Caring and discreet professional funeral photography

“I just thought it was so beautiful and so moving,” he said.

“I wanted to be able to capture the emotions and the feelings, and for it to really honour … the memory of my mother in the emotions that were expressed by the mourners.”

He said the book helped to start conversations about his mother and provided a record of family ties as a reference for future generations.

“[It’s] much like a tombstone in that you have the person’s name, their children, and you try to capture the relationship they’ve had,” he said.

“But a headstone is just a headstone, it doesn’t really pay homage to the full kinship, and some of those photos capture that.”

Thank you so much John the photos are fantastic.

Thank you for being so kind and caring.

You have captured the mass and the wake perfectly.

Dear John and Stephen,

I hope this email finds you both well. I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for your outstanding work in capturing the essence of Dad’s funeral service. Your dedication, professionalism, and attention to detail have undoubtedly allowed us to preserve the precious memories of that day.

On behalf of the entire family, I want to emphasise how meaningful and important your role was in ensuring that our farewell to Dad was respectfully documented. The photographs and audiovisual recordings you captured are not only beautiful but also serve as a visual and emotional reminder of the love and support we received from family and friends during this difficult time. Your work has brought us comfort and solace, enabling us to revisit and cherish those moments whenever we feel the need to connect with Dad’s memory.

Your care and empathy throughout the event were deeply appreciated. You blended seamlessly into the background, never intruding on the intimacy of the occasion, while simultaneously being present to capture all the significant moments. Your ability to capture the essence of the service and the expressions on the faces of those in attendance was truly remarkable.

The way you handled every detail, from the lighting and positioning to the composition and timing, demonstrates your expertise and passion for your craft. The result is a collection of photographs and videos that not only reflect the solemnity of the occasion but also encapsulate the love and respect we all held for Dad. These memories will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

Once again, we want to extend our sincere gratitude for going above and beyond our expectations. Your work has been invaluable to us, and we are grateful for your contribution in providing us with lifelong keepsakes honouring Dad’s memory. You both possess an incredible talent for capturing the essence of such significant moments.

If there is anything we can do to support your work or promote your services, please do not hesitate to let us know. We would recommend your services to anyone seeking professional and compassionate photographers and AV experts.

John is professional, understanding and thoughtful.

We are happy with the images he captured on one of the worst days of our lives.

It is nice to have such powerful images that we can keep just for us. Highly recommend.

Thank you for your wonderful photography, I feel that you captured the day extremely well and have allowed us to reflect back on dad’s funeral in a positive way.

The photos are beautiful and they truly capture the emotions on the day.

Thank you so much for sharing your talents with us by taking the photos.

I’m so glad I found you online.

Hi John

thank you for your time and patience, we are really lucky we have found you. You saw us cry, made us laugh and captured every special moments during the funerals.

Kind regards

Rachel

John, I just wanted to say thank you so very much for the photos you have taken at my beloved dad’s funeral.
You have captured the moments of sadness of my father’s passing and expression of love and support by all who attended his funeral from the church service, last farewell at the cemetery and at the wake. You were unobtrusive and very discreet, you didn’t use any flash so in no way did you interrupt the service. Thank you for your advice, patience, compassion and understanding.
My father was a wonderful man, loved by many, adored by his family. His sisters and brother live in Croatia and couldn’t attend the funeral service. That’s why it was so important to capture these moments so we could share with them.
I can highly recommend John to anyone who is considering having a photographer at the funeral of their loved one.

Thank you again, all the best.

Betty and family.

For anyone looking for a photographer we highly recommend John Slaytor. In our circumstance we were looking for a funeral photographer.

At relatively short notice John flew interstate to help us commemorate the day. John conducted himself in a professional, discreet & thoughtful way, was easy to talk to, also responding promptly to our many enquiries and requests.

John has left us with many meaningful and poignant images from the day along with a beautifully personalised album to look back on.

From The Rudewych Family.

It has been therapeutic to go through the book and have so many memories of the funeral, at least for us. Jeraldine and I were discussing just yesterday how we could see that for some people it would be easier to pretend nothing had ever happened and how that might hurt less for some people.

For us, on the other hand, it feels painful to forget. I hope that in the future people can move to embrace loved ones, with us or otherwise, and maybe without so much stigma surrounding death, funerals and grief we can grow a deeper appreciation of them when we have them with us.

Children and babies in particular present a moral challenge, no one wants to truly face how delicate life is at that stage and with advances in society it can be easy to forget entirely that not that long ago it was truly lucky to have a child survive into adulthood.

Our Daughter has given us an extremely precious gift with her departure. We will be grateful in future for every minute spent with our next child and be able to share with them her funeral.

Thank you again for doing what you do and your patience through the process, know that it made a huge difference for us.

Why is it that people are happy to capture births, birthdays, celebrations, graduations, weddings and everything in between, and forget about the end of a life?

People from all generations have become fascinated by the inward gazing obsession of selfies….Taking photos for the sake of just being in them, and not being part of the scenery or history around them.

The great celebrations in our lives are usually very emotional times. Who remembers all that happened when they gave birth, or even married?

We need photos later in life to help us remember. Dying is an inescapable part of all our lives, and is these days described as a celebration of someones life….so why is it not chronicled by photographs? It’s not just about the person who has gone, but also about those left behind. When the face or the day fades in our minds over time, the photos remain.

On the day of mums funeral when we were blinded by grief, you were our eyes.

There will always be people who for whatever reason will shy away from having a photographer at a funeral, but I know that when the time comes to organise dads funeral, you will be on my list of important calls to make.

You managed to tell a story of such joy during a hard time for us.

Some of the pictures you took that day 7 years ago are some of my favourites to this day.

I’d also like to say your technique was very unobtrusive. It’s like you were barely there, and yet you were present enough to see and capture everything so beautifully.

What I am about to say will sound like a promotional quote.

It is not meant to & is just my observation of your excellent work & approach in an area that is dear to my heart as a celebrant.

I’ve just had a wonderful half hour looking at your web site & at some of your beautiful, engaging, moving & senstive people portraits.

What a wonderful record for the family of such a significant event in their lives!

As a celebrant I feel privileged to be allowed into the life of a family & to constantly witness some of the most touching moments you could ever see & hear.

Your photos capture something of these precious moments & I was barely aware that you were there! Congratulations on being brave enough & sensitive enough to recognize that there is a need for these moments to be captured.

Your photos will be a constant source of precious memories for families – not only for current generations but also for generations to come.

I would highly recommend your ethos, approach & results & look forward to working with you again in the future

I can personally recommend John Slaytor he has taken photos for funerals that I have conducted, he works discretely, never to be seen, and he captures the emotions of the funeral very well.

Dear John

Having just gone through the photos, I am eternally grateful for your service and your skill.

This is too precious for words.

Please pass them to the funeral home for recommendation, and add my phone number for ANYONE who wants to discuss the issue with a fellow-mourner.[

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for the photos that you took at my Pop’s funeral.

He was a wonderful man and loved by many. You captured these moments as well as the celebration of a wonderful life….. Thanks for your wonderful capture of our day.

I don’t need to remember each detail of the day as I will have them to look at whenever I need to.

I have finally brought myself to look at the photos.

I am very pleased with all of them. They really capture the various moments at each stage along the way. Thank you!

Also, a few other people commented on the presence of ‘a photographer!!’ and I have recommended you to them for when the time comes!

Our family are delighted with Pop’s Remembrance Book and thank John for the discreet and unobtrusive manner in which he photographed then assembled the marvellous photos that truly captured the sadness of Pop’s passing and the celebration of his life as expressed by all who attended his memorial service.[

The Remembrance Book has proven to be very useful for our friends and relatives.

For those who attended the funeral, they are curious to see the photos and read the content, and for those who did not, the book provides them with a good description of the occasion.

In addition, the book often serves as a conversational piece and has brought back many fond memories.

It is hard to believe that’s Dads first anniversary is on the 30th March.

This is a great Honour for our Family to have Dads book & Memory  in the NSW State Library.

Your professionalism & quality of this book is outstanding.

Thank You again,   All the best to you.[

I just wanted to let you know that we received the albums & we are very happy with them.

Again, thank you very much for your caring service and professionalism.

All the best, Melania