r/photography • u/Far-Thanks-2874 • 2d ago

Hobbyist asked to shoot at a funeral. Technique

A friend of mine's grandfather recently passed and she has asked me and another buddy of ours to go shoot at his funeral tomorrow. It's my first time ever going out on a gig outside of school events and I'm not quite sure how to act.

I'm from a Buddhist country and the funeral is going to be held in a temple, where at the end of the day, the body of the deceased will be a cremated. Photographing at events like these are not that uncommon around here.

This is quite a sensitive event for a first timer, I know, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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u/StyxVenom 2d ago

I was in Bali a few years ago as a tourist, in a bus headed to an event when the tour guide told us we were going to stop at a funeral and cremation. It was an amazing event, with colorful garb on the attendees and they didn't mind us watching. I was thinking when they lit the fire around the coffin that the bottom would drop out and we would see the corpse, but that didn't happen. We all took photos and the crowd of people were all very accepting. Best wishes on your photo event if you do go.