An unwritten rule of my job is to not play favorites with models. But it’s too hard not to get mesmerized by the preciousness of what I witnessed both times I shot Maria in Ukraine. She has an unquestionable talent at expressing her sensuality, but this is true of most models. It’s their job, after all. Maria is special though because she is going through the phase in which she is suddenly discovering that she is really good at this, and therefore carries an enthusiasm which is profoundly infectious. I simply couldn’t get enough of shooting her.