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What draws you in?
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In the last couple of weeks I have been told that others think I'm morbid because I enjoy going to cemeteries, crypts, and mosoleums and photographing them. Nearly every place I go I have to visit one of the above and always wind up with photographs.
My only answer has been that I have no fear of death - that I find it as much a part of living as life itself. It's beautiful - I love the carvings, the ages, the stories, the quiet and peace. I love the sadness and the simple displays of human emotion and hope for an afterlife. I love the sound of the trees and the texture of gardens and lichen covering the stones.
Now comes the question - What draws you in and makes you want to be in a cemetery? What makes you want to photograph the markers of another time?
Does anyone else think you're morbid, death obsessed or depressed?
~Rose
Posted at 1:19PM, 6 August 2007 PDT
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People often think I'm odd for my love of cemeteries. But then I tell them of the great art one can find, the stories, the history, the utter peace. They generally seem to understand a little better, though not enough to convince them to join me. ;)
I generally am not drawn to newer cemeteries, though some of them aren't so bad - they just usually tend to have less sculpture, more "cookie cutter" stones. I definitely don't venture into those that only allow footstones - they're just boring.
Posted 11 months ago.
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Hi Beef! I just love the architecture of the statues and grave markings. I think they are beautiful and certainly make for good subjects for photography. I rarely think about how there are bodies buried under where I'm walking.
I do try to be respectful in how I walk about and prefer not to step right above where someone is buried.
I recently moved next to a gorgeous cemetery called Green-Wood Cemetery. I'm literally houses away from it and I can see a few of the sculptures as I go in and out of my house.
heres my cemetery:
www.flickr.com/photos/dolia/sets/72157594529023473/
Originally posted 11 months ago.
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Anti-$ocial butterfly edited this topic 11 months ago.
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You're spoiled Anti-Social....
Posted 11 months ago.
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Just about everything I could think to say - art, history, peace has been said, but I think cemetaries are also a great indication of the personality of the area. Not just nationality etc. but as I visit cemetaries around Wisconsin I notice that some will have a larger number of descriptive and/or humorous epitaphs, or one will be extremely practical on the average, giving the bare information on very plain flat markers. Or some will have a larger group of ornate and large monuments compared to other towns.
I believe to some extent that how they view death is how they view life and I'm fascinated and suprised at times to find that the preconceptions I have concerning the town(the attitudes, creativity, etc ) is thwarted by what I find in their boneyards.
Posted 9 months ago.
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Cemeteries have always seduced me, but I never really visited them until 2004. For years I had been walking alongside a character for a novel I wanted to write, and she went to cemeteries and talked to the dead. She liked sitting by the graves and pouring her heart out because they did not interrupt her like the living did. In her mind they were the best listeners in the world. I wanted to understand where this character was coming from and what she meant, so I sorta walked a mile in her shoes. I've been hooked ever since.
Yes, people often find it strange that I like cemeteries, but even more strange when I tell them about the character and my novel. It seems to me people no more understand writers than they understand people that enjoy cemeteries. I find these people more strange than those of us that write and enjoy looking at graves though.
There is so much we can learn from cemeteries -- the ghosts of the past speak clearly there. They often tell us how they died, what their beliefs were, what sort of person they were, what achievments they had -- all that through the inscriptions. We can learn about their family by the artifacts left behind on the graves over the years too. We can learn about times throughout our history, what epidemics existed, what wars were being fought.
I am at peace in cemeteries.........
Posted 9 months ago.
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abrandt83 [deleted] says:
Cemeteries and small family graveyards were all over the town I grew up in. When I was a kid, my friends and I used to play tag in the graveyard next to the church where we attended Girl Scouts; and we were often brought on field trips which included tours of historical cemeteries. No one I knew as a child thought anything of being near or in a cemetery. As an adult, I apprieciate the historical value of old gravesites. I really enjoy taking pictures of them and recording the epitaphs. Ignore the negative comments you get from the few people who give them. I don't think that having an interest in the beautiful inscriptions and scultures that were lovingly left by the deads' families is at all morbid. Those things are symbols of love and hope.
Posted 6 months ago.
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What draws me in...is simply the beauty and sorrow of a cemetery.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I think it's peaceful. There's something really beautiful to me about decay and natural destruction, and almost all of the graveyards and cemeteries here have above-ground graves and tombs (in new orleans) which make them even more interesting and unique. I love how quiet it is and wondering what kind of people they were that are here now, and I don't know.. there's just something about a cemetery. Some people do think I'm strange, but it's not going to stop me :)
Posted 6 months ago.
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Some people think that i'm weird but I love how peaceful they are, thinking about the past and the people who have lived before us, read the inscriptions and looking at the tombs/gravestones/statues that are there.....the older the better aswell as far as i'm concerned!!
Originally posted 6 months ago.
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Shorty AZK edited this topic 6 months ago.
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shorty - we could possibly be twins. :P
Posted 6 months ago.
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Oh yeah :-) I read it but I didn't really register the similarity there until you pointed it out and I read it again!!
Posted 6 months ago.
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In my opinion there is no better place than a cemetery for a casual stroll with the dogs or a bike ride and not to mention photography.
My main hobby is to go into a cemetery and take a whole lot of photos of interesting / different graves, tombs etc.
And yes 8 out of 10 people regard that as strange behavior.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I'm also told I'm odd because of my love and respect for cemetaries. However, most of my friends get it.
I also have no fear of death. I respect the dead, and honestly...like being among them. I don't really care if others don't get it or like it. For instance this weekend I took a friend whom stated she'd always wanted to go to one. Well, she decided she didn't really like it. However, my daughter & best friend, and most of her friends love going with me. So, it's fun.
Posted 6 months ago.
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to me theyre quiet and peaceful. i like the feeling of being watched. someone behind me or a whisper to the left. even if im the only living person, im in a crowd of people. i never feel lonely in cemeteries
Posted 6 months ago.
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Cemeteries, like churches, hold the story of our past and I love the sense of history that comes from them. Today (3rd January) I was in York, in the north of England, a city with over 20 medieval churches still in evidence, so there's so much to be gained from a place like that.
I also like finding the graves of the famous departed, as you'll no doubt notice from my contributions to the pool. So far though, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone are the only two folks who I've met alive and ..er.. dead..!!
Posted 6 months ago.
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I visit the cemeteries because I like the architecture and I am amazed at the art work. I cannot say it is peaceful because I see and sense things (paranormal). But I can say that it is interesting. Most people think I am strange that I visit cemeteries. My family understands it and my husband and youngest daughter will go with me as they both enjoy it also. So much history in a cemetery and you wonder what kind of lives the ones there have lived.
Posted 5 months ago.
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