| "I think the very simple wooden crosses marking paupers' graves cause me to think how constantly near we all are to that final moment, the end of life." | | Alan Dunlop-Walters |
How did you get into photographing graves?
"I've always preferred photographing objects rather than people. I love colour and particularly texture and, while you might think there isn't much colour in a graveyard, this is untrue. Visit a country church in summer and the graveyard is a blaze of colourful flowers - there is certainly texture, and it's the texture of some of the oldest objects you'll easily find. "
 | | Damaged grave |
Have any of the inscriptions touched you personally or made you laugh?
"I saw a gravestone in summer which, below the deceased name and dates of birth and death said 'It was fun'. I still wonder about that one. And I was left in no doubt as to what drove this gentleman, whose stone was inscribed simply "Reg, a cricketer". It seems that death no longer holds the awe it once did and I feel that, since perhaps the late 1900s, there's actually nothing wrong with using humour or just something completely different on a gravestone." Why graves and not churches?
"I don't find churches to be particularly interesting as photographic subjects, though when I photograph a graveyard I will always put a shot of the church in my introduction. There are practical difficulties too. It's a sad reflection on modern life that nowadays most churches are locked up when they're not actually in use for a service, and the extreme combination of the dark interiors and bright stained glass windows make a well-lit photograph quite tricky." Have you found interesting non-Christian sites?
"The vast Brookwood Cemetery, near Guildford, is noteworthy as it's divided into numerous separate areas, with Roman Catholic, Zoroastrian, Latvian, Muslim and Sikh sections, amongst others, and it's interesting to observe the different traditions of burial in use by different religious denonimations."
Do you think your photographs ask us to contemplate our own mortality?
"Sometimes, wandering around a country graveyard, one is touched by some of the inscriptions on the gravestones and is forced to consider that these are not just simply attractive chunks of stone, but are the only remaining tangible memorials of actual lives. I think the very simple wooden crosses marking paupers' graves cause me to think how constantly near we all are to that final moment, the end of life." Are you religious?
"Like most people, I was married in church, and had the children properly christened, but strictly speaking these acts were more out of tradition than beliefs. I'm an ex-public school pupil, and being forced to attend church every Sunday does, I think, force one to reject the practice in later life."
 | | 'Our family name...now departs with me.' |
Do people look at you oddly when they see you photographing graves?
"One thing is pretty well guaranteed in a churchyard and that's peace and quiet. When I have bumped into people, I've been surprised by their acceptance of a photographer, and nobody has ever asked why I'm photographing gravestones. I have never, as a matter of policy and respect, photographed very new graves." |
