Photo Credit: Onkel Wart
Last week, I spent a few pleasurably-languid hours reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. Gaiman’s wonderful tale of a young boy – Nobody Owens – who is nurtured and protected by the ghostly denizens of a graveyard, transported me into another world, and made me contemplate about life, death and the afterlife.
I had experienced the same feelings once before. That was while reading Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death.”
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then ’tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity. (Lines 13-20)
Graveyards are oases of tranquility in this chaotic world. They are places where some people finally find – in Earth’s welcoming bosom – the peace and solitude they craved for their entire lives. Is there really an afterlife? No one really can tell for sure. But it sure would be great if there were one.
Here are a few images inspired by the evocative imagery that Gaiman conjures up in his book. All the images were released under various Creative Commons Licenses by their photographers.
Image Credit: Denise O’ Brien
Image Credit: Smitty
Image Credit: Robert Catalano
Image Credit: Suzanna
Image Credit: Lucid Nightmare
Image Credit: Howzey
Image Credit: Sidereal
Image Credit: Casch52
Image Credit: Brandy Buck
Image Credit: Elephi Pelephi
Image Credit: Laura Burlton
Image Credit: Frederik M
Image Credit: Carl Jones
Image Credit: Onkel Wart
Image Credit: E3000
Image Credit: Hugovk
Image Credit: Snake Eyes
Image Credit: Bildungsr0man
Image Credit: Dizzy Girl
Image Credit: John Althouse Cohen
Image Credit: Sighthound
Image Credit: Rachel Sian
Image Credit: Shots at Random
Image Credit: Anders B.
Image Credit: Hugovk
Image Credit: Carl Jones
Image Credit: Mike Boehmer
Image Credit: La Cola De Mi Perro
Image Credit: Casch52
Image Credit: Orvaratli
Image Credit: Carl Jones
Image Credit: Andrew Lee
Image Credit: Autumn Sonata
Image Credit: Stuck in Customs
Image Credit: Sabriirmak
Image Credit: Zoriah
Image Credit: Remuz
Image Credit: Autumn Sonata
Image Credit: Lucid Nightmare
Update: Mark VanderJagt sent in this great photo that he took last fall in Denver, Colorado. 
More posts like this: 30 Enchanting Pictures of Mushrooms, Toadstools and Fungi.
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Lovely photographs. Made my day.
We photograph cemeteries in Jefferson co NY
… It would have been nice to know where these wonderful photo where taken…
They are creepy indeed.
Ummm. Not all of these are in graveyards. And the one of the angel by Sabriirmak is obviously Photoshopped.
These are beautiful. I've always had a soft spot for cemetery photography.
Check out my destroyed cementary gallery (text in polish):
http://www.swiatwasylewskich.pl/index.php/2009/...
piekne co po niektore…
Awesome.
G: these are beautiful whether you liked them or not.
I especially liked the baby asleep between protective wings.
the photos are only 2/3 of the product. photos like these usually have an effect added (i.e. focus, edge blur, increased saturation etc.) I do however admire the photographer's use of perspective in some
DEFINITELY. one can see the resolution difference
All these images are so well processed with a scent of death and mortality
Beautiful effect with clever control depth of field
I wonder if I could have the permission to include these images in an art community theme labelled as Graveyard…
Thanks
absolutely incredible. something about cemeteries just intrigues me.great work.truly
You are free to use these images because they were all released under a Creative Commons License. But you can't use them for commercial purposes. To be on the safer side, however, check each photograph's usage terms before using it.
Simply beautiful. And I recognized a Chilean cemetery too.
I have photographed over 5,000 tombstones because they fall into disrepair so easily and we lose all the information on the, if anyone would like to send me photographs of tombstones that are readable so that I can gather the information and make a database out of it I would love to have them.
many thanks
Eileen Goodall
Hi I am making a database and collecting digital photographs of tombstones as they fall into disrepair we lose so much genealogical information, if you would like to donate any to me please do so it would mean so much to me.
Good collection. Will consider using some of them.
I am building my own collection – at http://co-photo.com – with the CC license which allows commercial use. Maybe will you find there anything useful for your set too..
What a wonderful piece of serindipity. I was looking for images to create a trailer for Gaiman's Graveyard Book, and here they are! Many of those photos took me right back into the book!
Photoshopped
photoshop is a tool… nothing wrong with it. The hdr photo's are rad I like the surreal feel to them.
That is stunning, bet all the ghosts there are friendly…
Me parecen unas fotos muy interesantes. La muerte es un tema que no suele tocarse frecuentamente en fotografía.
Muy bueno.
Estan muy buenas e interesantes.
Beautiful images, although some are a bit to over Photoshop-ed for my tastes. Would love to know where they were taken, which cemeteries etc so I could add them to my list of places to visit on my travels.
Beautiful! The color effects are amazing
thank you for including one of my photos amongst some other really fantastic ones..I think some people are missing your point about the feeling they invoke and not whether or not they are complete or have been creatively worked on.
I also take complete photos old gravestones with the information on them for example I do have a shot of the one shown here with all the info. But the ones you have chosen here are to portray feeling and imagery .well chosen!
eileen you should come to the graveyard on mansfield road nottingham. you will not be disappointed.
Beautiful work. Check out my fave cemetery photography site from the UK and Paris at http://www.homestead.com/askjeane
Great work man!
I just added you to my flickr.
Really nice Art.
Keep on doing it.
Best Regards.
Great work man!
I just added you to my flickr.
Really nice Art.
Keep on doing it.
Best Regards.