Funeral Photography
As a press photographer we sometimes get this type of assignment to cover, especially if a hometown serviceman is killed overseas. What I try to do is contact the funeral director or whoever is in charge of the Mass and memorial services, explain to them what type of shot is needed. I basically stay out of the way and shoot with a 300mm or 400mm 2.8 lens standing out in the hallway on either side of the chapel. That way, I'm not imposing on the family's grief and not making a fool of myself. But there was one funeral I had to cover where seven players from a football team were killed in a single car accident and I was pretty much all over the place shooting with a 17-35 and 70-200 lenses. I figured if the TV folks covering it were gonna get in my way, I'd stand along side of them. The black & white photo was nominated for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in News Photography, which made the top ten, but was beat out by a color shot of a women hugging her husbands gravestone.
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