@3time LADY, YOU'RE THE s*** ! You are spot on about our unhealthy fear of death. I say our because I'm petrified. The sad part is, I'm a nurse! A nurse who desperately wants to work with hospice patients. I'm sorry to hear about your little boy. But since he had you for a mother, I'm sure he was one of the most amazing little people on the planet. :)

@ 3timemom-

n...n

uuul

3time, very well put. You're right. We do seem afraid to die. It's the end of life as we know it. Though it is a natural part of life. All who is born, will die. And I hope all who dies, will be reborn.

Mmm very common they tried to position them as lifelike as possible and pose them with loved ones utterly creepy but strangely sentimental too

I have ink imprints of my 7 year old's hands and feet that were taken by hospital staff after he died. I find them disturbing and put them away in his keepsake box, just in case I want to look at them one day. I had great difficulty viewing his body, and sure as hell wouldn't want a picture (he died suddenly in a car wreck, and I have 7 years worth of pictures of him alive). That being said, however, I think our modern society has become too afraid of death, even to the point that it seems unnatural, when in reality it's one of the very few commonalities every living being has. Death used to be a much more integrated part of people's lives, so much so that many people died at home and were laid out in the front room of the house to be viewed after death. I can see how having a visual reminder of the loved one, even after death, would be so cherished. I think it's unhealthy and psychologically damaging to run away from the reality of death as so many do today. When my son died I had so many people say "it's not fair. A child is supposed to outlive his parents, it's not right". While I knew these people meant no harm and were just trying to vent their frustration, the sentiment made me angry. Where in the book of life does it say children don't die? No life is guaranteed, ANYONE who is living can die, and it is foolish to live under the assumption that your children (or any loved ones) are exempt from this. I've spent a lot of time pondering death, and I wish that our society could get back to a more natural relationship with it because all too often you see people absolutely crippled by the death of a loved one. It's still incredibly sad, and one of the hardest parts of life, but if those of us left behind are forced to live we need to be able to reconcile with it.

Whew! Sorry I went a bit off topic with this but I think about it A LOT.

that is so funny I was looking at vintage post mortem photos on youtube other day I have conflicted feeling about it I think its beautiful but mortifed at the same time back in the day photography was expensive the only time they could afford it when they are deceased, they also said its a way of capturing a body's soul. it is also realistic it shows overwhelming emotion of grief and the beauty of it.

it isn't so much the pictures of the dead people that's weird... its more the people posing with them..

My daughters father at his moms house they have a picture of their dead grandma in the casket :(

@RDR I think you're talking about me! lol It's my friends grandmother with the 8x10's and the poster.

......no way.

-_-

why did I Google!

People still do it now , take photos of their still born babies , or babies that passed shortly after birth. There is an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep ... They are a group of photographers that volunteer their time to take newborn shots of stillborns. I have a friend that volunteers for them , and I can't imagine how hard that must be :( its not really all that different I guess . It's hard for us to imagine , with digital photos we probably all have thousands of pictures of our kids, but if you didn't have a single one?? I can see why they did it back then.

I never thought it was weird or creepy to take pictures of the deceased. It's just something everyone does in my family.

in the casket but I have seen some weird ones. mostly old people.

@amatsu - really?!? Like in the casket or of the body posing?

I understand the meaning behind it back then and I am very fortunate we can take tens of thousands of photos of our loved ones these days...

But I mean... Seriously, the first person who decided to do it... I wonder how that whole conversation went down... :-/

some ppl still do it til this day. i know someone who wanted to be viewed standing up. and it happened.

I work in the photo lab at Walmart. we get A LOT of them. I've seen so many pictures of dead people....

It is so sad when I see the pictures taken of the children sitting holding their deceased sibling. How awful for them. But fact is, a lot of folks only scraped up the money to have the pictures taken when they died so they would at least have a photograph. I could not imagine.

btw I'm dying for that book lol

I collect them ..its art n ppl lost children early and that's all they had after ..I love post mortem photos ..

Darn! where is the chick that posted that someone she knew had dead ppl pics all over the house? come out come out! creeeppyyyyy.

Well back in the 1800's it was creepy! It wasn't like a casket photo... They propped them up like they were still alive, drew pupils on their closed eyelids or pried their eyes open, and their family posed with them. They even had stands to stand the bodies up to get a better effect...

Aaahhhh! It just gave me the willy's!

A coworker told me she takes pictures of her loved ones after they pass on and looks at them from time to time. Creeps me right out, but to each their own, right?? Lol I'd rather remember my loved ones the way they were before they passed on, that's for sure!!

i take pics of my loved ones in a casket not a big deal to me

Hahaha Shansel! That too would be disturbing! :-(

The couple I nannied for when I first graduated high school, they were both amazing photographers & she specialized in maternity, newborn & post mortum photography. She had to take a special class to do it to learn how to handle the body & whatnot. They both did beautiful work. Most of the time the post mortum stuff was done for funerals & done for free for the family.

LOL at shansel

Yeah they creep me out. I don't do older pictures they scare me too much.

My hubbys grandma died last year and his aunt took pictures of her in her casket....so weird!

Ahh shouldn't have looked that up, curiosity killed the cat...lol

That's definitely a little strange!

lol I just read that as postpartum go baby brain