So I have started a new project but would like to hear others opinion on the matter before I go too much further. It really bothers me what I am trying to do so I thought I would ask and see what you thought of wheather you would be offended or not. Make note that this would be strickly on a family/personal level and would not include any one or thing that was not associated with the subject at hand on a family/personal level.
I have been thinking about this for over a year and just recently decided that I would move forward because I really want to do this but what has kept me from doing it was that I was scared that I would offend someone. I just feel like I am crossing the line in some way. It may just be me but that is why I am asking.
As you all know, I love to take pictures. Well I have a missing void in my life by not knowing details and facts about my lost love ones. Actually I have never known my grandparents. My goal is to change what has always been and to start photographing things of importance and documenting details for my kids and grandkids so that they "can" easily learn about their past loved ones. By this I mean that I want to photography the churches inside and out were loved ones have been married and have shared happy times and in addition I want to photograph churches and graves to share where loved ones were passed through church for the last time and show their final resting place meaning their graves. And in some cases how they got to that resting place. I have some detailed facts that deminstrates some very interesting facts that not just anyone knows.
Kasey (my 3 year old) comes to mind first hand as his dad and I are in our 40s and he has grandparents taht have passed away before he was born and never knew them like myself. By the time he is old enough to take it all in, asuming that his dad and I are still able to remember everything and give him as much as we can, I would feel so much better if I had this book of facts and photos to hand over to him so he can learn all he wants about his past loved ones. Not to mention that it would be shared by all but I think he would benefit the most from it beings some of the best grandparents had passed on before he was born.
I have always loved to look at very old photos and have someone try to explain to me what happened and where did they go to church and where are they now buried. I don't always get the answers that I am looking for but it also taught me something that was in front of me that I never realized. The kids today, this current generation has not a clue as to what it was many generations before. The kids today take death for granted and do not remember as much as they should. This is all based on my past experience not directed to anyone outside my personal family.
Ok so here is what I want to do:
I want to photography the 3 churches that are associated with my past/current. And I want photos from outside and detailed photos from inside. I am not sure if I will be allowed to do this and this is one of the things that has stopped me from going forward. Do you think that I would be allowed to do this?
Well an other thing which I have already started and will continue to do is photograph graves of family members. I just did my grandmother and my dad which you can see below one of the photos that would show all the details but for this posting I have blurred them out for personal reasons as you can understand...
I have others from artistic angles but I just edited this one to show you what my intentions are. I do want to make my photos artistic as I can but yet keep them real as they look to me today. Who knows what things will look like in years to come. I just want my kids and grandkids to have something to look at and see what it was like "today" and learn all the facts and details that I can offer and compare them to their "today" in the future.
So now that you see what my goal is, would you be offended if I were to be taking tons of pictures of churches and cemetarys? Well that is if you saw me. Do you know if I can legally take photographs inside churches during a time when there is nothing going on? Anyone have any experience in do this sort of thing within the churches? Should I just brake down and just contact the preist? I have just been a little, well ok a lot worried that I would sound like a crazy person wanting to take all these photos for personal use.KWIM?
Well I am very interested on what your opinion would be about this and how you would feel if you were to see me taking tons of photos. Would you be offended? Again, the photos of the church could not be personal but the photos within the cemetary would only be of family members and special friends which only consist of two that has passed away.
Anyone one see why I should not or could not do any of this? Please share as this is a mall passsion of mine. |