Graveyards

Jujitsu1

Jujitsu1

Suspended / Banned
Messages
805
Name
Darren
Edit My Images
No
How do you feel about taking photos of headstones/ Statues ? I've always wanted to go and photography some of the Figures in the Graveyard near me.. Well today I finally plucked up the courage to go and do it. All the time I was in the Graveyard I felt like if I was doing something wrong and morbid. I've done loads of the Churhes before and that never worried me but this did.

Here 2 I took.





I never photographed the rest of the Pillar as it as the names on them.
 
Grave stones have writing on so that people can remember the dead, taking photos is just an extension of that so I really can't see the problem.

Especially as many of the gravestones people are interested in taking photos of are the old ones so it's not like there is any 'fresh pain' in there!
 
its the age which attracts me...the moss and the worn stone
names arent needed of course and some discretion has to be taken if the grave is newly attired with flowers etc
if there are folks round...explain
 
I think so long as you show respect no problem.

I am not comfortable when naked/weirdly dressed folks are draped over them. Call me old fashioned but it just aint right :nono:
 
I love graveyards but I am reverent about the way I approach them.

I don't stand on graves or fallen gravestones. I don't photograph modern graves with flowers on because there may be relatives who still visit and tend them.

Otherwise I just take care not to upset anyone else in the graveyard.

graveyard.jpg
 
I'm always hanging around in graveyards.....strange as they scare me ****less!! :$

Not one of my best but still one of my favourites, I took this around 10pm, in total darkness (seriously, it was pitch black!) on halloween night last year:

DSC04220a1.jpg
 
As long as you're respectful, noone will mind.

As for me - I love graveyards as photographic locations.
In Bristol we have Arnos Vale cemetery which is old, overgrown and fantastic

 
I used to do a lot of sketching years ago and always liked sketching in graveyards. One graveyard in Englefield green i used to find interesting and there were sometimes interesting stories on the headstones, such as a couple who had died in an early plane crash, an 1800s barmaid, a 12 year old boy drowned saving someone else (always been fascinated by graveyards and crypts). Some of the graveyards in Paris are also fascinating - the tombs are often very individual and there are sometimes pictures of the dead person.
 
I have done some graveyard photography, you can get some beautiful subjects in a good cemetery.

A couple I have taken

4313480898_fd2aed0e99.jpg


4280096572_ec971f4a03.jpg


Perhaps the some of the public think it is a bit morbid when they see a photographer around a graveyard, but death is a fact of life, and features in all types of art throughout our history.
 
Are you guys kidding? Naked/semi-naked Goth chicks in cemetaries are a staple subject.... I used to do loads of them...
Dead people are dead - they don't care...

I might hold off on a shoot until all the mourners had actually got in their cars, but that's about all...
 
I recently found a small little known graveyard which is way out the way of normal tourists routes. Most of the graves are around 200-300 year old and half the stones have fallen down and covered in moss. Many headstones are hand carved and its very interesting. For instance i managed to read one where 4 children had died on the same day about 250 years ago, all were under 8 years of age and the youngest was only months. Im going back to get details and see what info i can find if any on how the children all died at once.Its a cracking little graveyard and very atmospheric.
 
Weetobix said:
As long as you're respectful, noone will mind.

As for me - I love graveyards as photographic locations.
In Bristol we have Arnos Vale cemetery which is old, overgrown and fantastic
Click to expand...

DING DING DING...love Arnos Vale. Though I was soured slightly when I asked to do a magazine shoot there and was told it would cost the earth.

Shame, but I went to Avonview instead in St. George...shots were in last months The Bristol Magazine (the free one).
 
Arkady said:
Are you guys kidding? Naked/semi-naked Goth chicks in cemetaries are a staple subject.... I used to do loads of them...
Dead people are dead - they don't care...

I might hold off on a shoot until all the mourners had actually got in their cars, but that's about all...
Click to expand...

I find the whole idea of a half/full naked chick laid over a grave totally disrespectful. When I'm in a graveyard I always make sure that I stick to the paths so that I'm not walking over somebodys grave. When I was a young lad I knocked one of my friends out for throwing snowballs in the graveyard as one of them hit an headstone.
 
Jujitsu1 said:
I find the whole idea of a half/full naked chick laid over a grave totally disrespectful. When I'm in a graveyard I always make sure that I stick to the paths so that I'm not walking over somebodys grave. When I was a young lad I knocked one of my friends out for throwing snowballs in the graveyard as one of them hit an headstone.
Click to expand...

Glad I'm not your mate then... 'cause you're no fun at all...lol
 
Arkady said:
Glad I'm not your mate then... 'cause you're no fun at all...lol
Click to expand...

Or could it be that I was brought up proper and to respect the dead ?...lol

We all have our own tastes I suppose... It would be a boring world if we were all the same.
 
The dead are dead - they don't care.
I may respect your corpse initially (i.e. i won't play football with your head or mount your skull on my chariot...lol), but the burial site itself - especially after you've been interred for a century or more?

It's just a location.

Half our cities are built on old cemetaries - you don't see people avoiding train stations and the like because there's a mediaeval plague-pit or Roman burial ground beneath them, do you?

Previous civilisations believed different things - some even believed that procreation was assured by coupling on the grave of an ancestor to the conception would be blessed.

As long as no physical harm is done to the infrastructure, then no harm is done IMO...the dead might even get a kick out of it if you believe in that sort of thing.
 
I love graveyards full of fantastic photo oppertunities.

I took this one last year, where else would you get the chance to photo it.

The older the graveyard the better and always be respectful though.

img0618ti.jpg
 
Whereabouts in South Wales are you Darren?
St Woolos cemetery in Newport is a lovely location. The UK's oldest public cemetery and it has some brilliant Victorian monuments there.
Incidentally, it's also been used for filming Doctor Who - it's a very atmospheric place.

As for photographing gravestones, I take the view that they were put there by loved ones in memory, so why should anyone be offended by you appreciating them and photographing them?

Newer gravestones are a touchier subject, particularly if the name is visible. I wouldn't like to think that by showing them on the internet it could cause any distress to loved ones who might stumble across them . . . and they're not as interesting as the old crumbly ones anyway ;)

Just be respectful, don't intrude on anyone who is visiting a grave and obviously still grieving and I don't think you'll have a problem.
 
SarahLee said:
Whereabouts in South Wales are you Darren?
St Woolos cemetery in Newport is a lovely location. The UK's oldest public cemetery and it has some brilliant Victorian monuments there.
Incidentally, it's also been used for filming Doctor Who - it's a very atmospheric place.

As for photographing gravestones, I take the view that they were put there by loved ones in memory, so why should anyone be offended by you appreciating them and photographing them?

Newer gravestones are a touchier subject, particularly if the name is visible. I wouldn't like to think that by showing them on the internet it could cause any distress to loved ones who might stumble across them . . . and they're not as interesting as the old crumbly ones anyway ;)

Just be respectful, don't intrude on anyone who is visiting a grave and obviously still grieving and I don't think you'll have a problem.
Click to expand...

Hi Sarah I'm from Blackwood about 16 miles from Newport. Is St woolos graveyard the one up by the Gaer ?
 
Weetobix said:
As long as you're respectful, noone will mind.

As for me - I love graveyards as photographic locations.
In Bristol we have Arnos Vale cemetery which is old, overgrown and fantastic

Click to expand...

That is amazing! Great shot.

I often visit churches and graveyards. I personally don't see anything wrong with it. It is all architecture, which is one of my favourite subjects. I have'nt yet found a graveyard quite as good as Weetobix's yet though.
 
One of my other hobbies is genealogy so I am always taking pictures in graveyards, much quicker to take a picture than spend hours transcribing a headstone in the wind and rain. Also it means I can grab a shot of all the potential ancestors and work out the connections later.

The cemeteries round here are a bit boring we don't have many of the huge Victorian statues etc, I am planning a trip to Bradford Undercliffe cemetery is full of amazing tombstones and statues will post some pics when I have been.
 


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

the graveyard amenity should be shown...a place to reflect and have peace

taken today at over peover
 
Slimbert said:
I'm always hanging around in graveyards.....strange as they scare me ****less!! :$

Not one of my best but still one of my favourites, I took this around 10pm, in total darkness (seriously, it was pitch black!) on halloween night last year:

DSC04220a1.jpg
Click to expand...

that really captures the atmosphere. a fantastic picture.
 
BornToSki said:
I think so long as you show respect no problem.

I am not comfortable when naked/weirdly dressed folks are draped over them. Call me old fashioned but it just aint right :nono:
Click to expand...

I feel same way as OP just taking "standard" pictures, I got sent a link to my local graveyard where someone has gone at it with full lighting rig, scantily clad model draped all over the graves. Call me old fashioned but thats a bit ballsy for me :nono:
 
Arkady said:
The dead are dead - they don't care.
I may respect your corpse initially (i.e. i won't play football with your head or mount your skull on my chariot...lol), but the burial site itself - especially after you've been interred for a century or more?

It's just a location.

Half our cities are built on old cemetaries - you don't see people avoiding train stations and the like because there's a mediaeval plague-pit or Roman burial ground beneath them, do you?

Previous civilisations believed different things - some even believed that procreation was assured by coupling on the grave of an ancestor to the conception would be blessed.

As long as no physical harm is done to the infrastructure, then no harm is done IMO...the dead might even get a kick out of it if you believe in that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

I agree the dead are dead and really don't care what you do, yes you should be respectful of mourners in the graveyard and as said do no physical harm but rotting bodies really don't mind what you do to them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top