It was a way to remember the diseased. They were photographed as if they were alive and awake or sometimes asleep. What today it's seen as creepy and disrespectful, then it was seen as a tribute to their loved ones, who were usually children, due to the high mortality rates in the Victorian era. Pets were also photographed.
I'm not easy to scare, but I have to admit that post mortem photographies can creep the shit outta me.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is creepy, I think PM photos are beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteI find them beautiful too :)
DeleteStrange that they were allowed to do this. Maybe it helped with their grief... great site by the way...
ReplyDeletethis is how many dealt with the passing of a loved one...
ReplyDeleteoften a lock of hair was kept....
Memento Mori photography is a subject I have researched well. I did a few posts on this subject in a forum I quit about a year ago, and started a slide show video featuring the song "Boy and the Ghost." I worked on it all night and went to save it - only to find out it didn't save! I guess that should teach me not to torrent software.
ReplyDeleteEver notice how family is posing in a lot of the photos? It was in a lot of cases the only chance to have a photo of their self in those days. Sometimes the photographer had to come from far away, and it cost quite a bit.
I think its beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy family does not photograph the deceased as though he or she is alive, but we do photograph the deceased in the casket. Like anything else, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
ReplyDelete