Controversial Locations - Where do YOU draw the line?

I have done cemetery shoots before, although not with dolls. I even did it a few days before Memorial Day, so there were small American flags and flowers dotted throughout half the place, making it a little harder to find a decent black-and-white shot. If I had a doll at the time, I would not have objected to using it in some of the shots.

However - I think, from a purely artistic perspective, that it would be better to create a miniature graveyard in-scale with your doll. Maybe this is just my personal aesthetics showing, but I don't personally like the look of most doll photos that are in a cemetery. I don't mind a lot of things being out of scale, and have even worked with that scale difference to my advantage using a friend's tiny. But something about graveyards in particular makes me prefer to see it in miniature when shooting a doll. I don't like seeing a doll next to a gravestone that's as big (or sometimes bigger) than it is.

 

I can definitely see how that would be disrespectful, I would never photograph on someones gravestone.

 

I don't know.

Sometimes graveyards have statues that are just for show (no bodies underneath) and I would feel ok taking a picture there.

But imagine the family of the dead person's grave your using shows up to place flowers or something.... that would be... awkward and rude.

 

I love graveyards and always have, but only really old ones. Graves and graveyards are for the living, not the dead. The dead don't care. I don't like to be near newer graves because I know there are people out there mourning this person. I stick with graves that are 100 years old or older. I love history so I am attracted to historical graveyards, there is nothing particularly interesting to me about new graves. The statuary and tombstones in older graveyards are also lovely, most newer cemeteries require flat plates to make it easy to mow. So even from an aesthetic standpoint they aren't as appealing.

I have not done dolly graveyard photos and don't know that I necessarily ever would. Like Rimbaum I don't like how out of proportion it is. If my dolls were in a graveyard it would be to visit the graves of family members. Those would need to be in scale. Maybe if I found one with very nice statues I would consider it. However whenever we go to a new town and I see an old graveyard I make my husband stop so I can wander through it. I have taken pictures of my children in the oldest graveyard in our town. It has not been used in almost 200years, it's an old family lot where the original settlers of our area are buried. It is a very peaceful place. I don't feel that it was at all disrespectful or inappropriate. Just part of a local history lesson. When I was a kid we went on a field trip to do crayon rubbings some of the older stones in another local cemetery.

 

I don't want to appear rude or disrespectful when posting this but going to the whole graveyard and inside a church thing. Photographers take pictures of these anyway, why should having a doll there make much difference?

I can understand if the doll is posed inappropriately or doing something that could be called insulting to the relgion but banning the doll from the area completely just seems unreasonable.

 

I have a mausoleum halloween prop that I will be using for my dolls. I bought it specifically for photos. Does that mean I won't photograph dolls in a real cemetery? I haven't planned to do it because of scale issues as mentioned above, but if I happen to be seeing one like a tourist and I had dolls with me I would. Not on anyone's grave.

 

In my opinion any place accessible to and legal for the public is fair game.
The only place that photos should not be taken is when it is illegal by law or refused by an owner.

 

I agree with this.

 

Personally, I don't find a problem with photographing IN a cemetary - they often have really nice shrubbed areas and the seats are well looked after, and personally a lot safer for dolls IMO. But I would NEVER photograph a doll on a grave or gravestone. I am not religious, but I do find it disrespectful to others because they are religious. But I would photograph IN a cemetary, but not on graves. I would have graves in the background of photos, but I would make sure that the names were not visible. If they were I would edit them out. That seems more respectful.

 

I think I commented in this thread before, but I wouldn't do it in a graveyard. I mean, doing it on a grave of someone in my family is one thing.

But people visit loved ones at all times. I like to think that I'd be a tad offended if I had no idea of the doll hobby, went to visit someone, and saw a person with a camera taking pictures of a doll by their headstone. I'd worry that there was a reason you came to this area, and I'd feel really uneasy. (Luckily, this will never happen, as my grandparents are in a large indoor mausoleum, about a story above ground.)

So while I do like looking at other people's pics of gravestones, I don't think I'd ever do it, myself. Plus, there aren't any old ones available to use.

 

I don't really have much problem with people taking photos in religious places, cemeteries included. As long as the site is left undisturbed, I doubt many people would be too upset. I've seen many abandoned older graves (through volunteer work in helping with cemetery maintenance), and many tombstones are knocked over or moved by the elements over time. If that were my grave, I'd rather be remembered in an artistic photo than abandoned and forgotten.

Also, gravestone rubbings are a generally accepted practice, especially for intricate designs or famous people. I can't imagine taking a photo with a doll is any more intrusive than that.

 

I'm of the same sentiment as many people- once you're dead, you wouldn't even care if you were left to rot in the woods, you're dead! Graveyards are there to make the living feel better about their lost loved ones, so it's not really disrespectful.... Obviously I wouldn't go up to a spot where someone was obviously greiving to photograph, but, well, the graveyard down the road from me is BEAUTIFUL, it looks like its in the middle of the woods because of all the trees, and there are many beautiful statues and fountains, it's the perfect place for photography.

When you set the doll on a grave or near one, is the grave being destroyed, or desecrated in any way? No, not at all. Why worry about someone photographing, right?

I don't think there's really any 'inappropriate' place, that I can think of anyway. Anywhere where your doll would be in danger is probably a biggie... and well, don't photograph your Luts in a Volks store, lol.

 

Personally, I think graveyards are great places for photographs, I've sat in a graveyard drawing my surroundings. Taking photographs with a doll next to a stone is not defacing it in anyway, but I am not religious in any form.

 

I don't know if this have been said but I think its okay to take shoots at graveyards, and gravestones if it was one of your own realtives. If it's someone elses grave you might want to ask the relatives, well if it's not over a hundred years or somthing.
I respect the dead and everytime I set my foot on a persons "grave" (with this I mean the space were their coffin or urn would be burried), but if I see that some weed are growing on a grave from the 1800's I will pull them up. I actually had a grave at my grandfathers cementary that I always visit and take care of since noone else had.

 

I'm fairly decent friends with the groundskeeper for one of the local graveyards and he doesn't mind my taking pictures of the graves or my friend sitting in the children's section reading to the dead children. It helps that we try to be respectful of the people who are there to mourn and that we clean up after ourselves and pick up trash and report vandalized graves he might have missed. I think as long as you're respectful and try to leave the graveyard cleaner than you entered it it shouldn't be a problem.

I think the three main rules that could pertain to any potentially Controversial locations, (such as memorials, houses of worship or graveyards)

1. Be respectful.

Don't pose your doll in rude poses, don't move furniture or other things to make your shot more interesting, DO clean up after yourself and, if possible, leave the area cleaner than you found it.

2. Be tactful.

Check for funerals, check when people are most likely to be worshipping, Don't take a picture right next to someone who is obviously grieveing even if the date on the tomb is several years old.

3. Dress the doll appropriately for the area.

Even if you usually let your doll run around in a bikini there is no reason to have them running around a memorial in one.

 

In a graveyard seems ok, but on a grave doesn't seem very respectful to the deceased person or to the person's living family or friends. If it were MY grave, I wouldn't care, but I think it's important to respect other people's cultures and beliefs. There are plenty of other places you can take a picture of a doll.

 

Doing a photo-shoot on a grave isn't the crime of the century, but it's not really appropriate.
But I've always found cemeteries very somber places. Just thinking about the sorrow thats been concentrated on that relatively small piece of land astonishes me. I'm very liable to start crying if I stay for too long.

But on other places.
I'm pretty OK with church photo-shoots, especially old cathedrals, unless they're mocking Jesus or God or Christianity.
Disaster zones are a Big no-no
Any public place is cool, as long as you get permission for restaurants and the like, and you act civilly (even when the 'normals' aren't)

 

I think it depends on the person. If I was dead I wouldn't mind a doll being on my grave or around it or chillin on my tombstone as long as my family was ok with it,but I think I am saying that because I love dolls and to be around them while dead seems like something wonderful..but to some other people it might be offensive. If it matters, I am religious, but I have no problem with it. Photos capture time, and when my tombstone is buried in dirt and dust..perhaps the picture of it will still be around. :P

 

Personally, I don't have a problem with taking pictures in graveyards. I have many a picture of myself that were taken in graveyards so I definitely wouldn't have a problem with taking a picture of my doll in one. It would be rude to take pictures next to a funeral that was in progress. Maybe it's just the goth in me, I don't know. When I was in college there was this huge cemetery near campus. It was beautiful there and people used it like a park. You'd see joggers of all ages there, people walking their dogs, people just taking walks. As long as you pick up after yourself and don't disturb others then I don't have a problem. If it were a church or something, I'd probably ask permission first, it never hurts to be polite.

 

I do see taking pictures at a strangers grave is being innapropriate just because I respect my elders. But I would most certaintly take pictures at a relatives grave. I think that would be a compliment to them. And if my relative wasn't buried then I would go downtown and find some old architecture there.