The Standing Dead

[AiA in Atlanta]

We have all seen those old Victorian death portraits but what is striking about these is that the dead are actually standing in the photos. Look at the end of the series of pictures and you'll find a diagram of a device that made it possible. Some of them didn't look dead to me. What do you think?

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/dead ... _relatives

[Black Orchid]

I can understand their need to have a photographic keepsake of a loved one but I think it's just plain creepy

[mantra]

We have all seen those old Victorian death portraits but what is striking about these is that the dead are actually standing in the photos. Look at the end of the series of pictures and you'll find a diagram of a device that made it possible. Some of them didn't look dead to me. What do you think?

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/dead ... _relatives

Photographing dead animals and people still goes on. Mothers sometimes photograph their still born babies. It's holding onto a memory and you want to pretend that person or animal is still alive.

Many of those photos are of dead children and some of them look alive. It's a grief issue. Later on though when the grief stricken person is feeling a little better, it would probably be difficult for them to revisit the picture.

[Rorschach]

That all sounds rather morbid to me.

[Neferti]

Creepy!

[AiA in Atlanta]

We have all seen those old Victorian death portraits but what is striking about these is that the dead are actually standing in the photos. Look at the end of the series of pictures and you'll find a diagram of a device that made it possible. Some of them didn't look dead to me. What do you think?

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/dead ... _relatives

Photographing dead animals and people still goes on. Mothers sometimes photograph their still born babies. It's holding onto a memory and you want to pretend that person or animal is still alive.

Many of those photos are of dead children and some of them look alive. It's a grief issue. Later on though when the grief stricken person is feeling a little better, it would probably be difficult for them to revisit the picture.

From what I understand, it was often considered important to make the deceased look alive in these photos hence the ones that don't look dead. Still ...

Back in those days someone may go their entire life and not have a photo taken so a post-mortem photo was the last chance for the family. I have seen the modern post-mortem photos online but they lack something these old ones do.

[mantra]

I have seen the modern post-mortem photos online but they lack something these old ones do.

Obviously the family members have gone to a lot of trouble to get the right expressions on their loved one's face - perhaps we're too squeamish today to pose a deceased person properly.

It would have been tough standing next to this man. The smell must have been suffocating. Still he's been preserved very well.