Not all the photos in the link were actual post-mortem photographs BTW. My ex-husband collected post-mortem photographs, not entirely strange considering he's in the funeral business.
Not all the photos in the link were actual post-mortem photographs BTW. My ex-husband collected post-mortem photographs, not entirely strange considering he's in the funeral business.
@ RKT, I wanted to be a photographer for those families of babies not born alive... after months of pregnancy and planning I think that the families NEED some sort of images to help them with closure...maybe years later they can look at them? ... but I found that to be a photographer for them, one has to have medical malpractice insurance which I could not afford. (I suppose they're thinking the photographer will break a bone or something ... of the dead baby's body or something...) So... I signed up to do the post processing of the lifeless babies' photos from the official photographers.
I applied and submitted my edits of the images they gave to me to edit... They were awful. I did my best to make them pretty enough for the families to look at their beloved baby and... not feel so sad.
I was approved.
And then... the first real, non-alive baby they gave to me to edit... I did it.
But... it almost "did me in". My husband finally said, "I think you should stop doing this."
I wanted to disagree with him... but ... he was right.
I am not cut out to bless families with editing out the severe malformations of lifeless babies. It's too traumatic.
So... I vote a strong "no" for this challenge.
I don't see how it can uplift anyone in the shooting or the viewing.
@ RKT, I wanted to be a photographer for those families of babies not born alive... after months of pregnancy and planning I think that the families NEED some sort of images to help them with closure...maybe years later they can look at them? ... but I found that to be a photographer for them, one has to have medical malpractice insurance which I could not afford. (I suppose they're thinking the photographer will break a bone or something ... of the dead baby's body or something...) So... I signed up to do the post processing of the lifeless babies' photos from the official photographers.
I applied and submitted my edits of the images they gave to me to edit... They were awful. I did my best to make them pretty enough for the families to look at their beloved baby and... not feel so sad.
I was approved.
And then... the first real, non-alive baby they gave to me to edit... I did it.
But... it almost "did me in". My husband finally said, "I think you should stop doing this."
I wanted to disagree with him... but ... he was right.
I am not cut out to bless families with editing out the severe malformations of lifeless babies. It's too traumatic.
So... I vote a strong "no" for this challenge.
I don't see how it can uplift anyone in the shooting or the viewing.
My family on moms side still take photos of the dead in the coffin and the new trend with the younger have been selfies with the dead in the coffin.....................
On another but similar note, I have always wanted to photograph a funeral. One of my friends was asked but turned it down, she said if she had known that I really wanted to she would have sent them to me.
i mean i can understand why people want to photograph a funeral, its raw emotion, powerful storytelling right there in pictures, but.... i cant see why anyone would want to pay someone to remember that day of loss when remembering their life seems much more pleasant.
per Lydia's story, i also don't see how having a picture of a deceased baby would help the mourning process, i think I'd rather enjoy remembering the glow of my wife while she was pregnant.
that's me though, we all grieve in different ways.
While this is a tad off topic, I have to confess that after the Graveyard challenge ended, I have been spending some time shooting old graveyards or the older sections in modern cemeteries. The most poignant subject material, of course, is the stones of children. None are as spectacular as "Gracie" in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery, but in their own weather worn, quietly understated ways they are more emotive than the grand statue tributes. It is a heart-wrenching but strangely compelling path I find myself on right now - prowling the prairie for the markers of dead babies.
When my Dad was in ICU before he died, I noticed other people taking photos of their loved ones and contemplated doing it too. I knew my Mom would disapprove though, so I didn't do it. Now I'm really glad that the last photo of my Dad shows him looking healthy. The memories of his last days are bad enough without having a visual reminder. I certainly wouldn't want a photo of him after he died.
I understand the need for photographs of stillborn babies. I can't look at them myself, but I understand the need for something concrete to hold on to, almost as evidence that this incredibly emotional experience really happened. Memories can fade and evolve and be sneakily deceptive. I think making a photograph can help create something concrete out of an event that is so hard to wrap our brains around.
I understand that some want an image to know what was real. Personally, I am more than happy with "My misty water colored memories." In fact, I prefer them. As Adam Savage says, "I reject your reality, and substitute my own."
Such events I prefer to remember as my heart sees them, not the graphic reality of the lens.
I know others differe, and I respect their opinions.
Holy creepy...some of the people in those photos looked like they were ready to break down & I couldn't blame them.
I do retouching for NILMDTS and get quite enough of dealing with death there. I can usually do work for them for a couple of months, then I have to take a break.
Holy creepy...some of the people in those photos looked like they were ready to break down & I couldn't blame them.
I do retouching for NILMDTS and get quite enough of dealing with death there. I can usually do work for them for a couple of months, then I have to take a break.
It wasn't suggested as a challenge. If it were, I cannot think of anything more damaging to this site, than making a contest out of photographing the deceased.
It wasn't suggested as a challenge. If it were, I cannot think of anything more damaging to this site, than making a contest out of photographing the deceased.
Oh, come on now. It's not nearly as bad as those people who vote a 1 or a 2 on images without leaving a comment.
If we do have a 'Photograph your deceased family' challenge i suggest we do it 'In The Style of Joel Peter Witkin' to make it more interesting. (that link is a bit NSFW by the way.)
