Controversial Locations - Where do YOU draw the line?

Graveyards MAY be an interesting place to photograph, but I find it rude to do so. To me, it is disrespectful to the dead, kind of like how it is considered rude to drive over the grave. Any place sacred should be dealt with caution- I'd be concerned about the people practicing the certain religion- if I would be hurting them or not. These places contain a ton of sentimental value

 

Couldn't have said it better myself! Well put...

 

I definately find it disrespectful, I certainly wouldnt like it if someone was photographing a doll on my grave! I find graveyards too spooky, so thats also why photograhing them would be a no no

 

There has to be other more controversial locations besides graveyards...with the exception of a few people, I haven't read much else that would be considered as such. I'm curious to know of other places myself. So far, I've read that certain stores (unless permission is granted), other people's yards, certain monuments/places of remembrance (I'm sure there must be more that I'm missing). I can't really think of too many places where one can't or shouldn't take a picture of their doll. So many places can be considered controversial but I think it ultimately depends on the individual's personal beliefs to determine that.

 

Yeah, I agree with this^^ Well said.

 

My only restriction is on other people's personal property such as lawns & gardens unless you have obtained permission from the owner. As far as churches & graveyards, photos taken there can be very beautiful & respectful. It's more of the intention than the actual pic. If it's done simply for shock value then I'd have to question the ethics of the photographer. But if done to communicate a certain emotion, I find no problem with that.

Years ago a friend of mine took photos of me dressed like a homeless person in a graveyard carrying flowers. The images were intense & extremely sorrowful. In this case the graveyard added greatly to the ambience & general story of the pics. I can easily see doing something similar with dolls.

 

Well, you're right, some people choose to blow things out of proportion just to have something to blow up about and get all kinds of attention over. That's how I see it.

On the other hand I personally enjoy graveyards because of the peace and the beauty of them. I wouldn't take pictures on anyone's grave that was not belonging to my own family. I may take photos of my doll or anyone else in front of extraordinary gravestones or markers but not directly on them. Simply because out of such respect you don't disturb the graves but getting that close in the first place.
That's how I see it.

Gravestones are personal property whether the general public realizes it or not. And it's not really much different than photo-ing your dolls or anything else on someone's car, house, yard, etc.

 

I found this discussion interesting. Most of the doll photographs I have seen have been taken in 19th century cemeteries. I think a better understanding of these cemeteries might help people who find cemetery pictures disturbing feel a little at ease. Before the 19th century, people were buried in graveyards. In the 19th century cemetary, the space became not just a place to buriy the dead, but also a place for the living.

"People not only went to attend interments but used them as places to enjoy. They were created as places of peace and beauty where people could sit or stroll."

(from Victorian Cemeteries of London, by Barbara Bothwell)

The reason elaborate statuary and mausoleums began to be placed in these cemeteries, is because of the desire for a park-like look, and also to show off the families' wealth. People used to have picnics there, and children would run and play in them.

In short, the cemetery was a place to enjoy, not just grieve. The families that paid for the monuments in part wanted people to come enjoy them. I think using the cemetery for photo shoots is entirely within the intentions of the cemetery designers and families buried there.

 

I likely come from a different set, in beliefs associated with grave yards. I was raised under Buddhist beliefs and it is customary in the sect of which my parents prescribe to come on the Death Day and specific holidays to visit the deceased. This includes offerings of incense and food, it is a family tradition to eat wit the dead (read: picnic in the grave yard) as well as to take pictures to send to the deceased with a burnt offering.

However having a stranger use a loved one's grave for aesthetic purpose just feels wrong to me. On a visit to my grandfather's grave I once found a girl copying the calligraphy on the grave when I asked her why she said she wanted to get an "Asian" tattoo and the symbols were pretty. I understand that she likely did not mean to be rude buy this was highly offensive and I ask that those who take pictures in grave yards should be understanding of the sentimental value that graves hold and consider it before they decide to take a picture simply because it is beautiful.

 

I don't think photographing dolls in graveyards is invasive or rude; you know they do mow the grass in there! so someone is running a mower over all the dearly departed. in my city they have graveyard tours and lots of people do gravestone rubbings. I think it's nice when there is life in a graveyard; that's my opinion anyway!!

 

If someone found my grave stone attractive enough to put in a photo I think I would be over joyed by it. Doll or not.
As a person of faith...I would have to say IMO that those that have passed on are so far beyond finding offense in such a mundane thing.
For me disrepect would come in by vandalizing (in any way) the grave. Which reminds me of an OT things...no one considers those hideous plastic flowers to be vandalizing...
But again, those that have passed are so beyond issues/concerns of the living world.
I think it's more a living person's hang-up.
Remember the memory of the person should live on within you....not through a tombstone.​

 

Graveyard photography offensive? Not to me. Granted, I really have no desire to photograph my own dolls in one, but I wouldn't begrudge someone who chose to do so, as long as he/she didn't disturb anyone or anything in the process. However, it takes an awful lot to offend me, so take that as you will.

Getting off the topic of ONLY graveyards, there are certainly other places that many would find off-limits for dolls. The few I can think of right off the bat would be: funerals, bathrooms (as in, let's have a photoshoot in a public restroom), weddings (unless you got permission), and job interviews.

 

Could you imagine...lmao​

 

Hm. I personally would be wary to photograph my dolls atop someone's grave. It may be arguable as to who this would bother, if anyone, but I think it would be disrespectful for me to do just the same. I should also say those who go out with me to photograph dolls, I'm not going to tell you not to or preach about it, haha. It's just not my thing, a picture's not worth me overstepping my own lines.

 

Personally, I don't find it disrespectful to photograph in a graveyard. It has a nice and peaceful atmosphere. Photographing to convey beauty is in itself a kind of homage. I wouldn't mind having a beautiful doll on my grave. But then... I did have cosplay sessions in a graveyard before.

 

Id be giddy if someone used the calligraphy on my gravemarker to get tattooed to themselves for the rest of their life.

It not only says they appreciate one of the lasting objects I've declared to the world, but that THEY will ALWAYS remember me because every second they wake up my mark will be on their skin, in its beauteous glory.

I believe when a spirit dies, they go somewhere where they couldnt care less about phsyical things like something as petty as a gravestone.

Kind of like life, its the spirit that matters, the intent was good, no harm or disrespect was intended, so, it wouldn't bother me in death or life.

I guess this would depend on the personality of the person before.

 

I'm wondering how much of your discomfort in this situation was due to a general unease with having a stranger use a loved one's grave purely aesthetically, and how much might have been due to the use of what to you is meaningful language purely aesthetically. I know I would be WAY more cheesed off if someone was taking a grave rubbing because they "want a Canadian tatoo and this symbol is so pretty" (pointing to the letter P in my family name) than if they were interpreting either visual or linguistic art for what it was--for example, if the response was "the poem inscribed here is so moving" or "the angel carved here is so beautiful" it would seem way less off to me. I'm definitely one of the people who feels that the spirit in which something like this is approached makes a big difference to how I would interpret it.

Oh, and I would totally photograph my dolls in a public washroom, so long as it was on the clean side! Not a busy one, of course, but I think it could be hilarious, with the dolls fixing their hair or trying to work the hand dryer (wave hands, receive bacon???).

 

I think though, that part of the problem is that people often do try to be understanding and respectful, but it is impossible to predict how a person may react. You can try very hard not to cause any problems and still offend someone, or on the flip side you may be convinced that you will offend someone and then find out they don't care. To me, taking a picture of something because it is beautiful is not disrespectful--I see nothing offensive in appreciating beauty. That said, others obviously don't feel the same way, so what do you do? There isn't anyway to absolutely guarantee that everyone will be ok with all of your actions no matter how hard you try. So yes, people should attempt to go about things respectfully and realize that certain things need to be approached with more care, but it can go both ways a bit too because not everybody is going to be on the same page about things like this--with the exception of some really extreme or destructive behavior, there really aren't any hard and fast rules about what should or shouldn't be done--much depends on individual opinion which as we all know varies widely.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that a person might do what you're requesting and consider the sentimental value and try to approach it respectfully, and still inadvertently offend you. Just because a person caused offense doesn't automatically mean that they were necessarily being inconsiderate (I'm speaking more generally here, not specifically about the event you had mentioned earlier in your post). I'm not saying that you have no right to be offended--we all feel what we feel especially when there's already a lot of emotion involved, just that it's a grey area.

 

Eh, Not so much photoshoots of Danny in graveyards as my best friend and I in the graveyard. And I personally would be honored to have a dollie pictre taken on my grave
I tend not to try to put him in places that have my name and addrress. ^^;

 

I don't think that I would find it offensive to photograph a doll in a graveyard, since that seems to be the biggest bone of contention. Of course, this comes from my personal belief that graveyards are not really for the dead, but more for the living. I don't go there to remember that they died, but to remember that they LIVED. I don't go to my grandfather's grave and say "I miss you", I go and say, "Hey, Dad, remember when..." and enjoy that I know he LIVED. Taking a doll to a grave is something to say that you remember that this person LIVED. They laughed, and found things funny and not that they died.

I would rather see dolls being photographed because these people were ALIVE than to see a silent graveyard that was so hushed because it was full of the dead. The dead aren't concerned. They've already gone on to do whatever you believe they do.

A place I wouldn't take a doll would probably be... A job interview, or maybe a party, unless it was a doll party. At a normal party I would be afraid that drunks would hurt my doll. But I would totally take my doll to a graveyard, there are several out in the country around where I live that are entirely abandoned to the point that you can't read the stones, but I love to go and talk too them anyhow, and I would take my doll, and introduce it around. I also don't think I would take my doll to work, simply because where I work I would be afraid of him being stolen.