jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Do an online search and see if others are doing this. If you want to move ahead, funeral homes would be a good place to start. The director would mention your services to their clients.

Jcmarino

Actually this is becoming popular again. Many times now, it is the only time a family gets all together. We have some beautiful funeral homes here that make for great backdrops for family photos. Also cemeteries, churches can provide the same. I have done a few funerals lately, documentary style, with family photos and open casket shots. I work with local funeral homes who offer my service at the time of the planning the funeral with my costs added into the total funeral package. The biggest problem is, you do not get much advance notice in most cases. I usually go to the funeral home the night before the funeral to meet and talk with the family and then shoot the day of the funeral. Family and casket photos prior to public arrival, documentary during the ceremony, and reception style photos at the luncheon. I then make DVD for the surviving spouse or children and give that to the funeral director. I charge the same as for weddings.

PhotoshooterNJ Loc: NJ

Reading your response was more like reading a teachers response to grading a students essay. And my last line wasn't considered a joke. :roll:

Cappy Loc: Wildwood, NJ

If you are asking should you charge your family, I would say no. If you are asking could you make this a business I would say Yes.

Ralloh Loc: Ohio

A simple business card, "You Plant em', I Shoot em'".

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

I don't know about photos of deceased older children or of adults - presumably there would be photos taken during their lifetime, which is what I would like to have to remember them by.
OTOH, my Dad was called several times to take photos of deceased infants. All of them less than a week old. The babies were dressed up in Sunday Best and placed on an appropriate background: blanket, pillow or such. Dad took a number of photos at different angles, went home and printed them, and the next day took them to the bereaved parents. To my knowledge he never charged for them. They were the only photos the parents would have of their infant. Often they were the only way grandparents and other relatives got to see what the baby looked like, especially if they didn't live in the same town. This would all have been prior to 1960.
In this kind of instance, I fully support taking photos of a deceased person. I would not want my photo taken when attending a funeral. But, that's my opinion. I will never take my camera when attending a funeral either.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

In an age many eons ago when folks found formal photographs expensive you just didn't get it done. So, when someone passed on and no photo's existed of that person while alive it was quite common to have a casket photo done so that you would have an image of the person who had passed. Today, usually, so many smiling photo's of that person are available that the casket photo has passed us by like the horse and buggy. Personally, I much prefer a smiling photo of someone alive to a casket photo any day. Personal opinion. But, you know, their is a market for almost everything these days.

mrtobin Loc: North East Ohio

As an aside, there is presently the "now I lay me down to sleep" organization, a group of professional photographers who volunteer their services to photograph deceased or still born infants. UHH member, "Captain C" is/was a volunteer with this group.

Dan Mc Loc: NM

One of my best "Brothers" was buried at Arlington, however; at burial, there is no headstone set.

The family lives miles from DC and may never get to see the headstone, so, on one of my may trips to DC, I visited the grave and took photos from every angle, including the back of the stone (it is engraved with the section and plot.)

I emailed the photos to them and they were extremely happy to have them. Often relatives will never really get to vidsit the cemetery...just sayin'.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Two words put a kink in this:

Smart Phone

Almost everyone has one...

The concept isn't morbid, per se, but I just don't see a market for it. Smart phones have killed LOTS of pro photography markets, most of which were "low-hanging fruit".

Thombar Loc: Hominy, OK

IMHO the decision should be made based on the perceived market for the product. I would check with several friends and ask if they would be interested in that type of photograph. Be sure to show examples of your work. Then if you get a favorable response from friends do some small ads in your local community paper and see if you get a response. That's the only way you will know if the idea will fly. That said, I doubt you'll make a lot of money from the venture.

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

If I'm following you, you are wanting to make an income off family by selling them photos of deceased relatives. I don't charge family for any photos and I'm the family archivist, I have most of the old original family photos or have made a negative copy of the ones I don't have. I would feel wrong trying to make an income off relatives.

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

I use thumbtack.com and got a request to photograph a funeral. I didn't get the job because she didn't like my rate and I don't even remember what rate I gave her. There is a market for this. Years ago I was asked to take photos of a local graveyard because the woman who hired me knew she'd be moving across the country in the next few years. I went to the graveyard during all four seasons and then created a collage of her loved ones graves along with photos of the general beauty of this very old graveyard. There were tombstones from the 1600's there. I also lived in the caretaker's house there for a few years a few years after I took those photos. Guess I fell in love with it. (-:

I don't know about taking photos of the deceased in their coffins. There is probably a market but you'd have to be very careful about marketing for it. People are VERY different. My family recently gathered at the veteran's cemetery for the 1 year mark after my dad's death and I took my camera and photographed our pastor playing his guitar by my mom at the gravesite and all of us gathered around the site. My sister-in-law refused to be in that photo because of something involving her dad's death decades before. My brother was uncomfortable and quietly said he thought it was inappropriate but he did get in the photo for our mom's sake. My mom loved it and was very appreciative. You never know.

I did NOT have my camera at the funeral home for his services but wish I had. We had tons of collages and a slideshow, etc, in the next room from where the coffin was - of my photos of the family and my dad's. He was an AF photographer and where I learned my craft. It was amazing but my mom never got into that room. When she arrived at the funeral home she was ushered directly into the viewing area where things are even more emotional and then escorted directly to the car. None of us realized that she'd never seen the rest. I still regret that. She was so distraught that she really does not remember all those who came to pay their respects, etc.

I can see value in offering this service. And I'm sure if a family wants photos of the deceased they will ask you about it.

Good luck.

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

He's not trying to make an income off of HIS family. He's asking if there's a market out there for OTHER families. There is but it's delicate.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

First this may be the most morbid or the most inspiring message you will read. There is an organization called
nowIlaymedowntosleep.com ( i hope thats spelled right or very close) These are a group of photographers that donate their time and take pictures of deceased babies. sounds terrible until but many times its the only time the baby was actually dressed, the parents only saw the babies with tubes and monitors etc. The babies are dressed, put in blankets in cribs or in parents arms or what ever the parent wants. The photographers get thank you messages all the time telling them that the photo is one of their most prized possessions .... One guy gets a card thanking him every year on the babys birthday.....

as someone mentioned earlier , it was common practice years ago to take pics at funerals. Can you make a living at it??? dont know but I wish you luck....