Weekly Post: Bjørn Haldorsen by Stephanie

Got a chance to look at the Feature Shoot website and came across some work that was shot about a year ago by a photographer named Bjørn Haldorsen. The subject matter in this series was death and he photographed in New York's Evergreen Funeral Home and got some amazing images that give us a glimpse into what it's like to handle bodies for preparation.

I think death is an event that we all are obviously aware about, but we are never quite ready to face it when it enters our lives and takes those we love. No matter how much we know about death and how much we try our best to remind ourselves that "tomorrow isn't promised", we're never truly ready for it.  Time begins to build space as our regular routine takes the fore-front and we forget to spend more and more time with the ones we love. Funerals are merely a tradition or our human way of saying "goodbye". It's a ritual that is practiced differently throughout the world and it amazes me to think that no matter the background or religious beliefs of the entire world - funerals are one practice that we all have in common as human beings. We all try to do our best to "send off" our loved ones even though we know there no longer is life in the body. What we do with the body after life has left it, has always been interesting to me. For me, it goes to show how resilient humans are - that we have perfected the way of preparing a body and have found ways to deal with the heaviness of death.

Accompanying video:
http://vimeo.com/43828703
Website:
http://www.bjornhaldorsen.com