Well the service began as usual, but then there was this woman who started TAKING PICTURES! WHAT THE HELL!!! I would assume if one was to take pictures, proper etiquette would state that you take pictures outside of the place of worship - before and/or after. But even that, to me, seems inappropriate. But if we look at the history of the photography of funerals - In the Victorian age, once photography entered the main stream, it was a thing of honor to have a formal picture taken of the deceased - which was known as momento mori. They would even go as far as to put them into a formal pose with the existing family. Today, post-mortem photography is still practiced in some parts of Eastern Europe especially for those considered to be very holy. But here in America, not so much.
Ok, now back to the story.
So as they proceed down the aisle, there she was, clicking away- at the family walking down the aisle with the coffin, at the people in the pews, And what further put a bee in my bonnet was that she was a fellow congregant! So there I was - singing, watching, completely appalled. You could feel the tension in the church. And of course the presiding priest isn't going to stop the funeral to tell her to stop. What I found interesting was that this woman had no tears, until later.. where she was "crying" but there no tears. Unless she has keratoconjunctivitis sicca, you know that disease where you can't cry - I still can't figure out why she was there. I can't just get that image out of my mind, her taking pictures of them walking down the aisle.. It was so strange. The priest doing the funeral couldn't really ask her to stop in the middle only because it would just ruin the funeral even more.
So finally the service was over and the priest, deacon and music staff were all in the back room saying how disturbing and morbid that was and completely inappropriate. The priest did take action after all was said and done. He had a discussion with her and I really don't think it will happen again.
