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Thread: photographing cemeteries

  1. #21
    Greg Greg Blank's Avatar
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    Re: photographing cemeteries

    I photograph in cemeteries a lot, I get different mental impressions of them at different times. I believe that if you are open to it you can sense or "see" something about them or lets say the collective memory that has been imposed on them. Not sure I would say it was lingering spirits. If one was looking for that sort of thing battle fields present better hunting-haunting "Maybe".

    In general I get a great sense of peace photographing in cemeteries, I guess it could be the time of day influence. But sometimes their are things that just don't seem right.

    http://www.gbphotoworks.com/cemeterytree.html

    Of the cemeteries I have photographed there seems to be one denomination that I always find a peaceful sense...though I am not "organized" religous and am not affliated with that church.



    Quote Originally Posted by h2oman View Post
    I follow all the image threads here, including the one on cemeteries. Last night I stopped along the way home from a weekend of recreating with my wife and friends to shoot a small church in the country. The others patiently read magazines for a bit, but when they coudn't take it any longer they started walking and told me to pick them up on the way when I was done.

    I found them a half mile away, stuck wandering in a fascinating country cemetery. The light was exquisite and there were some very interesting headstones, so I made a couple images. I felt a bit conflicted about shooting headstones of people that I knew nothing about other than what I could read there, but the opportunity was too good to resist.

    Today I got to thinking about the fact that I have seen VERY few shots of cemeteries or graves. Even two who I think would be strong candidates for making such images, Wright Morris and David Plowden, don't have shots of cemeteries.

    So here is my question (finally!): Is there some sort of unspoken stigma about shooting cemetaries and/or individual graves? Any thoughts out there?

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Minneapolis, MN
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    Re: photographing cemeteries

    I've shot in a few cemeteries over the years, but nowadays don't see the attraction. It's a little too morbid a fascination to me, like taking photos of car accidents or suicides.

  3. #23

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    Dec 2007
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    klamath falls, oregon
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    Re: photographing cemeteries

    For whatever it is worth, I've decided to be done with cemeteries unless it is an element in a larger scene. I realized that I wouldn' hang a cemetery image on my wall, and I'm not really interested in making images I wouldn't perhaps hang in my own home. Visually, small parts (including individual headstones) are quite interesting, but a photo of a headstone of someone I didn't know (or whose living relatives I don't know) is kind of like a portrait of someone I don't know. I can appreciate it, but it has no personal meaning to me.

  4. #24

    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    34

    Re: photographing cemeteries

    Cemeteries - especially older ones - are places with a rich fauna and flora, pleasant quietness and sometimes surprising buildings for me.
    I was talking with the manager of the local cemetery today and he was proud of the birdlife on his burial ground - there are even periodic ornithological guidances.
    I think cemeteries have a lot to offer for photographers - not just graves.
    If I shoot (rarely) individual gravestones it's because I have a weak spot for old-fashioned craftsmanship - some old gravestones here are truly stonemason-masterpieces.



    ...Columbarium - a cemetery-shot without tombstones...

  5. #25
    おせわに なります! Andrew O'Neill's Avatar
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    Coquitlam, BC, Canada, eh!
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    Re: photographing cemeteries

    First Nations up here don't want people photographing their graves sites.

  6. #26
    tom thomas's Avatar
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    Sep 2007
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    Jenks, Oklahoma and Domazan, Gard, France
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    Re: photographing cemeteries

    Your grave photos can greatly help people today find their missing ancestors. Genealogy is also one of my hobbies and grave photos are highly prized by those hunting for long lost family. Having a photo of a tombstone adds closure to a person's history and shows that they actually existed, not just as an entry on an old census form somewhere.

    There is at least one web site devoted to this: www.findagrave.com which allows anyone to join and to contribute grave photos from their collections. I've attached a couple to give you an idea.

    The first is the stone of my gr-gr-gr-grandmother who rests in Missouri today. My uncle (97 years old today) took this photo 50 years ago when he tripped over her stone while hunting for family and a rainstorm started. He feels that it was fate that led him to find her.

    The other three I took while visiting the US Marines Cemetery at Belleau Woods in France. The marines rest in US soil which was transported to France for their cemetery. Their graves are carefully tended today by French workers.

    I felt drawn to the grave of John Statton and compelled to take the photo. I've spent several hours hunting for his possible survivors to share the photo with. No luck. From census documents, I believe he was an only child who died at age 19 or so without any heirs.

    The last photo speaks too loudly of our county's sacrifice for world peace.

    If you have time, please try to take some tombstone photos, visit the Findagrave website, and contribute. Someone will really thank you for your work. I've even found family this way.

    When we go to Domazan, France this September to live for 3 months, I hope to be able to access the village cemetery so I can photograph and catalog the graves there. Some date back to the 14th Century. I will ask permission of course.

    Tom Thomas

  7. #27

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    Mar 2002
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    833

    Re: photographing cemeteries

    From a Pet Cemetery, taken with the Betterlight & an HBH Petzval lens












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