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Matinee: 'Funeral Photographer'
7 January 2023
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 482nd in our series of Saturday matinees today: Funeral Photographer.
This tasteful 3:54 video of still images taken at a funeral by British photographer Darren Vallence, who does this for a living, impressed us in a way we were not expecting.
A funeral is a difficult time for many people and photographing it in the way one would a wedding seems disrespectful. But the pandemic made gatherings problematic and live streaming events became something of a solution, particularly for weddings.
But Vallence applied the technology to funerals as well. And it took off. He's documented over 1,000 Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Humanist, African and West Indian funerals over the last few years.
In addition to live streaming and photography, he offers production of both tribute videos and slide shows plus rental equipment for venues without computers and large screens.
"Every funeral is different," he writes on his site, "but the feelings are the same. We like to capture the love and compassion for those who are there to say their final goodbye to their friend, work colleague or family member.
"We too understand that as much as the service we offer is invaluable, that we must keep as 'in the background' and 'unobtrusive' as possible while still capturing those precious moments of love and affection."
We suspect it was his unobtrusiveness that most appealed and surprised us about this video.
There is only the barest hint of whose funeral this is in the very first image, which shows the portrait of a woman in colorful clothing displayed on an easel in the church.
But you feels as if you are seeing a life reflected in the elderly who arrive, the children who accompany their parents and everyone who gathers to go through the ritual of the funeral from church service to burial.
By the end of this very nicely done slide show, we had the feeling this person had lived a full life and was well loved -- even beyond her last moments.