Funeral photographs?

i will be attending a horrific funeral this week for the son of a very dear friend. he was brutally murdered. it's it weird or wrong to take photos at the service? i don't mean intrusive things like the parents weeping or anything. maybe just flowers or photo boards. i certainly would ask anyone to stop and pose, but i mean just candid shots. i don't even know why i want to. i wish i had taken some at other services. what about at the reception or burial? i don't want to come off as a reporter. i would only keep them for my self and a few friends that couldn't make the trip.
Funeral photographs?
Taking photos at funerals was common in its day. But now, it is a matter of ettiquette. Some families do and some don't. If it is in your immediate family, you know what the rules are. Outside the family, don't even consider it.
Reply:You can take them at the burial, but that the only place anyone would dare take a picture. Certainly not at the reception. It's really not a good idea at all when your a member of the party. Pictures are only taken by reporters during the burial portions of a celerity of some sought. Never has there been know of a party member stepping out to take these pictures.
Reply:To me, it seems so awkward to view pictures of funerals. I suppose the pictures of the flowers are ok, but I've actually saw how people took pictures of the actual body lying in the casket and posted it up on Myspace and Tagged, I kinda felt upset about it even if I didn't know those dead persons. Honestly, I don't really think that photo taking would be appropriate for the occasion.
Reply:Personally I find that very rude.



People did it many years ago....and even framed and displayed the pictures.



I don't know why anyone would do that now.



You should certainly ask your friend before you did this.
Reply:I would take them discretely, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking photos but at a funeral people might be emotional and irrational.
Reply:I dont see anything wrong with it, but other people would.
Reply:No. It's completely disrespectful. At my grandmother's funeral, some tourists came in and started taking photos of the cathedral and I found it very offensive. And that's not even someone who was attending the funeral. That would be much worse. People are perhaps at their worst when mourning and they don't want someone taking a photo of it. Whether or not you get other people in the photos, it's so disrespectful. They don't want to be reminded of that. They want to remember the person they're mourning and that person's life, not their death and funeral. Even if you're not showing them to anyone, it's still very disrespectful. I've been to many funerals and apart from the one time I mentioned about tourists, no one has ever taken a photo and I would actually be very angry at anyone who did. Your friend needs you to be there for them and to help them through it, not to be going around taking photos. And if you do it discreetly, it's just going behind their back.

I've even been to a funeral which was attended by a very important political figure and people STILL didn't take photos because it would have been too disrespectful.

You have to think about the views of the mourners; how would they feel about you taking pictures? And how would they feel about you concentrating (even for a second) on taking a photo instead of being there for them?