Cemeteries - why?

[Keith]

I remember stumbling over a small rural cemetery with a few hundred graves in it last year while driving around in the valley behind Brisbane.

While meandering amongst the heasdtones and stopping to read occasionally I discovered the grave of a very young girl. A few meters away I came across another identical grave ... her sister who had died only a few years later and as I walked I found a third grave identical again of yet another sister who had died a couple of years later. Three girls all very young and all dead within a few years of each other ... I imagined the anguish of the parents to lose three daughters in such a short time and couldn't help wondering what took their young lives!

Further on I found the graves of the parents who had lived to ripe old ages in comparison to their three lost daughters!

There's more in cemeteries than headstones and dead people Dave ... there's whole stories waiting to be told if you're interested.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Thanks a lot for sharing those, Keith... You've made me forget my small problems...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[caperunner]

I visited a cemetery in Skye last year. It was over 2000 years old. It had the remains of a wall around it and the river it was adjacent to had been diverted to form a moat. The purpose of the stone wall and the moat was to keep the predators out, bears, wolves. Imagine!

The site was that of a family aisle church where all the members of the clan/family were laid to rest.
There were several chapels that would have been built within the walls and roof of the aisle church.
In a couple of these chapels (dedicated to one particularly brave family member -a knight) was a stone carved in relief depicting the knight. You may be familiar with them. Knight in chain mail armour lying on his back Sword to hand. Classic pose.
An amazing and awe-inspiring sight. One had some roman numerals giving the date 1067.
The other grave markers were mere rocks. some were numbered earlier ones weren't. The rocks were taken from the blackhouses of the incumbents. One marker was a sheet of iron the blacksmith laid there..
In all a fascinating place. A place of powerful history as all cemeteries are.

 

[elmer3.5]

Santiago & Buenos Aires

Santiago & Buenos Aires

Hi,

Santiago, Chile, Cementerio General.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cementerio de la Recoleta

Valle de Elqui, Paihuano, Chile

Sorry for the size!

Bye

 

[Bob Michaels]

I remember stumbling over a small rural cemetery with a few hundred graves in it last year while driving around in the valley behind Brisbane.

While meandering amongst the heasdtones and stopping to read occasionally I discovered the grave of a very young girl. A few meters away I came across another identical grave ... her sister who had died only a few years later and as I walked I found a third grave identical again of yet another sister who had died a couple of years later. Three girls all very young and all dead within a few years of each other ... I imagined the anguish of the parents to lose three daughters in such a short time and couldn't help wondering what took their young lives!

Further on I found the graves of the parents who had lived to ripe old ages in comparison to their three lost daughters!

There's more in cemeteries than headstones and dead people Dave ... there's whole stories waiting to be told if you're interested.

Keith: you nailed it! That is what is all about to me. I remember visiting a 100 year old small family cemetery in rural north Florida a few years back. Now, that is the old deep south for those of you not from around here.

There was a complete history lesson contained in some 30 gravemarkers if you spent the time to figure it out. The average life expectancy was less than ten years because of all who did not survive childbirth or died at a very young age. The oldest buried there was around 50 years old. There was the husband and his wife plus their 8 children, of which 3 made it to adulthood. There was the mother but no father. There were grandchildren who died young, but if there were any who made it to adulthood had moved away. No old building or singular monument could tell the story the way those old grave stones with names and dates did.

There was no photo there but there sure was one hell of a story.

 

[kbg32]

Why that limit?

A lot of beginner photographers, afraid to photograph people, substitute ducks.

 

[Artorius]

Back in the late 70's, I traveled the east coast and deep south searching for covered bridges and cemeteries. I was totally taken with St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, in New Orleans. Beautiful but dismal place. I would like to go back there again sometime soon.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

I live next door (as in wall-to-wall) with the grave of the brothers grimm, one of the many cemeteries in the middle of Berlin. My parents have a cemetery right in front of the house where their appartment is. I have always been 'living with' cemeteries, it's very rare for me to take photos there though. and if I do it's because of what happens there, the scene, not because of my personal relation to any of it.
I have seen too many bad cemetery shots and pictures of cliché-goth chicks in front of tombstones, but I also have seen good cemetery photography and things that even made me laugh and maybe were worth a shot as well.

ps: and I have been to père lachaise, I didn't like all the tourists having their kawaii photos taken in front of random graves. they had closed off Morrison's grave because apparently some folks had dirty sex on it. people are strange ...

 

[JohnTF]

I live next door (as in wall-to-wall) with the grave of the brothers grimm, ----

ps: and I have been to père lachaise, I didn't like all the tourists having their kawaii photos taken in front of random graves. they had closed off Morrison's grave because apparently some folks had dirty sex on it. people are strange ...

Now that would have been an interesting Pere Lachaise shot. There is another tomb in Pere Lachaise that has a bronze of a guy in his death pose, Andre Noir? that has a well polished bulge in the top, said to cure something-- a place of interesting stories.

Never heard of someone fooling around in Garfield's tomb here.

Do you suppose the Parisians would not have minded clean sex on old Jim?
I only saw wine, women, candles, and funny cigarettes among the graffiti around Jim, there is talk of moving him, perhaps the neighbors are complaining?

;-)

I have thought of being planted there, give my friends an excuse to visit Paris-- as long as the wine spilled on me was Margeaux or St. Julien.

Where is Barnack buried? Not Tom's Cat.

J

 

[Alex Krasotkin]

I like to take pictures on cemeteries. This shot taken in Volkovskoe cemetery in St. Peterburg, which looked a complete oblivion in 1990s (see a small detail in left bottom corner of the picture). Bolsheviks destroyed many cemeteries in Russia, so many gravestones and churches are still in ruins.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

Now that would have been an interesting Pere Lachaise shot. There is another tomb in Pere Lachaise that has a bronze of a guy in his death pose, Andre Noir? that has a well polished bulge in the top, said to cure something-- a place of interesting stories.

Never heard of someone fooling around in Garfield's tomb here.

Do you suppose the Parisians would not have minded clean sex on old Jim?
I only saw wine, women, candles, and funny cigarettes among the graffiti around Jim, there is talk of moving him, perhaps the neighbors are complaining?

;-)

I have thought of being planted there, give my friends an excuse to visit Paris-- as long as the wine spilled on me was Margeaux or St. Julien.

Where is Barnack buried? Not Tom's Cat.

J

Tom's cat seems to be alive and well, Oskar (and the Leitz family) were buried in Wetzlar, apparently: http://denkxweb.denkmalpflege-hessen.de/cgi-bin/mapwalk.pl?obj=25249&session=913&event=Query.Details

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

A lot of beginner photographers, afraid to photograph people, substitute ducks.

Really? I have never seen it! Where does it happen? Or is it just that all this has a meaning I can't understand as a non native english speaker? Photographs of ducks by too shy beginners... Totally new to me! Got examples?

Cheers,

Juan

 

[JohnTF]

Tom's cat seems to be alive and well, Oskar (and the Leitz family) were buried in Wetzlar, apparently: http://denkxweb.denkmalpflege-hessen.de/cgi-bin/mapwalk.pl?obj=25249&session=913&event=Query.Details

Good to hear about Tom's cat, and though I only spent an afternoon in Wetzlar, I would have liked to have paid a visit to the resting place of the creator of my somewhat obsession. ;-)

I had a IIIc with a slow shutter, they said they could send it to the former repairman, for an unspecified repair and cost. I decided to avail myself of other options.

Regards, John

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Really? I have never seen it! Where does it happen? Or is it just that all this has a meaning I can't understand as a non native english speaker? Photographs of ducks by too shy beginners... Totally new to me! Got examples?

Cheers,

Juan

I have some cute baby duck pictures somewhere, I need to scan them in. Also some King Rails with there chicks.

When I read the post for the first time, I thought to myself,

"Why a Duck", which is the line going back to the Marx Brothers movies of the 1930's. It was a play on the word "Viaduct".

So- "why a Duck".

 

[dexdog]

so, why a duck?

why not a chicken?

I need to play my Marx Brothers DVDs...

 

[robklurfield]

no explanation needed for why I like this one; it speaks for itself.

 

[robklurfield]

sometimes I enjoy seeing the epitaphs of bon vivants...

(sorry for the crummy quality, but this epitaph is too good not share... "Barbara is here, but not yet"). and, in Barbara's words:

sometimes the place of the dead can serve to reaffirm life. while it's no doubt sad when people pass out of our lives, we sure do have lots to celebrate for having known them when they lived. this couple certainly felt that way.

when I go, you ought to dance and my grave and celebrate a little. all are welcome.

 

[robklurfield]

two paths diverged in a yellow wood. let's see, on the right we have church and on the left we have golf. which one to choose?

 

[robklurfield]

are people living longer than they used to? 1835 - ...?

 

[Pirate]

I'm heading to Paris tomorrow and will be visiting the Pere Lachaise cemetary and hope to catch quite a few good pics. Morrison and Chopin are tops on my list.