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For compelling editorial and rock & roll photography, few places set the stage like Bushwick, Brooklyn—the city’s renowned grunge capital. We recently took the L train journey out to that creative frontier to join the sensational (recently featured in Rolling Stone UK kind of sensational) Heather Nigro, known professionally as Moxxii Photo, for an exclusive BTS photo shoot with our marketing team member.
The location was Purgatory, Brooklyn, a venue famed for its raw, punk-rock presence and moody exterior. Nestled next to a vast cemetery, it is the perfect shoot space for photographers looking to capture the dark side of music and fame.
Stepping onto the stage, the creative genius of Heather’s choice was immediately clear. Graffiti covered every surface; peeled band stickers and melted wax overtook the bar area, giving the space the timeless, lived-in feel of a thousand-year-old cave. This environment of authentic decay and raw texture provided the ideal canvas for a Brooklyn photo shoot aimed at capturing the unpolished, true emotion that defines Moxxii Photo’s work.
The Vision of Moxxii Photo
Heather’s shoot came together with the vision of the Black Widow, a strong female force and performative entity. Her shoot takes us through a young starlet’s night.
(This post is part of a series detailing the Moxxii Photo collaboration, which includes the creation of a stunning collaboration reel and the final printed assets produced by Printique.)
How a Pro Photographer Sets the Scene for the perfect shoot.
Working behind the lens with musicians taught me how to chase energy rather than perfection. Musicians live in the in-between moments—the silence after the encore, the grit before the spotlight hits. I brought that instinct here: instead of forcing poses, I let the subject and the setting absorb each other, capturing the reality between presence and absence.
Locations are very important to my creative direction and process — I’m hands on when it comes to this aspect since it’s the environment of the art. Purgatory felt like a character in itself. It’s atmospheric, layered with history, and carries that push-and-pull that is a bit defiant. The textures, or “patina” of the space gave me different worlds to work within. It reminded me of the music clubs I started shooting early in my career. It was the perfect stage to echo the themes running through this series, literally!
I want the audience to feel unsettled but drawn in—a sense of intimacy that is unapologetic. These images give all access to the private and personal moments of the power of what it takes to be a musician and artist. There’s so much more than what happens onstage. At its core, the narrative is about the haunting beauty of imperfection and vulnerability personified as power.
There’s one frame where the model (Marin Gross) rolls her eyes into the back of her head. She has the unique ability to do this, and I’ve never worked with another model who’s done this before. It was unexpected and chilling! Prior to that moment, I asked Marin if she would scream at the top of her lungs with me. I was feeling anxious (shoot days do that!) and needed to get it out of my system and thought it would be a good exercise for us to do together. While it scared everyone on set (we screamed so loud!!) it helped us both get into the moment to be more present. This wasn’t planned but the end image was exactly what I was hoping to capture.
The biggest challenge was also the gift: we had a semi-truck that interrupt our first location because they needed to park! This wasn’t planned but we worked quickly to move things and found it was a better angle for the shot.
I look for talent who bring more than a portfolio to the table but empathy and professionalism. The model needed to embody both fragility and fire and tap into the emotion of the story. The HMU team understood that this wasn’t about glossy perfection but about edge, texture, and letting the story shine through. Everyone on this team knew the vision wasn’t about decoration; it was about depth.
Digital is fleeting—it scrolls past. Print is permanence. For this body of work, the tactility mattered. These images are layered with weight, and atmosphere—you need to hold them, to see how ink and materials absorb shadow differently than a screen ever could. The physical form absorbs you, the way the work itself demands.
It feels like closure and continuation at once. For me, my work is not done until it is printed. Holding the work in print is proof that the vision moved from instinct to execution, from concept to something you can touch. There’s a weight to it—it reminds me why I fell in love with photography in the first place: the power to turn a fleeting moment into art that endures.
Heather turned her BTS moments into permanent moments with the help of our custom Hardcover Photo Book and metal prints to remember both the process and the incredible outcome of all her hard work.
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