I was looking through my blog last night, and after reading through quite a few posts, I realized something....I couldn't even recognize myself in my own writing! None of my sarcasm, none of the creepy/geeky/weird humor that I love...nothing. it was like someone else had written my posts...so you know what...fuck it!
I'm going to starting writing for me, about things I'm interested in. I'm thinking a one-month trial run, where I cover the topics and craziness that I love, where I write like I talk, and where I can be sure to see myself in my own blog. So stick with me for a while, and get ready to seem some awesome, if not disturbing on some level, content. Well hell, why not start now?
I have a fascination with all things Victorian, as well as quite the interest in most things people consider morbid...so you can see why I would be so interested in Memento Mori's, otherwise known as Postmortem photography. In these photographs, you'll see a dead person, simple as that. The person has either been staged to resemble a situation or moment in life, or has been left to look peaceful on a soft couch or in a crib.
With childhood mortality rates so high during the Victorian era, most Memento Mori's are of children and infants. Often they are posed in a bed or crib, with a favorite toy or blanket. In many cases, the Memento was the only image of a child lost too early.
Originally photographed alone, it soon became common for parents to pose with their children, often holding them or cradling them in their arms. The solemn looks on their faces is what really gets me. I could not be that composed in the same situation.
And then we get to the adult portraits. If a loved one was not willing to pose with the deceased, they were most times posed in what the photographer considered "lifelike"...I consider it creepy as fuck. The individual portraits are the only ones that have ever creeped me out...and you can see why.
Since when is a child corpse bride "lifelike"? No...just no. Stop it you silly Victorians...just stop it.
Love and Lightning Bugs,
I'm going to starting writing for me, about things I'm interested in. I'm thinking a one-month trial run, where I cover the topics and craziness that I love, where I write like I talk, and where I can be sure to see myself in my own blog. So stick with me for a while, and get ready to seem some awesome, if not disturbing on some level, content. Well hell, why not start now?
I have a fascination with all things Victorian, as well as quite the interest in most things people consider morbid...so you can see why I would be so interested in Memento Mori's, otherwise known as Postmortem photography. In these photographs, you'll see a dead person, simple as that. The person has either been staged to resemble a situation or moment in life, or has been left to look peaceful on a soft couch or in a crib.
With childhood mortality rates so high during the Victorian era, most Memento Mori's are of children and infants. Often they are posed in a bed or crib, with a favorite toy or blanket. In many cases, the Memento was the only image of a child lost too early.
Sometimes the child was posed on a couch, on seated in a chair, holding flowers. They usually were photographed wearing their best clothes.
Originally photographed alone, it soon became common for parents to pose with their children, often holding them or cradling them in their arms. The solemn looks on their faces is what really gets me. I could not be that composed in the same situation.
And then we get to the adult portraits. If a loved one was not willing to pose with the deceased, they were most times posed in what the photographer considered "lifelike"...I consider it creepy as fuck. The individual portraits are the only ones that have ever creeped me out...and you can see why.
Since when is a child corpse bride "lifelike"? No...just no. Stop it you silly Victorians...just stop it.
Love and Lightning Bugs,
22 comments:
I would not be composed at as a parent. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Wow, I knew about these, but honestly if you had not said they were passed, I would not have known for sure. It is sad and a little creepy, but I would want a picture of my babies too. :-(
You should always be true to yourself! I have a best friend who writes like she talks and she gets a lot of respect because of it!
Wow.. this is amazingly creepy LOL. I would absolutely not be able to keep my composure in a situation like that. But then again our times are different and we have been trained to take loss very hard. i'm sure those times were a bit different and loss was something that occured more often that we would like to think about. Crazy how "alive" they look though!
OMG I have a crazy obsession for the Victorian age as well and still I NEVER heard about this photography...super interesting though! I will have to google the crap out of this weird tradition :)
Wow. There is no way I could sit for a portrait while me dead child was in my arms. That was the custom of the time, though, so they looked at it very differently. How sad for the people in the pictures.
Dawn
www.cheapisthenewclassy.com
I love the Victorian age! I've never seen photos like this though. Really interesting. You should always be yourself!
This is some damn freaky ass stuff!! I am like in awe of it...wow-thanks for sharing!
Seriously had no idea. However I would want a picture of my child if I did not already have one.
I've seen people that have taken pictures of their stillborn babies but not this.
When I was in college, I earned money working for the company that does the newborn baby photos at all the hospitals. Some people wanted photos if their baby had died or were stillborn and I couldn't do it...the nurses had to do those (luckily the company didn't make me).
As an RN I've had to be the newborn nurse doing those photos. Amazingly if you are the nurse that delivered that baby you are as sad as the parents and make that baby look their absolute best. At least that was my experience as well as the nurses I worked with.
Yikes. Not sure I could do that!
I don't think I would ever want to have pictures of a deceased person no matter who it was... I would rather have my memories:)
When my father passed, I can remember every detail and really wish I could not. I wish my last memories of him were sitting on the swing with him yelling at me to get off the roof (I was hanging Christmas lights for him). While that and other great memories are there, they are sometimes clouded by the memories of him from the moment I had to do CPR all the way through is final passing. I would never want to take pictures with the deceased. It is crazy the things that happened in the past. I would have never thought about it if not for this post. Keep being you, even if only in excerpts, do not lose who you are. You just taught me something with this post!
I am always amazed when I see Victorian photography. Like someone else above said, in most of these pictures I never would have known they were of deceased. & to be honest, a few days ago a friend shared a link from babble.com of some victorian (I believe) photos that were WAY creepier than these. The bad part, it was mostly adults draped over with a sheet, or curtain, while they held their kids for photos. All subjects were alive & it was still one of the creepiest things I've seen. lol
-Jessica
www.sugarinmygrits.com
Very interesting, Odd but interesting. Like Shayla said I could not be composed to take these pictures with a deceased child. I have seen friends take portraits with their children after passing and I do think they capture a moment in life that no other portrait has ever captured.
The history of this is very interesting.
Eww, that is very creepy. I don't think I could do it.
I have always been fascinated with this type of photography too. I once read that sometimes they "painted" the eyes on the eye lids to make them look open. I don't know how true that is but fascinating for sure!
I think the girl in the last photo was probably in a First Holy Communion dress. Had you not said she was deceased I never would have known. As for the parents holding their infants, I don't thinks it's creepy, it's sad. That is all they had left of their little babies. You can see the heart break in their eyes.
I think the girl in the last photo was probably in a First Holy Communion dress. Had you not said she was deceased I never would have known. As for the parents holding their infants, I don't thinks it's creepy, it's sad. That is all they had left of their little babies. You can see the heart break in their eyes.
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