Taking pictures at a funeral

mintoffdom

Gross.

helimachoptor

Heli checked in at Heaven

xzanti

kwalshe wrote: »

my father takes pictures of dead people when they are in the funeral home when nobody else is around. .

Why?

PinkFly

books4sale wrote: »

RTE and the media are at it the whole time though, especially if its a well known irish person, a gangland shooting, car crash, suicide, the list goes on.

They are round there in a flash, cameras stuck in everyones face recording everything for the whole country to see.

Pretty messed up and highly disrepectful.

+1 on this
My friends child died in an accident last year, cue to the vultures outside the church clicking and filming away it actually enraged me so much.

The next day her face of anguish was on most of the front pages, we can all only imagine how people feel when someone dies, why the heck would we need a pic

GOODME

many countries do it, it is normal. we celebrate a persons life, death, funeral are not a sin or odd. we do take pics at birth, christening etc nothing strange, MEMORIES TO TREASURE.

I have seen it done here in Ireland.

Ellis Dee

I sometimes sit on the beach and watch puffs of smoke rise from the chimney of the crematorium near by. If someone wants to make a video of my smoke rising when it's my turn, does anyone think I'll be giving a fuck?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

And if they post it on the Internet ("Ellis getting high one last time"), that certainly won't bother me, either. :D

SeaFields

PinkFly wrote: »

+1 on this
My friends child died in an accident last year, cue to the vultures outside the church clicking and filming away it actually enraged me so much.

The next day her face of anguish was on most of the front pages, we can all only imagine how people feel when someone dies, why the heck would we need a pic

+1 My cousins partner died in tragic circumstances a few years back and the scum were outside the funeral home, church and graveyard. They also rang the house the morning of the funeral to ask for a comment.

Leave people to grieve in peace FFS.

kwalshe

xzanti wrote: »

Why?

I really don't know why, he just wants to remember the moment I guess. He's never really explained himself when I've asked. He aint a weirdo.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

people are too squeamish about corpses these days

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_photography

get over it, they're just dead people. you won't die or bring death upon your family by looking at them.

herisson

I genuinely can't believe this actually happens :eek:
It is completely disrespectful to the person and the family!
And putting it up on Facebook is twisted!

If i ever died young, i would hate for that to happen to me, or for people to write RIP on my facebook wall, because to be honest it is creepy as fcuk!

BigBabyTaylor

Anyone who puts pictures of a funeral on facebook and starts tagging people in them is not right in the head. Like it's just so disrespectful. I dont understand why the thought would even occur to someone.

Facebook is simply somewhere to write things to seek attention from others. Im not against facebook or anything but don't think its an appropriate place for people to spill out their heart about stuff like death to their 500 "friends".

Jester252

Its just messed up. Why anybody would that a picture to remember a sad day?

Peetrik

Wouldn't have a problem with it personally. You see footage of funerals, deaths, people being loaded into ambulances ever night on the news not to mention all the funerals in tv shows, I can see how people would become desensitised enough to consider it acceptable.

That said there has been enough 'moral outrage' on this thread to make it clear that some people are offended by it so I'd refain from doing it myself.

Carlos_Ray

Another example of how technology has actually contributed to the de-evolution of the average modern human. Emotional intelligence, not to mention general logic and intelligence, is being eroded and replaced by hyper-egos. The idiot with the camera at the funeral is a good example of how people are becoming so wrapped up in themselves they are losing self-awareness, and perhaps replacing it with apathy. He's not experiencing the moment like a "normal human" paying respect to the person and the human condition, he was merely thinking about how great his photos would look on facebook. Utter fool.

Don't be fooled into thinking we are an advanced species. If a disaster destroyed most of the worlds infrastructure along with the great scientists (that make up a minuscule portion of the earth's population) we're basically left with hairless monkeys that masturbate. I'd say 99% of people couldn't even start a fire in the wild using only natural instruments.

Standard Toaster

kwalshe wrote: »

that is really freakey , altough my father takes pictures of dead people when they are in the funeral home when nobody else is around. But fuppin' hell, tagging the images on facebook..

What the fcuk?

I remember I was at my Grandmothers funeral, and my Auntie's second (current) husband was there with his huge camera. The coffin was being carried into the church and he hands me his camera and says, "see if you can get a few good pictures there". I take the camera as he hands it to me and turn it off and hold it by my side for the rest of the funeral so even he can't take any photos. What a fúcking plank he is.

Ficheall

confuseddotcom wrote: »

Can see how snap snap snapping for a full hour's service wouldn't be well-received, but depending on the person 2/3 very discreet pics might be okay? A big might though, but ..... I'm just thinking of say someone who would have had a huge contribution to the community or would have been very popular around the place with a huge active social life; - 2/3 pics of a couple of memorable moments tactfully snapped/taken at some point throughout the day might be just fitting to the person and their lives that they lived / fulfilled while on earth.
...

I don't care how much of a contribution to the community I am, or how active my social life was - if anyone takes any pictures at my funeral, I will come back and haunt them. Just a heads up.

Chucken

kwalshe wrote: »

that is really freakey , altough my father takes pictures of dead people when they are in the funeral home when nobody else is around. But fuppin' hell, tagging the images on facebook..

Hmmmm,ya,thats not wierd at all :eek:

Vicar in a tutu

I dont understand how alot of people get away with it though. Tensions are running high, people are upset. I honestly think I'd go mad at someone if they were to be so flippant at a family members funeral :mad:

later12

Jermaine Better Terminology wrote: »

He had tagged our dead friend in them! Pictures of the casket and everything

Genuinely cannot come up with anything except wtfffffff:eek:

"Mary has been tagged in 14 pictures from "Mary's funeral".

Nutter!

madma

if that was a relation or close friend of mine i wouldnt stand for it and tell him to stop or else take the camera off him, tagging a friend with their funeral picks..thats messed up

oppenheimer1

Photographing the dead is nothing new, see the video below... its actually quite poignant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYytf471Tf8

candyplanner

kwalshe wrote: »

I really don't know why, he just wants to remember the moment I guess. He's never really explained himself when I've asked. He aint a weirdo.

What does your dad do with the photos ? is he a mortician ?

candyplanner

Thats so sad .... its a bit different than tagging someone on Facebook

thebuzz

I'd have no problem with it once it was cleared with the family first or if the dead person had specifically asked for photos to be taken.

Although this...

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYytf471Tf8

...is a little weird looking.

Is the issue here with the taking of the photos, or the posting on Facebook?

As a photographer, I've never photographed a funeral, but I know it happens (I'm talking professional photographers, here, though, and not for 'media' funerals).

I was recently in a house (doing a family portrait) and I seen a funeral photo frame on the wall. I asked about it (curiousity) and the woman (mother in the portrait I was doing) said she was delighted she got it done.

It was her mother's funeral, I think (can't recall the details correctly, if im honest, but Im fairly sure it was her mother). They hired a professional because they wanted two photos taken (which is about as much as you can do at a funeral, really, I suppose).

One was taken in the church during the mass. In this particular church, you could go upstairs to where the organ and such are, and the photo shows a wide angle view of the church with everyone seated and such.

The second photo was obviously taken from a distance, and was a telephoto/zoom shot of the funeral car/s coming around a bend in the road, with everyone walking behind (was actually a very good shot, either the photographer hired a cherry picker or he got very lucky with location!).

Both the photos were printed as 8x10s and put into a double aperture, double mounted frame (nothing cheap or tacky, it was high quality stuff).

I thought it was a good idea myself, to be honest. I know you can't really organise a group shot at a funeral ("Can I just get everyone in closer to the casket?") but for what it was it was well done.

The woman I was talking to (daughter of the woman whose funeral was photographed) wasn't at all religious or anything, though. As far as she was concerned, "when you're dead, you're dead, and everyone dies, and I wanted to have something to remember the day by" (paraphrasing).

Not sure if that frame of mind has any bearing on it?


Personally, I think it's tacky, rude, ignorant and just general poor form for any guest at a funeral to take photographs. But if they hired/asked someone to specifically do it, and he does it quietly and without making a show of it, then I think it can be a very nice thing to have.

Jogathon

I was at a colleague's father's funeral about a year ago and there was a lady there videoing the whole thing! Now I knew her and she is a bit of a religious nutter - in that she is strongly against the Catholic Church. I thought to myself "what an ignorant bee!" However, it transpired that she was videoing the funeral to send to a daughter in OZ who wasn't able to come home for the funeral. She was videoing at the family's request so that the relative out there could have some part in the ceremony. So I guess that this can be appropriate in some circumstances - especially if it helps someone far away deal with saying a final goodbye.

the purple tin

Simply ask said eejit if you can have a look at his camera, then with quiet dignity pop it into the holy water font.

Aussie Sean

When my Dad died last year,my Brother said afterwards he was sorry we hadn't videoed his funeral. Never thought of it myself,but thinking about it now I'm sorry we didn't. As for Facebook,well,when Dad was sick I posted his progress up on my wall just to keep friends and relatives up to date.When we were told Dad only had about a week to live I posted that as well and got some incredibley moving messages and tributes to him from relatives,friends and former workmates (Dad worked part time with me) that gave us all the strength to deal with what was happening. The day before he slipped into a coma I read them all out to him and the look of pride and happiness on his face was something that will always stay with me.

carbon nanotube

Jermaine Better Terminology wrote: »

I recently attended the funeral of a close friend who passed away in her mid-twenties. One of my work colleagues also attended and spent the entire service snapping pictures with his massive camera. I asked my boyfriend WTF he was doing and my boyfriend said he was taking pictures for people who couldn't be there. He didn't seem to think it was that strange. When we went outside for the burial, he continued to take pictures and nobody seemed to be saying anything.

The day after the funeral, I logged onto Facebook and was greeted with the funeral pictures on my news feed. He had tagged our dead friend in them! Pictures of the casket and everything. Obviously someone, probably one of her relatives, took offence because they were quickly removed, but I just couldn't believe anyone would actually do that. It just seems so incredibly insensitive and inappropriate. I don't understand how it's ever acceptable - most people who 'wanted to be there' would have been there if it meant that much to them and even if you couldn't make it, why on earth would you want pictures?

What do you think?

a freak, someone should beat him up and post pics on fb the next day

TwoBirds

Holy crap, the posting on Facebook thing (and the tagging!! $%£(*$) is absolutely bizarre and totally inappropriate.

My cousin died unexpectedly in his teens and I do recall discussion about possibly video-taping the funeral for a relative abroad who couldn't make it home. In the end nothing came of it, but I'm sure it would have been professionally done if it had gone ahead. Facebook is about twenty steps too far for this kind of thing though, and I do feel that any desired photography should be done either by a family member (or on their say-so) or by a professional. There were media photographers outside my cousin's funeral and I found it a little tasteless and unnatural, even though they were simply doing their jobs and maintained a respectful distance, etc.

TwoShedsJackson

Not sure why anyone would want professional photos taken at a funeral, most everyone is going to look miserable in them and that's what you'll think every time you look at them: 'wow that was a $hit day wasn't it' - can do without those reminders thanks.

Lollipops23

I think the photos of the dead people were commonplace in Victorian times-something about their spirit or something? It was not done so as to keep a memento of the time.

I recently buried my grandmother-she was elderly so the death wasn't exactly a huge shock, but at the funeral home/church/graveyard we were all still very distressed. If I caught someone snapping away or filming I quite literally would have kicked the **** out of them. It's a private and extremely personal time, and everyone deals with grief in their own way. To attempt to record someone so vulnerable is extremely offensive.

Also, why would I want pictures? I'll have my own memories of the day, and it's not like a wedding where I'll want to relive it over and over.

Rubberlegs

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Photographing the dead is nothing new, see the video below... its actually quite poignant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYytf471Tf8

Ever wish you could unwatch something:eek:. That is seriously freaky, how did they stand them up etc? It's hard to tell who's dead in some of them
A girl I went to school with brought in her holiday photos, and was flicking through them when suddenly there appears photos of her Gran aunt dead in bed:(. She was real cool about it, just says " that's Aunty Mary" and keeps flicking.
The only other photo I saw of a funeral, was of my Dad's uncle. He was Old IRA, and there was a photo taken of his coffin being carried into the graveyard, with the Tricolour on it. Very tasteful, and Dad never put it up anyway.
I wouldn't put up photos of my newborn on Facebook, nevermind that of a funeral. It's unbelievable that someone would take pictures at a funeral for this purpose. However, if a family want a photo or two of a deceased loved one for themselves, I'd have no problem with that. Personally, the image of my Dad in his coffin is something that will always stay with me, I don't need a photo.

smash

Why?

JohnMarston

Jermaine Better Terminology wrote: »

What do you think?

I think its total disrespect to the deceased. The term 'Rest in Peace' goes out the window

ButtersStotch

ejmaztec wrote: »

I've got visions of someone like a fashion photographer, clicking away and asking for more sobbing.

Thank you. I now have everyone in the office staring at me for laughing loudly! Seriously though, If I was at a funeral and saw someone taking pictures, their camera would be resting in pieces!

ladypip

It all reminds me of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7B3x0fW6xM

Victorian post mortem photography.
Although in Victorian times the reason they were taken was, most people wouldn't have had a picture of their loved one and post mortem photography would literally be the last chance to get one before they were buried. I can see no problem of family requesting a photo to be taken of the dead, pre funeral in private. But for someone to snap pictures of the funeral and coffin is disgusting in my opinion.

books4sale

Damn, that youtube vid freaked me out!

zagmund

Advance notice - people have permission to take photos at my funeral.

The current plan is for something similar to the scene in that James Bond film where the funeral cortege proceeds through the streets of New Orleans all sombre and then all of a sudden the band strikes up and there's leppin' & dancin' in the streets.

I've been to a few funerals over the years. Yes, they are sad times, but they are also plenty of happy moments as people remember things about the deceased - "do you remember the time Grannie did this . . ."

These sorts of moments are the ones I want remembered after my funeral - not "we were all very sad at zags funeral "

z