Has anyone ever photographed "Dignity"?

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rhl-oregon said:
And there is an enduring dignity one can learn from sitting with the dying and the dead:



My brother with my mother a few minutes after her death.
Click to expand...

Your picture made me cry again today. Last night I knealt down to the floor with my Golden Retrievr and told him that I loved him. This morning my wife put him down because he had cancer in his lungs and liver. We never know how much time we have with those we love and it is never too late to say, I love you.
 
Thanks, friends. She was a very patient model. I took a lot of portraits and candids of her at her 90th birthday, and we both knew these were probably the final formal and informal images to be made of her. It is now almost a year later, but I made this image and a few like it so I would never forget what the intimacy of the end of life is really like.

Sparky, I almost posted this one earlier--this was the last evening in our 17 year old Lab's life. Not every portrait embodies the transaction of dignity--I think it is an active dynamic between sitter and photographer--but it is how I approach the task.



When we put her down, I kept my hand on her heart until it ceased.
 
I asked myself what it is that says someone is "dignified". Perhaps they are serious. With a touch of serenity thrown in? I have to admit I am not sure. Is this a photo of someone who is dignified? I think maybe yes although she is not doing anything specific that would indicate this.


_1020569ttJPG by yoyomaoz, on Flickr

And yet in this shot I don't think I could say she looks especially dignified - just thoughtful. And yet they are two similar photos of the same person. Hmmm this is something to ponder.


_DSC2729R by yoyomaoz, on Flickr
 
This is from a few months ago. He was ours for 15 years and I misss him terribly.

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Based on those portraits, Peter, I think serenity is one of the key ingredients. She has a well-composed demeanor. Having presence of mind, being present for the eternal present of the photograph--as again she does--, must also form a part of the transaction of dignity. I feel more and more that dignity is a quality composed by both subject and photographer, that it is part of an agreement that is solemn and usually tacit--for otherwise how could we find so many portraits of fellow creatures who are not human but radiate dignity in the gaze they present to this machine we point at them? I'm glad you introduced the term serenity. Dignity has connotations of something to be protected, guarded, or or worn like a mask rather than show scars and doubts and failings. But serenity radiates outward from spiritual calm.

(...She also has eyes like searchlights. I'd certainly need my dignity if they turned on me to appraise my character.)
 
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