Good evening, Steemit. Just got home from 
I wanted to share some photos of a gorgeous, talented and sweet Minnesota today named Maria Kochetkova. I’ve featured some of our photography together in an older blog you can still read, “Porcelain dark beauty and 360º VR ballet video!”, but before that big collaboration, I met Maria casually when I hosted a small, private photography session in uptown Minneapolis called Lé Confidant. As you can imagine, February is a struggle for freelance artists as the weeks leading up to the holiday’s strain the wallets of all potential clients. Events are a good incentive for bookings because there’s a momentum you can create that is hard to achieve with private sessions, and it’s usually a better deal. Maria contacted me the day before Lé Confidant and booked the last session I had available.
She’d added me on my personal Facebook the same day, so it was clear she was beautiful. She’s extensively trained in dance and gifted with incredible flexibility. She’s more or less a contortionist, which is a fun idea for any photographer. She’s shot with all the best photographers in the Twin Cities, including 
What I wasn’t excepted is how kind, courteous and genuine Maria is as a person. She was an absolute delight to meet and I’m happy to call her a friend. Her work ethic during our first shoot together was remarkable. 
It was this first shoot with Maria that made me choose her and my friend Abbie, for this ambitious porcelain dolls shoot that came a year later. I knew Maria was capable, talented and dependable for such a demanding concept. I see Maria’s Snapchats these days. She’s engaged and in a different city each week. She’s doing big things and making the most out of life. I do hope we can find time to shoot in Minneapolis before the end of the year. She would make a perfect addition to the Dark Pinup book I’m doing with 
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