Evan Mock’s Creatures Of Light, Darkness And Eroticism

Evan Mock grew up at Gas Chambers on the North Shore. He’s a professional skater, more than apt in the hollow fare stretching the coarse sand of the seven-mile, has a penchant for photography, and is a handsome fuck.

He’s also an ambassador for Slowtide Towels. 

In short, Mr Mock lives an early 20’s revery; traveling to surf, skate and shoots nothing but classic film and beautiful women along the way. “I don’t even own a digital camera,” he told us during a brief chat while scoping out a skate spot somewhere in Costa Mesa, California. “I’m just trying to stick this trick.”

Two years ago, he relocated from the skatepark across Kam Highway and the trail down to Pipe to Orange County. When asked why, he responded with a blunt laugh, “Skating! And, just getting off the rock in general. I’m close to my sponsors in California and the whole world is here. You never know who you’re gonna sit next to at dinner, the possibilities for connections are endless and not to mention, the level of skating is just so much higher here.”

“I think the level for everything is higher in California, except surfing…” 

Evan, being more than engulfed in the North Shore surf/skate/art scene, has spent his fair share of time at the skatepark, shooting, skating tranny and is a local hero of the four wheelers. When asked what local talent deserves more recognition, he didn’t stutter, “Kalani David for sure! That dude is no joke, easily the best surf/skate crossover right now. He can do a 540 on a quarter pipe, then grab his board, cross the street and huck full rotations at Rocky Rights – no one in the world can do that. It’s crazy he doesn’t have a main sponsor.” 

Evan’s photography complements his skating, it’s actually just something he does on trips. His imagery is slick, occasionally dark and depraved.

It evokes emotion. We back it. 

“I just shoot during my skate trips,” he says. “And, I’ve gotten the opportunity to go on some trips with friends who liked the way I shoot. I recently did a trip with Kelia Moniz and the Roxy girls. We went to Mexico, so I shot them. It’s fun.” 

I asked his favorite subject to shoot. Evan just laughed, “Women… hot girls, my homies, anyone that I think is cool. I try to go in with an idea and execute it. I also like shooting parties. But shooting girls is my favorite, making them feel comfortable – that’s when you’re going to get the best stuff. Just trying to capture women in their natural form.”  

One of Evan’s biggest influences is Helmut Newton, a classic German-Australian lensman who essentially wrote the book on erotically charged black and white photography. He was a mainstay at Vogue in the 70s and 80s and his work is drop dead. If you have the chance to pick up one his collections, we’d highly recommend it; there is nothing more captivating than the female form shot with an artistic flair. 

“Joe Termini, Kelia Moniz’s husband, he’s another big mentor of mine as a photographer. Then as far as skating goes, the list is endless. But the biggest is Dylan Reider because style is everything and nobody did it like him. He is a big inspiration to pretty much everything in my life. He was the most epic skater ever, he did everything flawlessly and he’s the guy everyone is trying to imitate today. To get to know him, and learn how he was as a person was incredible for my life. He was just such a good, epic character. The way he treated his friends, and as a human being is inspiring.

“After he passed, you could see the truth to all of that by how affected anyone who knew him personally was.”

“Mark Oblow was also a big mentor of mine. He really got my mind turning into thinking about what you could do with your photography. He paints all over them, does a lot of resin work; he was the first person to make my head spin with what is possible with photography – it takes on a whole different form of art.”

We drift into the hardships of life, the hurdles, and heartbreaks. “Losing your first love is a hard one,” he laughs. “That shit never really leaves, it’s one of those things everyone goes through. It’s a feeling you need to experience in your life. Then, being at still at an early age in my career, just figuring out what I’m doing. What I want to do. Do I want to be a skater, a surfer, or just do photography, be an artist, produce? I’m just trying to do it all at once, then when I get bored I just skate and skate.

“Skating is my favorite thing in the world, when I first started I almost forgot all about the Pacific Ocean. I want to master skating, and it’s unmasterable – that’s the real beauty in it.” 

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