Landslide Funeral Comments
July 23, 2009,
in Chatter,
by Trent Nelson.
Some interesting feedback from viewers of a Herald-Journal slideshow from the funeral of landslide victims by Eli Lucero. People are upset at what they call tacky, tasteless, and intrusive photographs of the family burying their loved ones. I’m wondering if they would feel the same way if the images were presented with more context, like they would have appeared in the paper, with a story about the service.
You can see it all here: http://www.hjnews.com/photography/2009/07/21/funeral/
What you think?
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Seems pretty clear the family was comfortable with the presence of photographers. Given the proximity of shooters using wide lenses, that seems to suggest that the family would have made the decision not to push the photographers back.
I think i can understand where people are coming from. If I’m not mistaken, it’s probably the dirt being shoveled onto the grave. I think at events like this each photo should have a purpose — show something about the family, the people who died or something unusual about the funeral. I’m not sure what is unusual about dirt being shoveled onto a grave other than that we seldom get to see it, maybe? The other thing I noticed is that there are several similar frames. It makes me feel that the dirt and the shoveling took over the meaning of the funeral. It seems like the family even did some shoveling themselves, which seems unusual and I like the frame of the several men in suits shoveling dirt because its shows love and respect toward their dead family members. I think I could do without the other ones because they don’t tell me anything important and somehow don’t seem to be shot with as much heart and compassion. It’s subtle and it’s just what was going through my mind when I looked at the photos and I realize it’s iffy territory.
Here’s an e-mail I got after covering a funeral recently, from a family member of the deceased:
Regarding the slide show, one of the first things that came to mind as I was watching it was “less is more”. While I’ve never covered a funeral, I feel like there are only a certain number of frames you can make before it starts getting repetitive.
Just my $.02, but felt like this slide show could easily have told its story in no more than 10 images.