Good but Spooky Day

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

From time to time I like to go to the old cemeteries around here and do some shooting-especially if I want to try out a given film/developer combination or technique. I loaded up the camera with FP-4 and judging from the sky it was what I call, "semi-bright" or cloudy, bright, no shadows. However, when I got within half a mile of the cemetery I suddenly changed to bright sun with periods of no shadows at all...a difficult situation and I wasn't sure if I needed to shoot at ASA 64 or 100 so, I opted for 100. I got about a mile down the road after I left and it was back to being cloudy, bright no shadows again. You just have to roll with it.

I've been to my fair share of cemeteries here but never this one. I wanted to go as it's probably the oldest here. However, it spooked me and made me nervous for some reason. I felt uneasy the entire time I was there and looking back I probably went through the grounds in a hurried manner not taking the care in subject and composition arrangement as I normally would have done. Maybe it was due in part to the rescue mission being but a block from the cemetery and I passed many homeless on both sides of the road within about 100 yards of the cemetery entrance. There were several inside the grounds just sitting on concrete benches. Stopping the car now and then to take the pictures I felt I needed to be looking over my shoulder. Between that and the spooked feeling I was only there maybe 45 minutes at best-much shorter time for the size of that place than I usually take. I got some good shots despite all that and will be dunking the film in Rodinal this evening...1:75 most likely.

mooseontheloose · Apr 11, 2016

I like shooting in cemeteries too but have never experience the feeling you described. Hopefully you got a few keepers while you were there!

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

I think I got several good ones. It was an odd feeling I hadn't experienced at a cemetery before. I'll post some in the standard gallery when developed.

jvo · Apr 11, 2016

boy are we good at talking ourselves into things - or outta things....

hopefully you'll go back as the place sounds intriguing - you'll probably make some great shots!

jvo

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

There were some very old graves I saw going back to the early 1800's. One I saw was an infant who was born 1865 and died 1868. There may have been older ones but there were so many it would take all day to see half of them.

http://oldgraycemetery.org/OGC/Monuments.html
https://hauntedoldgray.wordpress.com/

John Bragg · Apr 11, 2016

Hi David. Strangely enough, I was shooting in a Cemetery here in Cornwall this week. I dusted off the OM1n kit and had a blast using it in a country churchyard. Unusual tombstones, some of them from the early 1800s. The negs look good and I will post some as soon as I can. I look forward to seeing your shots too.

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

The film is hanging up drying even as we speak. I read moments ago that there are over 9000 buried in that cemetery with over 500 being Civil War dead, both Union and Confederate. That cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places.

removed account4 · Apr 11, 2016

hi colcolt:
sounds like some unrest.
I've been in cemetaries and sacred / spirited-places were I felt a presence
abandoned asylums I had to photograph for a client
and walk through a with a client of a reform school ..
and I felt un alone there too.
the reform school had most of the buildings torn down
and the whole place was repurposed. it's been probably 12 years since I
did the walk through and I don't go there now if I can help it.
there isn't a smudge stick big enough to get me to go there.
hope the pix came out!

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

It was weird. I've been in no less than half a dozen cemeteries over the years, a couple of them I've been in 4-5 times but none of them give me that uneasy feeling like this one today. It's something you just can't put your finger on. Just looking over the negatives as I hung them up they look pretty good but then I've always had great luck with FP-4 and Rodinal in the past.

As far as that cemetery is concerned, I doubt I'll go back anytime soon...at least not alone! It just gave me the creeps.

Sirius Glass · Apr 11, 2016

But at least the resident do not move around why you take photographs with long exposure times.

bsdunek · Apr 11, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
But at least the resident do not move around why you take photographs with long exposure times.

Yep, and I find the tombstones are always sharp (unless I move the camera). I've never felt uneasy in a cemetery, but, who knows what the future will bring. When I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8, I was talking to caretaker of our local cemetery. He was a family friend. I asked him if all the dead people bothered him. His reply was "no, they don't bother me, but they don't help either". Always remembered that.

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

My Granny use to say dead folks can't hurt you, but they can make you hurt yourself!!

benjiboy · Apr 11, 2016

At my age I try to as far away from cemeterys as I can.

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

At my age(70) I figured I may as well get use to seeing them. Well, got some of the scanning done and posting over at the Standard Gallery if anyone's curious.

Sirius Glass · Apr 11, 2016

It is one thing to visit them and photograph them. I would just rather not be a resident of one.

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

Neither would I but, it's inevitable.

ColColt · Apr 11, 2016

I never thought of that-excellent observation and one to consider.

HiHoSilver · Apr 11, 2016

APUGuser19 said:
I suppose the reason you were creeped out is because it's voting season. Lot of voters live there, and they tend to be in a cranky mood when they first wake up.

No *that* made me laugh my butt off.

Arklatexian · Apr 11, 2016

ColColt said:
The film is hanging up drying even as we speak. I read moments ago that there are over 9000 buried in that cemetery with over 500 being Civil War dead, both Union and Confederate. That cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Just before reading the above, I started thinking maybe some of the Civil War dead (there seem to always be some in the older cemetaries hereabouts, are still hanging around hoping someone will take them home to sleep with their families. You don't believe in such? If you have no imagination, what are you doing in "PHOTOGRAPHY"? Many, many Confederate dead were left where they fell or if lucky, someone picked what was left of them and buried them, identifying them with whatever could be found on them. We have an old cemetary here in Shreveport with over a thousand persons buried in a mass grave. They all died of yellow fever during the late 1870s. We are working on getting this one on the National Register of Historic Places. Also I don't like nor do I use terms like "should have, could have, might have".....Regards!

blockend · Apr 12, 2016

I've photographed any number of old church yards over the years, but only one made me uneasy. When I arrived the summer sun was setting and the place was overhung with large trees. The ground was like walking on a giant waffle, with numerous sunken unmarked graves and ridges between. The trees ensured little light got through and the ground was soggy, which made movement difficult, so there was no quick escape. It was quite unnerving and the atmosphere was extremely gloomy and sad. I took the shots I needed on my Kodak Retina, and made my way back to sunlight and the village.

A few years later I looked up the history of the place and found it was the burial place for the local insane asylum, a huge institution which would account for the unmarked graves. By coincidence the rectory was supposed to be haunted by the wife of a local vicar. A very weird and sad place.

ColColt · Apr 12, 2016

HiHoSilver said:
No *that* made me laugh my butt off.

Now what are you going to do?

ColColt · Apr 12, 2016

I ran across a short video of the cemetery someone did.

chuck94022 · Apr 17, 2016

This thread reminded me of my own favorite spooky cemetery, in Beaufort NC. The graves there are as old as the early 1700's. There is even a British officer buried there from the revolutionary war period. (He demanded to be buried standing up, facing the Queen, and apparently his wish was granted.)

My favorite spot is the "Girl in a Rum Keg". She died aboard ship, and her father preserved her body in a keg of rum (it's what they did in those days), rather than burying her at sea, because he had promised his wife that he would bring her home safely. Hers is the most popular spot in the cemetery. It is a very old grave, with a wooden marker. To this day, people leave trinkets, shells and notes for the little girl. Here's a night-time shot of it (it is near a street light, hence the bright lighting on this longish exposure from my Mamiya 6MF, cropped of course from the square.

Regarding spookiness, since I was shooting after midnight, I did feel that odd creepiness. This shot was actually made through the fence of the cemetery (I was able to go inside, but this happened to be the best spot for this particular grave.) The camera was on a tripod on the sidewalk, the time was about 1am. I left it as it exposed while I went into the cemetery to (unsuccessfully) paint with light some of the background trees.

When I returned to the camera, there were three people standing next to it! I thought they might be muggers, but turns one was a film photographer, and they were just curious!

-chuck

ColColt · Apr 17, 2016

Donald Trump doesn't have enough money to get me to go to any cemetery at 1:00 in the morning...especially alone. There is a very old (1700's) graveyard just about two blocks from where I grew up and we've been in there many times as kids-never spooked me at all. Many years later I've been to more but this is the first cemetery that gave me the willies even in the day time...reasons unknown. It was just an uneasy feeling.

Ten301 · Apr 20, 2016

The next time you're in the cemetery with your camera, you might find this helpful:

http://www.anthonyduda.com/Ghost-Photography-101.html

Good but Spooky Day

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