For context – at the end of last year, my brother passed away, and understandably we, along with his children (late twenties) were very upset.
However, my sister (who in her defence was with him all the time in hospital), said she’d taken a few pics of him just before and after he’d passed, and did I want to see them?
As he looked dreadful enough the last time I saw him a few days before, and as it was the first time I’d come across this, I really could not comprehend taking any photos so I naturally said absolutely not (its bad enough seeing a bad picture of myself pop up on my phone, let alone that).
Then a few days after the funeral and wake, she said the girls had taken some of him laying at the funeral home and did I want to see them?
Now I know people document most of their lives with photos these days and am aware the Victorians would take posed portraits of deceased relatives, and there are much, much worse images online. I’m not suggesting for a second they put them on Instagram or wherever, but I’d be interested to know whether this is a natural reflex reaction for a lot of people, your thoughts on this, and, taking into account the emotions surrounding the event, whether it would even enter your mind.