hour or so, especially with the dogs, but of course the last month here has been a little chilly and I got COVID a couple of weeks ago, so that was not Good  

[00:49:47] Ayla Evangelista: I'm so  

[00:49:47] Matthew Holliday: Uh, it was, it was not a bad case. My daughter brought it home from school and we had a very mild case sweep through us, which I am super, super fortunate.  

[00:49:58] Ayla Evangelista: I have not had it yet. Knock on wood. 

[00:50:02] Matthew Holliday: When we originally kind of talked, you mentioned that you're on a pretty tight friends group, but some other models, specifically Anastasia Mae, emo, hippie chick, and fervid Fe they all appear quite often in your Instagram feed. I can count on one hand the models I've entered. That had mentioned having close model friends. 

I don't know if that's just because it hasn't come up in conversation or if it's actually really uncommon, what led to you guys? All becoming such good friends?  

[00:50:33] Ayla Evangelista: Um, well, you know, when you mentioned that. It made me think. Um, and I don't really know a whole lot of model groups who are close friends. Like we are either when I started to think about it, but I love those girls so much. Um, I met fervid Fe first out of the group and she was just, she was just starting out modeling, but. 

She's so mature and her approach to cosplay and everything is just so incredible and so detailed and so on target. And she has just this huge amount of creativity and talent. Um, I, I, you could have told me she'd been modeling for two or three years and I would have believed you, but she was very honest about it. 

And just starting out, you know, We started talking and we just like really clicked and hit it off. And we met with a mutual photographer friend. That's another thing like I have a lot of my photographers are my friends as well. You know, we'll, we'll text daily or hang out together sometimes, but, um, met Faye in Richmond just to hang out with our photographer friend. 

We just, we were just inseparable after that. I mean, she's, she's a great person. All three of them are. And I learned so much from her and she offered her, her apartment in Fairfax for me to stay there when I would come up and do shoots in the DMV, which is where the majority of my shoots take place. Um, and then I met Anastasia after she was the second friend out of the group that I'm in. 

She was having a particular bad day, particularly bad day. And she was coming back from Ohio, which is where she lived at the time she was moving back to Virginia. So we met up and we just like hung out in the hotel room and she stayed there overnight and we just laughed and talked like we had known each other forever. 

And I don't know, we were both Pisces. So we're like these various. emotional beings. And I dunno, we just hit it off as well. I introduced those two and then it was like this little tight circle and we would have dinners and things at Faye's place. And we would like plan shoots together and things like that. 

We would give each other the dirt on different photographers and photographers models. Do that shit. They will talk about you. So you better treat them right. And vice versa, his models. We talk about y'all too. Like if somebody acts like a diva or if someone's very unprofessional, we all talk amongst ourselves and we will talk to the photographers about you. 

So everyone needs to behave yourselves.