My Work
Below are examples of Funeral Photo Books.
A Funeral Photo Book is included as part of my service. Families can order additional copies of the book. One family ordered fourteen copies of the book to give to each great-grand child so they could remember their great grandmother.
Click on any of the picture frames below and a gallery of pages will appear.
Funeral Photo Books are not restricted to photos and can include eulogies, poems, family trees, favourite songs and photos of the loved one during their life.
Funeral Photo Books are 8" x 8" so they are small enough to fit in a hand bag and come with a protective cover.
The beauty in kindness:
The impact of funeral photography on families was never foreseen by me when I started to photograph funerals in 2007. Back then, my motive was to show the beauty in the ordinary and how people are most beautiful when they are being kind. Funerals allowed me to focus on this as everyone is human for a day.
Mourning and empathy:
I think funerals serve to connect the self with the rest of humanity. They engender in mourners caritas, or “loving kindness,” a quality that relies on empathy. So, for me, funerals engender humility and compassion and are therefore worthy of being photographed.
The healing process of Funeral Photo Books
Selecting images for the Funeral Photo Book gives a bereaving family a purpose. So often the actual day of the funeral goes by in a whirl.
Reflection:
One woman said she had only just got around to looking at the Funeral Photo Book months after the funeral because she hadn't felt strong enough to look at it. She said it was wonderful to see what had actually gone on during the actual service and wake and how precious the book was for her.
Bringing families together:
One family member told me the Funeral Photo Book had helped heal the rift between the extended family. Just by having the two families in the one book had had an impact.
Being active heals:
Once a widow asked to if she could include an image of her husband and friends a year before he died.
I welcomed her suggestion as I want families to understand it is their book. All the family had taken ownership of the book and, in doing so, had made it part of their healing process.