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Mah Vafaei/ Sydney Food Photographer

@_mahvafaei

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followers

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Food & Brand Photography
Helping hospitalities & brands tell their story through elevated imagery
📍Sydney & beyond
Portfolio & inquiries ⬇️

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پاولوای گلابی
You can't ripen a pear on its own tree. It goes grainy from the inside while you're waiting for it to look ready. So you pick it hard and green and bring it in and leave it alone for a week.
Then a pot, star anise, most of an afternoon. and it turns that colour.

📍 Sydney food photographer • dessert and bakery photography • menu and recipe shoots

#sydneyfoodphotographer #sydneydesserts #sydneybakery #pavlova taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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9

2 days ago

I couldn't resist getting really close to this one.
Toasted meringue, those little caramelised edges and all that texture… basically everything my macro-loving side wants to photograph.
I love when a food image makes you want to reach out and touch it. That was the feeling I was chasing here.

For brands looking for thoughtful product photography, my inbox is always open.

📍 Sydney food & product photographer • bakery, dessert & menu photography
#sydneyfoodphotographer #sydneyeats #sydneybakery #sydneydesserts #productphotographysydney taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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9 days ago

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16 days ago

Mocktails 🍊
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📍 Sydney food & beverage photographer

#sydneyfoodphotographer #mocktails #sydneyeats #beveragephotography taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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7

a month ago

The lettuce did all the work.

📍 Sydney food photographer • restaurant & menu photography • product photography
#sydneyfoodphotographer #sydneyeats #sydneyrestaurants #sydneyburgers #foodphotographysydney taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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6

a month ago

spent longer on the tablecloth than most people spend on dinner and a normal amount of tweezers were involved

📍 Sydney food photographer • Sydney hospitality photography • commercial photography • food styling

#sydneyfoodphotographer #sydneyeats #commercialphotography #foodstyling #foodphotographysydney taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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2 months ago

Good burrata doesn't ask for much: ripe tomatoes, torn basil, and light that flatters. Plates like this sell themselves; my job is making sure the photo does too.

#sydneyfoodphotographer #sydneyrestaurants #foodstyling #burrata taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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11

2 months ago

Some days the distance between where I live and where my heart belongs feels unbearably long.

I wake up in the quiet safety of my home in Australia, yet the first thing I reach for is my phone, not out of habit, but out of fear. Fear of what the morning will bring. Another city burning. Another life gone. Another piece of my homeland turning into smoke and dust.

Iran is not just a country to me.
It is the soil where my memories were planted.
The streets that raised me.
The language that still lives in my bones.
The home where my parents, relatives and friends wake up every morning.

No matter how many years I have lived far away, that thread has never broken. Distance does not weaken it. If anything, it pulls tighter around the heart.

Watching your homeland suffer from afar is a strange kind of pain. You feel every wound, yet your hands are too far away to stop the bleeding.

I have always believed that no war brings freedom.
No bombs deliver democracy.
No missiles carry dignity.

History has shown us this again and again, no invasion, no foreign intervention has ever arrived carrying freedom in its hands. More often, they serve the interests of the colonisers, those who seek influence, control, and dominance, leaving behind deeper wounds, greater pain, and a long darkness for the people who must live through it.

Freedom cannot be built on the ashes of a nation.
Democracy cannot grow from the soil of destruction.

And yet every day I watch the place I love bleed.

I miss the days when sharing my work felt light. When creating something beautiful felt joyful and simple. These days beauty feels quieter, more fragile, like a small candle we try to protect from a violent wind.

My heart is with Iran and my people.
It is with every family waiting for a peace that feels further away each morning.
I’m holding onto the hope that one day my screen won’t show me destruction, but the slow story of healing.
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First 5 frames: @_mahvafaei
Last 3 frames: @hamid__vakili
Remaining visual credits to their respective unknown creators
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#iran
#nowarwithiran taken in Iran by @_mahvafaei

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7 months ago

An editorial study in simplicity, light, and texture✨

Kept the styling minimal to let the light do the work, though it took plenty of tweaking behind the scenes to get those hard shadows falling exactly right.
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#editorialfoodphotography
#sydneyfoodphotography
#commercialphotography
#artdirecting taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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10 months ago

What you see: A peaceful, slow morning breakfast!

What you don’t see: Me balancing on a ladder above the table trying to get the framing just right... 🤸‍♂️
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آنچه میبینید فقط یه روی ماجراست، اون روی دیگه اش منم که دارم رو نردبون تمرین تعادل میکنم!
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#sydneyfoodphotography
#sydneycommercialphotographer
#breakfastsydney
#colesaustralia taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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10 months ago

Recent shoot for @luxandcoaustralia
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#productphotography
#brandphotography
#sydneyphotographer
#commercialphotography taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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10 months ago

A little celebration in colour...
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#sydneyfoodphotographer
#brandphotography
#dessertphotography taken in Sydney, Australia by @_mahvafaei

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19

a year ago