how do you portray death?

[mooge]

how do you convey such a strong emotion through a photograph?

how+example?

 

[Al Kaplan]

Very pale skin in caucasions. Perhaps lots of blood? (Ketchup)

 

[crawdiddy]

I photoshop X's in place of the eyes.

 

[navilluspm]

It depends what aspect of death you want to portray. The cold grave stone is a classic symbol - lone and forgotten. But then there are the many crosses of a military cemetary that portray a brotherhood in death. There are also ways to portray the hope of the afterlife - like a sunrise over a grave with an empty cross, or resurrected Christ.

There are also the pictures of people at a funeral and the wide range of emotions. I do not think any one photograph could capture all the emotions involved with death - and it is especially hard to photograph the hope that some have due to their faith.

One could ask the reverse question and it would be just as vague: how do you portray life in your photographs?

 

[blackwave]

See Sally Mann's work in "What Remains." Powerful and frank, never shying away from the topic.

 

[George S.]

Depends on the circumstances. Different methods for depicting death in a general sense, or 'a' death of a particular person. For a person you could show a framed photo of the person on a tabletop with a few artifacts depicting their life and interests or accomlishments.

 

[rogue_designer]

I prefer ambiguous, subtle portrayals of death, if it's not real. Leave questions in the viewers mind.

Unless the subject actually IS dead. I'd rather not have the viewer quite so easily convinced.

 

[Pablito]

If one's own, with the self-timer.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

There is a tradition in a part of the southern USA of photographing dead people just before their funeral.

 

[35mmdelux]

straight on. this is not a subject a photog has to "manage."

 

[capitalK]

Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, here is also symbolism of death. What comes to mind is the rumour that Paul McCartney was dead, partly because he was the only Beatle without shoes on the cover of Abbey Road. Apparently some culture saw that as a symbol of death.

Ravens or crows, a scythe, black is used for death in parts of the west, white in the east. Flags at half mast, cypress trees are all strong death symbols which can be used.

 

[xayraa33]

Just go and look at and smell the used clothing at a Goodwill store.

 

[mwooten]

There is a tradition in a part of the southern USA of photographing dead people just before their funeral.

I just got back from the funeral home. I went along with an old friend and his wife. His mother had just died, and I offered to add my advice to them as I had to go through the same thing this past summer with my own mother. I have several photos that I took of my mother about a month before her death. I have trouble look at them when they appear in a Lightroom folder. If my friend asked me to I would photograph his mother's body, but it is not something I would offer to do.
I think Jon, and don't know for sure, that the past rural nature of my
section of the USA may be the reason for the funeral photography. It was hard for friends and kin to travel years ago.


--michael

 

[johnastovall]

Here's how I've portrayed death.

Cancer Ward.

My wife's death...

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I think Jon, and don't know for sure, that the past rural nature of my section of the USA may be the reason for the funeral photography. It was hard for friends and kin to travel years ago.

Yes, that seems to ring a bell.

I saw a collection of photos of less-affluent, I think, dead people photographed with care and dignity.

Perhaps it was around New Orleans?

The subjects all looked peaceful and sleeping; and I would have liked seeing my nearest and dearest departed photographed in this manner.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

If my friend asked me to I would photograph his mother's body, but it is not something I would offer to do.

Michael:


Time is not on your side.

Perhaps you need to make the suggestion.

Tell your friend how you would make the photos of his mother's body with dignity.

Next week will be too late.

You know your friend, and you know your ability, it's really a now or never situation.

 

[Melvin]

The OP's question doesn't make sense, since death is not an emotion.

 

[johnastovall]

The OP's question doesn't make sense, since death is not an emotion.

It is an emotion to the living.

 

[JoeV]

how do you convey such a strong emotion through a photograph?

how+example?

In earlier times, such as medieval European art, death was symbolized by a hand over the head or forehead, or a black hand; which later became symbolic of the Black Hand of organized crime, in Italy.

In contemporary times death is often noted by one's absence from the venue of the mechanized or built environment, since in living we seem to habitat our built environment almost exclusive of feeling at one with the natural world. As such, the attached photo illustrates how I symbolize death.

Photo taken in the backyard of my deceased father's house. 8"x10" preflashed paper negative in cardboard pinhole box camera, about 1 minute exposure, F275.



~Joe

 

[Melvin]

It is an emotion to the living.

It causes emotions in the living: all kinds of different ones, ranging from grief to glee.