Cemetery pictures?

Flotsam · Jan 19, 2003

I agree that headstones are placed as monuments to stand in rememberance of people now gone. They are meant to be seen. I can see no disrespect or poor taste in Photographing them.

Jorge,
I can't say that I have taken a whole lot of photos in Cemetaries but it seems an awful broad theme to abandon out-of-hand as being derivative. With so many of them around the World, each with it's own character and full of unique detail, it would seem a fertile subject for original visual and emotional interpretation through Photography.

-Neal

Flotsam · Jan 19, 2003

This topic reminded me of a print of a Churchyard that I made some time ago. I dug it up and scanned it this morning.

You can barely read it even in the 11x14 print but the stones from right to left, read just "My Father", "My Mother" and "My Sister". It is very sad but It made me think, "Who would choose to identify these three individuals on _their_ memorials by nothing other than their relationship to Him/Her?" I wonder if I were to explore further, would I find a headstone somewhere simply marked, "Me"?
Every picture tells a story, don't it?

-Neal

slackercrurster · Dec 15, 2018

Robert said:
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.

No, if it is legal, do as you like.

Don't sabotage yourself. Don't quit before you start.

BrianShaw · Dec 15, 2018

Is it just me, or are most of the posts in this elderly thread scrambled?

macfred · Dec 15, 2018

BrianShaw said:
Is it just me, or are most of the posts in this elderly thread scrambled?

Yep, some posts are about focus screens and other stuff - not about taking photographs in a graveyard.
If we are patient there will be some posts about using analog vs digital gear pretty soon ...

Helios 1984 · Dec 15, 2018

As long as you are respectful, there's no problem.

AgX · Dec 15, 2018

I know one graveyard in Brussels, rather common though with a great sight out of town, were photographing as such is prohibited. I tried to find out why, in vain.

But once I protested at a shoemaker who published for advertising a photo of a model wearing his shoes whilst posing stting on a gravestone on a public cementary. Never got a reply...

Frank53 · Dec 15, 2018

Magnificent Seven in London and Necropolis in Glasgow are great beautiful places to wander around and take pictures.
Regards
Frank

BrianShaw · Dec 15, 2018

AgX said:
I know one graveyard in Brussels, rather common though with a great sight out of town, were photographing as such is prohibited. I tried to find out why, in vain.

But once I protested at a shoemaker who published for advertising a photo of a model wearing his shoes whilst posing stting on a gravestone on a public cementary. Never got a reply...

I’ve been approached a couple of times by cemetery staff, mostly security or sales... never by grounds keepers or grave diggers. The reasons always include “private property “ and “respecting the families”. After brief discussion they have always added a comment that “those are the rules they were told to enforce” and then they turned a blind eye. In once case I was asked to refrain from tripod... and a “professional camera”... even though it was the grave of one of MY family members. They seemed to just be making up rules... control issues?

Most times, though, as someone else recently wrote... as long as us photographers are responsible and respectful.

Sirius Glass · Dec 15, 2018

Just seems like a dead end to me.

AgX · Dec 15, 2018

BrianShaw said:
The reasons always include “private property “ and “respecting the families”.

In this part of Europe graveyards typically are public property. Which does not exclude ruling, but such ruling must pass public control.

wyofilm · Dec 15, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
Just seems like a dead end to me.

BrianShaw · Dec 15, 2018

AgX said:
In this part of Europe graveyards typically are public property. Which does not exclude ruling, but such ruling must pass public control.

Good point... I should have been more specific... those were private cemeteries. Enron so, since they are “public access” it seems their draconian rules maybe legally questionable. Never had a problem in public cemeteries.

benjiboy · Dec 15, 2018

It's a salutery thought that in almost sixteen years since this thread was started some of the members who posted on it will themselves be " pushing up daiseys"

Sirius Glass · Dec 15, 2018

Why are there fences and walls around cemeteries?

Because people are dying to get in.

AgX · Dec 15, 2018

All classic cemetaries I know are closed at night.
A trend is emerging, being buried in a wood. Time will tell how things are handled there.

At the moment in this part of Europe a great lot of theft (bronze) or vandalism is happening at cemetaries.

pentaxuser · Dec 15, 2018

benjiboy said:
It's a salutery thought that in almost sixteen years since this thread was started some of the members who posted on it will themselves be " pushing up daiseys"

Yes that was what struck me as well. I can recall at least two members on this thread who have been dead for a few years. A bit sobering and all the more gloomy with the festive season here

pentaxuser

mooseontheloose · Dec 16, 2018

I visit cemeteries all the time for the specific purpose of photographing them (of course, I like visiting them as well). But I am always respectful - I don't make myself obvious (like using a tripod - usually forbidden anyway) and if there are mourners present I will move to another part of the cemetery to give them privacy. My blog listed below (stoneanddust.com) is about my cemetery travels. It was meant to be a place for me to show my film/darkroom images of them, but I can't keep up with the developing, printing, and scanning in a timely manner, so all images are from my iPhone.

I've never been asked to stop photographing at a cemetery, but I can understand why some cemeteries ban it - I've seen some bad/questionable behaviour in some cemeteries (sitting on stones to get a selfie, goths draped over stones, etc.), and it may be possible that people don't want images of their loved ones memorials showing up online and/or being used in ways they don't like. I've been to St. Michele Cemetery in Venice (it's an island cemetery) and while it is old and historic, it is very much a working cemetery (there were 2 funerals going on the day I visited). Yet many tourists show up there with their shorts, sock, and sandals, DSLRs or compacts hanging round their necks, acting like the worst tourists, not considering the fact that this is indeed a cemetery and not a tourist attraction. A few bad apples can really spoil it for others.

Helios 1984 · Dec 16, 2018

mooseontheloose said:
I visit cemeteries all the time for the specific purpose of photographing them (of course, I like visiting them as well). But I am always respectful - I don't make myself obvious (like using a tripod - usually forbidden anyway) and if there are mourners present I will move to another part of the cemetery to give them privacy. My blog listed below (stoneanddust.com) is about my cemetery travels. It was meant to be a place for me to show my film/darkroom images of them, but I can't keep up with the developing, printing, and scanning in a timely manner, so all images are from my iPhone.

I've never been asked to stop photographing at a cemetery, but I can understand why some cemeteries ban it - I've seen some bad/questionable behaviour in some cemeteries (sitting on stones to get a selfie, goths draped over stones, etc.), and it may be possible that people don't want images of their loved ones memorials showing up online and/or being used in ways they don't like. I've been to St. Michele Cemetery in Venice (it's an island cemetery) and while it is old and historic, it is very much a working cemetery (there were 2 funerals going on the day I visited). Yet many tourists show up there with their shorts, sock, and sandals, DSLRs or compacts hanging round their necks, acting like the worst tourists, not considering the fact that this is indeed a cemetery and not a tourist attraction. A few bad apples can really spoil it for others.

Very interesting, saved for later.

Truzi · Dec 16, 2018

I've only taken cemetery pictures at three places. One is my father's grave, but it's just a flush-to-the-ground stone. The other two were more tourist-type situations. The grave of a mummy in Middlebury and one with a "window" in New Haven, both in Vermont.

In the Cleveland, Ohio, area we have a few "living" cemeteries. They encourage visitors, photography of historical structures, sponsor events and concerts, and even accept visitors who are out for a picnic.

Sirius Glass said:
Why are there fences and walls around cemeteries?

In high school a friend and I would park at Case Western Reserve University and walk up Mayfield Road to Coventry (shopping, food, etc.). The Mayfield Cemetery (in Cleveland Heights) has a stone wall that borders the road. The barbed wire on top of the wall was angled inward, as if to keep something from escaping.

benjiboy · Dec 16, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
Why are there fences and walls around cemeteries?
O(originally to keep grave robbers out Steve, ever heard of Burke and Hare?

Because people are dying to get in.

guangong · Dec 16, 2018

Two of my most interesting pictures were taken in cemersries. One is four head stones of four sisters with different birth dates but same date of death. Struck by lightning while holding hands. Another, in a New Jersey grave yard with epitaph written by angry husband: Here lies the body of xxx, wife of xxx, killed by incompetent physician, Dr. x.

mooseontheloose · Dec 16, 2018

guangong said:
Two of my most interesting pictures were taken in cemersries. One is four head stones of four sisters with different birth dates but same date of death. Struck by lightning while holding hands. Another, in a New Jersey grave yard with epitaph written by angry husband: Here lies the body of xxx, wife of xxx, killed by incompetent physician, Dr. x.

Wow - sounds really interesting! What cemeteries were these in?

guangong · Dec 17, 2018

The one with the girls in Lebanon, Ohio. The angry husband in Tappan, NY. For really weird cemetery monuments, the Bidawee (so..) Pet Cemetary on Long Island, the final resting place of Checkers Nixon...remember Checkers?

mooseontheloose · Dec 17, 2018

guangong said:
The one with the girls in Lebanon, Ohio. The angry husband in Tappan, NY. For really weird cemetery monuments, the Bidawee (so..) Pet Cemetary on Long Island, the final resting place of Checkers Nixon...remember Checkers?

Thanks! As for Checkers, I know of him, but he died long before my time.

Cemetery pictures?

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