Liferals

I have specialised in funeral photography in the Sydney region for the past three years.(http://www.thefuneralphotographer.com.au) I don't fully comprehend why funeral photography is sometimes regarded with incredulity. Part of me thinks it is because our society does everything we can to avoid dealing with death and the last thing our society wants is permanent evidence that it is a part of life; paradoxically our society is perfectly happy to witness other societies' deaths (usually in the form of natural disasters and civil war).

Last month I photographed beyond the grave - the 80th birthday party of a family matriarch who had had a health scare months earlier. Her extended family decided to pull out all the stops for Ismeme's 80th birthday party by making it a retrospective of her life.

Below is a link to the photos of Ismene's birthday.

liferal photos

Ismeme was far from embarrassed at friends flying in from interstate, her grandchildren playing musical instruments, and being able to declare to her family just how important each and every one of them was to her.

Ismene gave a beautiful impromptu speech which is now included in the book and preserved for posterity. A grandson wrote a limerick which is now in the book. The book also captures her relationship with her friends and family and thus says so much more than could a single portrait of her.

Listening to a grandson's violin recital

Listening to a granddaughter's piano recital

Watching her namesake's theatrical performance

It is often said that funerals are for the survivors - the beauty of photographing the person during the 'retrospective' of their life is that the images may also help the survivors in that they capture photos of the survivors with the loved one in a beautiful setting. This is in contrast with photos of the loved one in their final days where they may be in a pain or in a less than ideal environment such as a nursing home.

Paul Hassing is championing 'liferals' which he defines as an "Organised event to celebrate love, friendship and the joy of living "Opposite of funeral.." and it's worthwhile visiting his website to learn more about them.    http://www.liferal.com