Laja approached me about collaborating and offered full creative freedom. When I learned her birthday fell on the same day as Ostara, the spring equinox, I began thinking about cycles of renewal and the quiet ways nature returns each year. I wanted to find something within that rhythm that felt constant for her.

She showed me a photograph of herself and a childhood best friend sitting in a field of daffodils that bloom like clockwork every spring. While researching the flower, I discovered that daffodils can be dipped in melted beeswax for preservation, and threaded through their thick green sepals. From there, the idea for the set slowly formed, with the waxed flowers becoming the foundation of the space.

To tease the release of the images and get Laja excited about the project, I reimagined the themes of the shoot as an eyeshadow palette inspired by her. Like a color palette used for visual direction, it translated the mood and tones of the project into a small piece of graphic design. The palette draws from the dirt, her clothing, the gold of the daffodils, and her initials stamped in dark sky.