Cemetary pictures?

[Robert]

Does anybody feel goulish taking pictures in a graveyard? Some of the local ones have great stone statues. They seem to reach out and beg to be photographed. I always feel a little wierd doing it but then I get passed by a jogger.

[Jorge]

You I actuallu think the work is derivative, seen many of this.....but of course that did not stop me from taking them..

After I developed and printed the pics, it sort of depressed me a little, decided I should celebrate beauty not death...so I stopped.

[BobF]

I hit some of the old cemetaries in the abandonded ghost towns and I never thought much about it. But since you mentioned it I realized that the fairly new sections I seem to stay away from as it just doesn't feel right. I guess when you see evidence that someone is still visiting and caring for the site then it changes things a bit.

The ones I do like are often overgrown with 20 year old aspens and other growth with stones, statues and fences trying to show thru.

[Robert]

The monuments I photographed yesterday ranged from 80 to 125 years I guess. OTOH the way the cemetary has been setup you can see new current sections less then 100 feet away. It sort of bothers me but between dodging joggers and cyclists I guess it's okay. Nice thing is with all the mature trees the light seems the same from sunup to sunset.

One sad thing is the WWI memorial. I doubt anybody even knows it's there.

[Robert Kennedy]

My rule of thumb is this -

Take only historical pictures.

Which usually means old graves around 100 years old or older. My logic being that by that time any living relatives have pretty much never known the deceased, and they are in the "ancestors" category. Keep in mind this ONLY works in U.S. and Western European nations like ENgland and France. I know that some other countries feel differently about their ancestors. But once someone is an "ancestor" nobody usually minds taking pictures of the grave. Some people actually find PRIDE in it.

I also make sure I am very quiet, very careful and very discreet. The only time I ever got a weird look was in England where I was shooting 400 year old graves in front of a church. The wedding PHOTOGRAPHER was worried I was there to shoot the WEDDING.

[Domenico Foschi]

Hi Robert, i have shot for two years in cemeteries, and aside for the guardians who sometimes don't want you there, i have found it a great experience.
No, it isn't a morbid statement.
It is actually a great place to relax and to put things in a different perspective.
Yes , it has been done over and over again, but you know very well that if you take the same subject and 1000 photographers you will have 1000 diferent visions.
Go ahead and have fun.......if you can ...

[Donald Miller]

I have to agree with the majority of the posts on the matter of cemetary photography. I also photograph in them from time to time. I think that photography, if nothing else, is a recording of our life and time. It can also depict the matter of life and death (those are factual realities). I have seen some interesting and moving images shot by others on that subject. I even believe that Ansel Adams had at least one cemetary image that has been published. (for whatever that is worth).

[Sean]

I have a cemetary shot done in infrared. The foreground has a sign that says "No Dumping" and in the background are a field of graves. The no dumping sign was actually meant for the end of the street but I thought it was ironic the way it appeared sitting in front of the graves.

[Mark in SD]

I find cemetaries to be nice places to make strong photographs. There are a wealth of different pictures you can make there.

1. Reverent and Respectful. The Boy Scouts put flags on the graves at a local National Cemetary every year and I have taken some nice pictures of both the procedure and the result.

2. Peaceful. I have seen several pictures that seem peaceful and, perhaps, a bit sad.

3. Profound. I remember one very strong B&W photograph that I saw some years ago of a cemetary in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was very powerful.

4. Sad. Of course, there are several levels of sad that can be captured here, not all involving people in the frame.

No, I don't feel bad if I'm there to take serious pictures. So long as you treat the area with the proper respect and don't disturb anybody in their private reflections, a cemetary can make for good photographs.

[Aggie]

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