74images Loc: Los Angeles, California

I saw the post on shooting at a funeral for a friends mother, anyway, I've been doing it since 1994, starting with my mothers service in December 94, & it was a reunion for me & my relatives I haven't seen in years, so it it was also a reunion also mixed in.

I've shot for my friends & relatives also, 2 years ago I shot for my friends mother who passed in june 2012 here in L.A. & her service was on a boat in san pedro ports a call, south on L.A., & they spreaded her ashes out at sea, but I took my Nikon Coolpix 16 & went to work, & even got a shot of the U.S.S. IOWA, that's berth in the port of L.A. for good, but what I got was the family & relatives & friends in a Kodak moment.

74images

erbPIX Loc: Greater New York City area

I think this is a case not so much of what you do but how you do it.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

Do we really want to know how to set white balance for dead people?

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

Personally, I've never shot at an actual funeral--done a few memorial services.
Most of the people I deal with are Indonesian and their lost ones are still over there.
I don't feel that everything you do needs to be recorded, but everyone always wants pictures of their memorial services.

Jcmarino

Years ago, it was a normal practice to photograph your deceased loved ones. Then it became kind of taboo. Now it is becoming more popular once again. I see a lot more still born photos, family reunions, and casket shots. Some funeral homes are starting to offer that as part of their service now.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It's a matter of making sure it's okay with the family - and being unobtrusive.

What I wonder about is what's going to happen to the pictures. I would never want to go back and look at funeral pictures for a loved one.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

A good friend of my sisters husband died and I brought my camera to his military funeral service. I didn't ask permission but I kept it low key and took pictures of the 21 gun salute, the grounds, the flag folding ceremony, the person delivering the eulogy, some of the guests, the urn, the flag being handed to the widow (my sisters friend) and the salute. She (the widow) was very happy that I took pictures and wanted copies of all of them. I was happy to give them to her.

I also did a slide show of old pictures of my friends mother to show at her funeral and everyone loved them. I started with pictures of her as a child, the home she grew up in and then pictures of her as she aged. I included some pictures of her sisters and her son. Everyone was very pleased with the slide show. I also included some nice music in the slide show.

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

In my experience, most funeral/memorial service pictures go straight to facebook. Including the in-casket shots.

I never just show up with a camera. My wife always tells me to bring it, but I leave it in the car unless I am specifically asked by a member of the family.

When the shooting is done, I give them a CD of edited images that they can post themselves.