“Life’s good and it always should be.” 

When asked about what drives him, Evan Taylor will tell you that they are photography and cinematography.

“It’s always been a part of me,” he said. The senior studio arts major and biology minor looks forward to graduating and continuing to share his talents with the world. He has been hired at a small Minneapolis advertising and marketing firm, Fasthorse, Inc., upon graduation.

He hasn’t been waiting for graduation to begin to make his mark on the world, though. His films have been shown at the Dreamland Film Festival in New Haven, Conn., The Connecticut Cinematic Celebration in Hartford, Conn. and The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, N.Y. He will soon travel to Taos, N.M., where his work will be shown at Filmapalooza.

He also has his own business, e v a n T A Y L O R s t u d i o s  and has won a number of awards, including Best Student Director in June in Minneapolis for his film The Florist.

Evan also won seven awards, Best Film, Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Editing, People’s Choice, Best Acting and Best Cinematography, when he went to New Haven, Conn. on a whim last summer.

“I took this really spontaneous trip this summer where I just got bored so I decided to get up and fly somewhere,” Evan said.

“I found an advertisement online of a film crew looking for an assistant director for the New Haven, Conn. 48 Hour Film Project. So I contacted the guy and sent him my resume.”

That spontaneous trip ended up being very beneficial for Evan, who will travel to New Mexico soon as a result. He will attend the Filmapalooza Film Festival, where the winners of the 48 hour film contests around the world will meet.

“It’s going to be a cool opportunity to meet film directors from all around the world and see what they’re producing,” Evan said.

Evan’s talents behind a camera are not limited by any boundaries, and he even sent a camera into space last February. Evan created a capsule using a styrofoam cooler that he found in his basement, including eight hand warmers to regulate temperature and a Lance Bass doll, “so that Lance could finally make his journey to space,” he said.

“It was a fun journey.” His capsule landed about sixty miles away and reached an altitude of about 125,000 feet. He tracked it with GPS that transmitted to Google Maps on his laptop.

“My brother being seven years older than me, I’ve always looked up to him. When he was out of the house, I’d steal his camera equipment and make something quick. Instead of playing video games after school, we made movies.” Evan said.

Evan made his first film when he was in the fourth grade, playing with a Halloween costume of a dinosaur that terrorized the neighborhood.

“It’s just something I’ve always done,” Evan said.

Though he has always known that film was his passion, it took him some time to admit it to his parents.

“I came in the stereotypical [first-year], pre-med and I honestly thought that my parents would be upset if I was an art major so I continued to take these biology and chemistry courses in fear that my parents might kill me if I didn’t,” Evan said.

“I continued to take both art and science at the same time but then I had to tell my parents.”

In addition to being a tutor for Digital Photography and Video Art, Evan loves being active through wake boarding, SCUBA diving and as a member of the Swimming and Diving team. Though he swam when he was younger, Evan took his first three years of college off from swimming. This year he decided to swim again, which paid off this past weekend when he was voted into the 2012 All-Sportsmanship Team for the MIAC Conference for Swimming and Diving.

“I love meeting new people, making as many friends as I can,” Evan said.

This positive, friendly attitude does not go unnoticed by those around him.

“While Evan improved quickly as the season went on, Evan’s biggest contribution was the support he gave his teammates. Evan played a big role in our success as a team this year and made everyone around him a little better and definitely made practice more fun,” Swimming and Diving Coach Jon Carlson said.

“Evan has to be one of the most genuine people I know. His spontaneity, generosity, sense of humor, faith and passion to live life to the fullest are just a few reasons why I know I have lifetime friendship with him,” Senior Kojo Addo said.

Evan’s outlook on life is simple; “Life’s good and it always should be.”