Cemeteries - why?

dave lackey

dave lackey

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There are some things that defy logic. Post-mortem photos. Gruesome accident photos. Cemeteries. Get the "picture"?:bang:

What is it with some photographers' fascination with cemeteries? I can think of nothing beautiful about them or even "natural" as in landscapes. And, yes, I even attended a photo workshop in our own Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta with the obligatory gravesites of Bobby Jones, Margaret Mitchell, etc. Whoopdedoo...🙄
 
Most people don't understand why someone does street photography. I don't understand why someone takes photos of animals. You don't understand photos of cemeteries..... And now?
 
My Dad's View.

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In our Neighborhood,

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A 19th century family graveyard.

And George Mason's cemetery at Gunston Hall.

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They remind of us of our own mortality, that we should make best use of our time here, and give reverence to those that came before us.
 
Dave, this is completely off the point, but just across Memorial Drive from the Oakland Cemetery is a really good seafood joint-- Six Feet Under. I hope your workshop took you there.

--michael
 
Ah...but perhaps you have only seen American cemeteries? In European and Latin America Capitals some cemeteries are like cities within cities providing you with a fascinating footprint of history, including political changes, fantastic architecture, the unusual and the bizarre.
 
Peter Wijninga said:
Ah...but perhaps you have only seen American cemeteries? In European and Latin America Capitals some cemeteries are like cities within cities providing you with a fascinating footprint of history, including political changes, fantastic architecture, the unusual and the bizarre.
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You are right. After visiting pere lachaise in paris I don't think anyone would call it uninteresting or boring.
 
Before working on electronics, one should ensure that any static electrical charges be removed by "grounding" oneself. For me, visiting a cemetery is very similar. It takes away the static of everyday life and "grounds" me by reminding me of the "big picture" and what is and what is not really important in life.
 
Blind

Blind

tom.w.bn said:
From the photos I know it's flat and uniform. So from a photographic point of view this one is really boring.
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Flat and boring huh?

From what pictures? Try doing more than a one second search. The cemetery overlooks the whole city and is full of beautiful old gracing trees.

Go to Section 60 on any given day and let me know how boring it was.
 
tom.w.bn said:
You are right. After visiting pere lachaise in paris I don't think anyone would call it uninteresting or boring.
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I will certainly agree that Pere Lachaise is anything but boring. I would add that the Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg falls into the interesting category too. I think the fascination with cemeteries revolves around how people deal with death and memorialize it.

Bob
 
dave lackey said:
There are some things that defy logic. Post-mortem photos. Gruesome accident photos. Cemeteries. Get the "picture"?:bang:

What is it with some photographers' fascination with cemeteries? I can think of nothing beautiful about them or even "natural" as in landscapes. And, yes, I even attended a photo workshop in our own Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta with the obligatory gravesites of Bobby Jones, Margaret Mitchell, etc. Whoopdedoo...🙄
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Different strokes for different folks I guess!🙂 I myself find them facinating! I always wanted to visit Jim Morrison's grave site. I think at one time people would paint, scrawl, or what ever all over his tombstone! Don't know if they still do! Jerry Garcia would also be another interesting one to visit! Greatful Dead ya know!😉
 
Cemeteries are just another part of life. With that in mind, I don't know they wouldn't be worthy of photography - like pretty much everything else.
I don't shoot a lot in cemeteries, mainly because I'm never all that happy with shots I get from them. But a couple I do like:

Portmahomack, Scotland

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Brian Sweeney said:
You've never been there, and simply do not know Arlington Cemetery. You are wrong to assume it is just boring. Your loss. Guess I'll have to scan some negatives from there.

It was built just outside of Robert E Lee's home.

http://www.nps.gov/arho/index.htm

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ussmaine.htm


http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/tombofun.htm
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You are absolutely right and I have to apologize. I shouldn't have written: "it IS boring" because it's only my personal taste.
 
Lakeview in Cleveland is a few hundred acres which were also designed to be a park, and you can always pick up a little change on Rockefeller's headstone. ;-)
Don't look for Eliot Ness, his ashes were scattered.

Wade Chapel's interior is a Tiffany design.

Pere Lachaise has its humorous side, IMO, Chopin's stone is engraved Fred Chopin, do not know if they ran out of stone for the name? Sarah Barnhard's grave always seems to have a rose on it. Morrison, a party, he has more women now than when alive, and I wonder how many were born after he died.

Mexican cemeteries have some beautiful seasonal decorations.

And I liked the cemetery near Arromanche, where Germans, and English are near where they died.

History and imagery, I think two good reasons.

Regards, John
 

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