Memento Mori

In 1839 the daguerreotype (the first publicly announced way to take photos) was invented. This made portraiture more common, since it gave people a cheaper alternative to painted portraits. With this invention another thing that became very common in the 19th century was post-mortem photography - Memento Mori. Death was quite an ordinary part of life, that often occurred in the home. If a child died, the parents often didn't have any photos of him or her yet, and so rather got a post-mortem photo of the child than not having a picture to remember him/her from at all. This was also often the case with adults or old people who passed away. The later invention of the carte de visite allowed multiple prints to be made from one single negative, so copies could be sent to relatives. This practice died out in the beginning of the 20th century as "snapshot" photography became commonplace. Here are now a few of these memento mori photos of deceased loved ones, often "posing" with the family members that now had to live on without them...

The last picture shows how the dead bodies are held up in a standing position in the photos.

Source

Full Moon

And so, yesterday night, my second grandma passed away too... With all the shit that's been happening in my life this summer, I almost long for fall to come... But the moon doesn't care about what happens down here on Earth. She will still continue grow full once every month, spreading her soothing light over us. I think that's a comforting thought. Something secure to hold on to... And for this month's Full Moon post I have chosen a very sad, but still very beautiful piece of music - Mozart's Lacrimosa, from his Requiem.

Anathema Photography

It's dark, cold and misty outside. And dead leaves are blowing in the wind. It's HALLOWEEN TIME!!! So let's look at some pictures by Anathema Photography! This is not for the faint hearted...

Transformation

Blood Shower Scream

A Woman Scorned

Trophy

The Lovers

Get Out

Speech Therapy

Designer Costuming

Love this one! Modeling is the lovely - and very eloquent - Tristan Risk. Wish I had stockings like that...

Anathema Photography

Gyakutai

Uxia

My Boyfriend's Back

Carving Contest

Eat Me

Consecrated Desecration

Dichotomy

Insidious Biomorph

Separation Anxiety

Gift

Crimson Mermaid

I seriously need to get a shoot with these people!!! Weeeee!!! Anyways...

Happy Halloween!!!

For more scary stuff, visit: http://www.anathemaphotography.com/