I met Alison in college at Chapman and we have shot together several times. She is edgy and witchy, and I knew her style would be perfect for a shoot at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It was our first time visiting, and we definitely wanted to be respectful. I was careful not to get any names in any of the photos, and you probably couldn’t tell most of these photos were taken at a cemetery. These photos were just for fun for Instagram, but if you’re looking to shoot or film there professionally or commercially, you can see the cemetery’s official policy here.
Visiting the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is free, and I was expecting it to feel way more touristy, but it wasn’t. There were several people just walking their dogs and families sitting and having beers by their loved ones’ graves. You can park pretty much on the side of the road throughout the grounds and just get out and walk around. Near the entrance of the cemetery, there’s an area called the Garden of Memories where a ton of peacocks were roaming around freely, which was unexpected and fun.
We started at the Abbey of the Psalms. There were several outdoor corridors of marble crypts (unsure of the technical term here). The window panes on the ceiling and leading lines looked cool and Alison brought this incredible black dress with a lot of movement.
Alison changed into jeans and an orange top in her car, and we walked down palm tree-lined Maple Avenue to the pond area, which had regular ducks, white swans, and turtles. It was pleasantly warm outside and the grass was green and lush after a few weeks of rain (it actually rains a fair amount in LA in January!). There were several people just hanging out and sitting on the lawn.
Afterward, we drove all the way down West Avenue and took photos near the gate and a white wall with some cool shadows. We paired a brown turtleneck crop top with an oversized plaid blazer and some neat sunglasses.
We drove to the southeast end of the grounds down Pineland Avenue and ended our photo shoot by the back of a building that kind of looked like a warehouse and had a grassy area with older tombstones of people who passed away in the 1920s. Alison changed into some plaid trousers and a black bodysuit with a leather jacket, then changed back into the first black dress.
After, we quickly peeked into the Hollywood Cathedral Mausoleum. It was dark and extremely cold inside and house both caskets and urns. I could not tell you a single person who was buried in this cemetery, so I will definitely have to go back to check out the celebrity graves and do some sightseeing!
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