Ever since I've moved to Athens, I've been excited about the possibilities of new, interesting photo locations. For my style blogging self, this town is a photogenic dream: it's got deep Southern history and a highly-respected music scene.
Two of the places that I've been interested in taking outfit photos are two of the oldest in the area: cemeteries near the University of Georgia's campus which contain the remains of some early citizens who helped shape this city. But when I went to one cemetery yesterday morning for some photos, I was struck by an ethical dilemma: is it inappropriate to take style-related photos in a place for the dead, like a cemetery?
To be clear, the cemetery I went to was centuries old and is part of the National Register for Historical Places; its main time of use was between 1810-1850s. And though this particular one has long been touted as a beautiful place, it made me wonder whether it would be any different from taking photos in a more modern cemetery, where the dead have been gone for less time. My time at this cemetery concluded after a flustered 10 minutes, which resulted in a hurried set of photos (the one up top was the best one of the bunch, sadly). In my desire to be unobtrusive, I took all the photos near the stone wall that encompasses the cemetery, literally showing my hesitation to cross any lines.
My personal experience may be the instigator for my sensitivity. I've lost many loved ones in my life, the closest of whom was my father a few years ago. Taking photos in a cemetery made me wonder if I would be comfortable doing style shoots near his grave, or if, in an older graveyard, I would be comfortable doing the same near my great-great grandfather's. Would it bother me if another fashion blogger did the same? It's a tricky situation when you apply the personal, but the idea of artistic expression in a place of mourning persists.
It's a squeamishness that reminds me of my summer in New York a couple years ago, where my internship required a daily walking commute right by the World Trade Center site. For three months, I walked by the construction, and observed many kinds of tourists. The most striking were the visitors who took smiling photos in front of the ashy remnants, as nearby street vendors hawked 9/11 memorabilia in the form of t-shirts, mugs and magnets. Not every visitor behaved in this way, but it did make the site a dichotomy of sorts -- a juxtaposition of a hallowed ghost town and a circus, a place in which mourning became a Facebook profile photo, a tourist location, a business. Though it's on a smaller scale, that photographic behavior could be applied to blogger photo shoots in cemeteries; the living is pushed to the forefront, while the dead often provide a backdrop to the action.
This isn't some final judgment to say that style bloggers who have done cemetery-related photos committed some terrible blasphemy. In fact, some of the works I've seen inspired my photo shoot attempt. Cemeteries have long been a theme in art and literature, and it's no wonder why. There's beauty to be found in the crumbling of old headstones; the calligraphy of epitaphs; the religious themes in statues; the uniformity of neat rows of plots and bouquets. The location has many elements of Romanticism, Gothicism and has enough of an atmosphere of pensiveness, that it's understandable why many have been drawn to it.
Interpretation, much like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and so I'm wondering what you all think about taking style photos in cemeteries. What kind of context would be involved to deem it appropriate/inappropriate to you? Should there be a distinction between older, historic cemeteries and more modern ones (and let's define "modern" as its occupants being dead 60 years or less)? And do you think there are places that should be deemed off-limits for photo locations in style blogs?
