Grave Beauty: Vancouver photographer Pooya Nabei shoots fashion in the cemetery

Pooya Nabei is a fashion photographer from Vancouver whose work often evokes a dark, sensual, and introspective mood. So when Papercut Magazine issued an open call for editorial submissions with the keywords “Natural Disaster and Apocalypse”, Nabei felt his work would be a perfect fit.

He answered the call with a series of dark, moody images shot in Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery that Nabei says reflect feelings of “the end of the world, death and loneliness”. He enhanced the apocalyptic mood further by adding some destructive “light leaks” to the images in post production. The series was not picked by Papercut, but Nabei submitted them to Kenton Magazine and they decided to publish it.

For a behind the scenes look at the shoot, please check out the video at the end of this post.

The equipment:

• Phase One P45+ w/80mm, 45mm, and 120mm
• Profoto Monohead 600W (used to open up shadows and add detail to the blacks)
• C-Stand w/arm
• XS soft box with grid
• Tripod, etc.
• Honda 2000 Generator

The crew:

• Stylist: Claudia Da Ponte
• Makeup: Timothy Hung
• Model: Kristen H W/Lizbell agency
• Photographer’s assistant and videographer: Richard Amies