Coping with Death: Grief and Photography
/ Coping with Grief : Eleanor Haley
There are times when we want to express and explore our emotions and experiences, but we really don't want to talk out loud for one reason or another. One-on-one counseling and support groups are just not our bag, but we have a lot of stuff building up inside us that we would like to get out. Think, emotional vomit.
If we aren't going to talk about 'stuff,' we need to find ways to process it, but this can be difficult for those who don't already have a thing. We may not know how mediums like writing, poetry, and art can work for us, and often we don't know where to start. There's a lot to be learned from Art Therapy techniques for those who have access to them, but photography is a self-starter art form accessible to almost everyone.
Most of us have had practice with photography, whether taking snapshots on our iPhones or crafting rich landscapes with a professional flare. You can photograph symbols, abstract images, and literal interpretations of people, places, and things regardless of your skill level if you have a camera. Creating the images will force you to spend time reflecting on your emotions and allow you to feel closer to your loved one. The results may not be perfect, but they will tell the world something about how you're feeling.
Over time we'd like to discuss many of the different ways you can use photography to cope with grief, but we thought we'd start small by providing you with a few photo examples.
Grief and Photography: Examples of Exploring Grief Through Photography
Expression of Emotion
Reminders and Symbols
Searching for Hope and Strength
For more information on using photography as a coping tool, check out the following articles:
- Beginners Guide to Exploring Grief Through Photography
- Exploring Grief Through Photography
- Healing Through Photography: Photos from Our Grief-Friends
- Exploring Grief Through Photography: Photographing Emotion and Mood
- Photography How To: Photographing Symbols
We invite you to share your experiences, questions, and resource suggestions with the WYG community in the discussion section below.
We wrote a book!
After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief
for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible,
real-life book!
What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss is for people experiencing any type of loss. This book discusses some of the most common grief experiences and breaks down psychological concepts to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It also shares useful coping tools, and helps the reader reflect on their unique relationship with grief and loss.
You can find What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss wherever you buy books:
Hebatallah El-Minyawi April 9, 2020 at 1:32 am
I really like this idea a lot of using photography to express grief, to record reminders and symbols ( i worry i will forget something important about Cleo) and “Searching for hope and strength images.”
Jimmy Edmonds February 25, 2013 at 8:09 am
thanks for highlighting Rosa article – I love what you’re doing with your photography ideas. You might also like to check out ‘Released’ the book I produced soon after our son died. link + https://www.blurb.com/b/2306584-released-standard-version
feel free to blog or reproduce.
Also I’d invite you to look at Briony Campbells work ‘THE DAD PROJECT – Saying Goodbye with my Camera’ as mentioned in Rosa’s article. link + https://www.brionycampbell.com/projects/the-dad-project
also pssst … the link to your facebook page is broken
lots of love
JImmy
Natalie Park May 2, 2022 at 2:11 pm
Dear Jimmy, I purchased your book online and I wanted to let you know that it really, really, touched (touches) my heart. The images are so powerful and meaningful. It brought forth emotion and tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing.
Weekend Edition - articles about grief February 24, 2013 at 1:07 pm
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