Night Cemetery Photography - a Lunar Stroll at Laurel Hill Cemetery

Image courtesy of Emma Stern

I just spent an interesting evening as a tour guide at Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia. Not a REAL tour guide, mind you, just an unofficial, auxiliary backup tour guide. Laurel Hill had an evening “Lunar Stroll” fête that drew twenty people out on a hot July evening. The premise of these regular outings is photography, though couples sometimes show up without cameras (hmmm…).

Emma Stern orienting photographers to the evening's events

When I said it was a hot evening, I’m talking the tail-end of a week-long 100-degree heat wave. It was around 90 degrees after dark. Diehard photographer types (half men, half women) showed up anyway, paying fifteen bucks a head to stroll the nighttime graveyard after the gates had been locked. The allure of such an opportunity may explain why some show up without cameras!

So the idea of photographing a graveyard at night is a broad-thinking approach to making your local cemetery all that it can be for all sorts of people. Here’s what it said on Laurel Hill’s website:

PHOTOGRAPHING LAUREL HILL AFTER HOURS

Photo enthusiasts: grab your cameras, tripods and flashlights, and capture the ethereal wonders of Laurel Hill Cemetery after the sun goes down. During this guided stroll through the site’s picturesque landscape, participants will visit some of its most photogenic spots and evocative statuary, while learning to paint with light using only a flashlight and ambient iridescence. You will have experiences to share from this rare and intimate exploration of the cemetery long after its gates close for the night. Photography experience is recommended. Lunar Strolls will occur on the third Friday of every month from May through August.

Image by Ed Snyder

In the passage above, three things grabbed my attention like a zombie from behind a gravestone:

1. learning to paint with light
2. photography experience is recommended
3. Lunar Strolls will occur on the third Friday of every month from May through August

So, let me explain:

1. “Painting with light” is not for the novice. It refers to the act of illuminating your subject with a light source while your camera’s shutter is open. Imagine this: darkened scene (cemetery monuments in the dark), camera on tripod, exposure on auto, shutter tripped – shutter stays open looking for light. No light, shutter stays open for a while. At this point, you illuminate the subject with a flashlight from behind the camera – you sweep the light across the subject, back and forth, up and down, until the camera completes the exposure. It will end the exposure when it has sensed that enough light has hit the image sensor to create a properly exposed image.

Statuary atop mausoleum "painted" with light, by Ed Snyder

Painting with light is much easier with a digital camera than it is with film, because you can instantly see your mistakes on the display and then adjust for them. Of course you’ll be infinitely more successful if you have a tutor on the spot. And that’s what I and a few other people were there to help with.

2.  Being familiar with your camera is key to successful night photography. Maybe I should say “low  light” photography. You don’t want to be futzing with your camera in the dark, trying to get it to work. If you don’t know how to use it properly in the daylight, night photography will just make everything more difficult.

3.  And if you don’t get it right the first time, Laurel Hill has these night time photography ‘workshops’ on the third Friday of every month from May through August! So, try and try again. After my first outing a couple years ago, I realized I needed three items without which my efforts were virtually useless (so, learn from my mistake): a small flashlight to see the controls on your camera, a large flashlight with which to illuminate subjects, and a tripod.

So, other than providing helpful hints, what would be my other responsibilities in this endeavor? I assumed one of them would involve keeping my charges from wandering off into the dark where they might break a leg in a gopher hole. Herding people did turn out to be a major task (at which I failed, since I never again saw that camera-less couple again after the made off toward the mausoleums). I actually spent more time illuminating monuments and gravestones with my LED panel video light for other people, than I did making my own photographs. (I did take the people photos in this blog, however, with my Canon DSLR.)

The Lunar Stroll

One of the reasons that Laurel Hill’s Lunar Strolls are so successful (SIXTY people showed up for the last one!) is because the coordinator, Emma Stern (Laurel Hill Cemetery’s Volunteer & Administrative Coordinator), is an accomplished photographer herself. In fact, that is her wonderful image at the very beginning of this article. She is co-owner of a photographic gallery called GRAVY in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. (TheArtblog.org refers to GRAVY as the “best kept secret in Fishtown.”) Emma is responsible for turning this photo outing into an actual photographic workshop. Not only did she coordinate experienced photographers to help those less experienced, but she provided other practical things like flashlights and colored gel filters to transform the flashlights’ color! Oh, and bug spray, snacks, and cold bottled water too.

In the gloaming (hey, Laurel Hill is an old Victorian cemetery – I can use words like that), it is easy enough to make photographs. There’s still enough ambient light to work with. (Want to make your images appear darker? Stop down your -Ev setting (see link). But then night begins to fall, as it usually does, and with it, a conundrum. How to make photos in the dark? Why does your camera have trouble auto-focusing? As I explained to one gentleman, cameras use light to create an image. No light, no image (unless you’re using one of those infrared Russian spy cameras). Challenging, yes, but at least we didn’t have grave robbers or zombies to contend with (reality often violates preconceptions of what you’ll find in a cemetery after dark).

Shooting in the Dark

Click to purchase from Amazon.com

With today’s super light-sensitive digital cameras with their 3200 (and up) ISO image sensors, when does it becomes truly too dark to make a photograph? The basic principle behind photography (which I quite knowledgeably point out in my book, Digital Photography for the Impatient) is that you need light to make the process work. The less light, the more difficult it will be for your camera to record an image. I usually tell people to start by setting their cameras on auto and letting it make the exposure. See how it reacts to low light. Most current model DSLRs will keep the shutter open as long as necessary for the lens to gather enough light to create an image. What you usually end up with, then, is a PROPERLY EXPOSED image, something like this:

Evening, Laurel Hill Cemetery, by Bob Bruhin

Focusing in the Dark

Millionaire's Row, photographed by Ed Snyder

Now, the phrase “properly exposed” has nothing to do with focus. If you look at my image above, you’ll note that it is not very crisply focused. Problem is, in the dark, many digital cameras have optical auto focus mechanisms, which require the subject to be bright (contrasty) enough for the system to lock on to. No such luck in the dark! If your camera uses Sonar (like the old Polaroids used to, see link), i.e. sound waves to focus, you’d be golden. However, that (better for this purpose) technology is antiquated. Some modern digital cameras will throw out a short (“assist”) flash burst to illuminate the subject for focusing purposes before it will allow you to trip the shutter. Some cameras use infrared to focus – which is good in the dark, but only for objects within twenty feet of the lens.

Millionaire's Row, as photographed by Bob Bruhin

Above is a much sharper image of the same mausoleum scene taken by another photographer. One reason for this is that Bob Bruhin used a DSLR while I was using my G11 DPS (as I refer to ‘Digital Point-and-Shoot' cameras in my book). In addition to the better light painting and focus, notice how his camera's image sensor interpreted the night sky as orange, whereas mine recorded the same sky as magenta!

A couple techniques I use for focusing in the dark:

• Manually focus as best I can, then use a deep depth of field (say, f16 or f22) so that any minor mis-focusing is compensated for by the small aperture. This, of course, requires a very long exposure in the dark – minutes, perhaps.

• Illuminate your subject with a bright light and allow your camera to lock into focus, then turn the camera’s (or lens’) focus to “manual.” Make your exposure while you are “painting” your subject with some artificial light source.

(Here’s a link to a good explanation of how different autofocus systems work on modern digital cameras.)

“Proper” Exposure

When you make night photographs, you don’t necessarily want a properly exposed image. You may not want all the detail in the shadow areas because those will not be well-lit and will therefore appear mottled and grainy in your image. Best to let those areas fade to black and accentuate the high-contrast highlights of your subject, as in the fabulous image below.

Warner Memorial by night; image by Karen Schlechter

Even the less expensive Nikon DSLRs have image sensors that are wonderfully responsive to low light. (I own a Canon myself, and it gives me nowhere as good an image.) So the trick is to NOT use a super high ISO but rather 200 or 400. If you can make an auto exposure this way and light up your subject with artificial light, the camera will terminate the exposure when it has gotten enough light to create an image. You can also shoot in manual mode, but either way, you’re making exposures in excess of thirty seconds (tripod a necessity).

Photographers in Laurel Hill Cemetery with cameras on tripods

Before I start to jump all over the place with night photography pointers, let me just categorize of few of them as “Helpful Hints:”

Helpful Hint #1

If you’ve never done night photography, start with your camera on its auto setting. Digital is preferable to film for beginners. That way, you can instantly see how badly you messed up, so you can make some adjustments and try it again. 

Ed Snyder, self-portrait lit with LED light panel

Helpful Hint #2

Use a DSLR. Point and shoot digitals have a much smaller image sensor (generally) which causes excessive noise in the image. I used my Canon G11 DPS for this self-portrait and you can see that as far as image quality goes, it is no masterpiece! I also avoided color, as a noisy image looks worse in color.

Helpful Hint #3

The photo shoot went from 8 to 10:30 pm, but with nearby city lights and the moon, there is some ambient light – you’re not in pitch darkness. Different color temperatures (tungsten from a flashlight, mercury-vapor from a streetlight, etc.) will flavor your color composition. One person even brought a couple glo-sticks on a string so an assistant could spin it overhead and create circular light trails in the image! (Unfortunately, I have not seen the photographic masterpiece that was subsequently created.)

Helpful Hint #4

Everything looks good on the display. This is actually something a woman at the event said to me when I commented on one of her images. And it is SO true! You may indeed, mirabile visu, have a three-inch masterpiece there on your camera’s display, but when you get it onto your computer monitor or make a print, you might be somewhat dismayed. Best idea here is to shoot at a low ISO (200-400) and paint the scene with light. If you shoot at a higher ISO your camera’s image sensor is going to be out of its normal operating range. True, you may get some interesting colors, but you may find that your image noise (see link) if too great to make a satisfactory print or high-res image.

Helpful Hint #5 

Bring:

•  Patience
• Tripod and a remote shutter release
• Tiny flashlight to see the controls on your camera 
• A big, bright flashlight to illuminate the ground as you walk and your subjects (statues, headstones, people)
• An LED panel video light (not heavy, uses very little battery power)

The Wrap-Up

Sepia image of Millionaires' Row painted with light (Ed Snyder)

Our photo shoot began at dusk at the gatehouse, then progressed to three of the most photogenic spots in the cemetery – the Warner Memorial, the granite lion overlooking Kelly Drive, then the “Millionaires’ Row” of mausoleums near Hunting Park Avenue. By the time the tour wrapped up at the latter, it was 10:30 pm. 

When I’m making a photograph, I am fully concentrated on this event, no matter how long it takes. As a tour guide trying to hustle photographers from one area of interest to the next, it seemed to me that these people were slower than Darwinian selection. It was difficult to pull them away from each area, they were having so much fun and engaged in interesting conversation with each other. These were photographers with specific interests in cemeteries, and there appear to be more of them on the planet than I suspected. One fellow told me how he became interested in photographing cemeteries: at his best friend’s funeral, he brought a camera to take a picture of the grave. Afterward, he began to look around and thought, "hey, nice statues ….."

Twilight at Laurel Hill Cemetery, by Bob Bruhin

I’ll leave you with this final Homeric Moment: As I was discussing cemetery travel (and to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, I have traveled extensively in Philadelphia) with one of the photographers, he told me how he tries to drag his wife along on his photographic escapades. That ended with the last trip they made – to see the tombstones from Monument Cemetery dumped under the Betsy Ross Bridge. He went on to say how he read about it on this “cemetery travel blog" and therefore had to go see the site himself. I interjected that it was my blog, “The Cemetery Traveler” which he had read. The fellow brightened up and wide-eyed looked at me and said, “You’re Ed Snyder?! Wait ‘til I tell my wife!”

Further Reading and Viewing:

Some of the photographers who made photographs during Laurel Hill Cemetery’s July 17, 2013 Lunar Stroll posted their images on this Flickr site.

Laurel Hill Cemetery website

Emma Stern’s Flickr page

Bob Bruhin's Flickr page

Karen Schlechter's Flickr page

Beginning to Die - The Strange State of Mt. Moriah Cemetery

Things are beginning to die once again at Mount Moriah Cemetery, in southwest Philadelphia. It is October, when the grounds unveil their new fall wardrobe. Which is essentially the opposite of what the living do as it gets colder − a paring down, a baring-all in comparison to its heavily clothed leafy summer atire. It’s really the only time of the year to see this enormous Victorian cemetery in all its run-down glory. No camouflage to mask its sores, no briars and poison ivy left to prohibit access to its most forbidden corners. 

Volunteers pruning trees

The volunteer clean-up crews have died out for the season as well. As the heavy weed growth has been curtailed by Mother Nature, there is no need for whacking, mowing, and raking. Though an enormous amount of maintenance and restoration can keep volunteers busy all winter, the idea may to avoid burning out the willing help. 

As one of the registered volunteers, I received this letter last week from the Chief of Staff at the Philadelphia Managing Director’s Office. I thought it would be of interest to all my readers to see what goes on behind the scenes of keeping a cemetery from dying. Maintaining any cemetery as a viable business is not an easy thing to do, which is no wonder so many succumb to abandonment.  Read on, you may learn a bit about the biz. You’ll also see how a cemetery can be managed quite unscrupulously.

(Photographs by Ed Snyder)

All - I have been asked by a number of stakeholders to recap what's happened around Mt. Moriah Cemetery.  That overview is below.  As you'll see, this situation is complicated and there's no easy answers.  However, I'm confident that by working together, we'll continue to make progress.

If you have additional questions, please let me know.

 

Brian Abernathy, Chief of Staff
Managing Director's Office
Suite 1430 Municipal Services Building
1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd.
Philadelphia,  PA  19102
T: (215) 686-2134
C: (267) 455-4444

Mt. Moriah Cemetery – An Overview

Background and History

Mt. Moriah Cemetery is an historic burial ground incorporated by an Act of the State Legislature in 1855.  While reports indicate that the Cemetery is 380 acres, a review of real estate records indicates that it is approximately 200 acres.  Philadelphia and Yeadon share approximately equal shares of the Cemetery.

 

Since its founding, the Cemetery has been governed and cared for by the Mt. Moriah Cemetery Association.  In 2004, the last known member of that Association, Horatio C. Jones, Jr., passed away.   From 2004 until March 2011, the Cemetery appears to have been operated by an employee of the Association. 
  

The State still recognizes the Mt. Moriah Cemetery Association as the legal owner and operator of the Cemetery; however, because the last known board member has passed away, no individual exists to act on the Association’s behalf.  As such, no responsible party is present to assist with maintenance, burials, disinterments or the placement of headstones.

 

Sometime after the mid-1950s, the Association established a Perpetual Care Fund to assist in the long-term maintenance of the grounds.  The Fund would deposit a percentage of the cost of the burial lot into a separate account.  The interest earned on the account was to be spent to maintain the grounds and the principal of the account was not to be spent. 

In March, the City was made aware through news reports and citizen phone calls that Mt. Moriah had ended its business operations.  To our knowledge, no one from the Association informed the State, the City or the funeral directors that had worked with the cemetery of its intent to close.  
 

Since first hearing of the closure, the City has led a working group consisting of representatives of Yeadon, Council President Verna, Councilwoman Blackwell, Councilman Jones, Representative Waters and Senator Williams.
 

Governing Authorities

Cemetery operations are governed by state law and regulated by the Commonwealth’s Real Estate Commission.  However, the Commission’s authority is limited to licensing and ensuring that proper payments are made to the Perpetual Care Fund. The City itself has no specific oversight of cemetery operations although the City’s Property Maintenance Code does apply in the maintenance of the buildings and grounds not occupied by existing burial lots.

Burned-out car hung up on gravestone

There is no state or local agency directly charged with regulatory oversight of cemetery maintenance or the physical conditions of burial lots; however, the failure to properly maintain the cemetery may constitute a misdemeanor under the State’s Burial Grounds Law and other criminal violations may have occurred.

 

The Pennsylvania Attorney General has received complaints alleging consumer fraud relating to the purchase of burial plots that may no longer be available.  The Attorney General cannot confirm or deny that an investigation is ongoing; meanwhile, other state agencies may also be conducting their own, independent investigations. 

Maintenance and Records

Cemetery forest

The Cemetery has been poorly maintained for decades with many of its historic sections overgrown and wooded.  Since its closure, the portions of the Cemetery that had previously been maintained by the Association have deteriorated.   Because business operations have ceased at the Cemetery, there is no operator to coordinate and consent to the placement of new headstones, and, regardless of whether or not burial plots were previously purchased, no operator to coordinate and consent to new burials on the property.  
 

Mount Moriah Gatehouse, Kingsessing Avenue

Because of the condition of the property and the deterioration of the historic gatehouse, which is on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, the City instituted a Code Enforcement complaint against the Association.  The City named the Association and Lydia Jones – the widow of the last known board member of the Association - as defendants.   Lydia Jones appeared through an attorney and claimed that she has no substantive relationship to the Cemetery.  
 

The City’s action against Mount Moriah revealed that the Association that owns and operates the cemetery has not had a board of directors or any other person authorized to act on behalf of the Association since 2004 when the last board member of the Association, Horatio Jones, died.  
 

Due to overgrowth of foliage, mausoleums can only be seen in winter.

Since the Association is a non-stock entity there are no shareholders to push for the election of new board members.  While it is still a validly existing entity in the eyes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there are no individuals that are duly authorized to run and operate the business.

As such, it is unlikely that the Court will hold any person, in their individual capacity, responsible for the property maintenance violations.
 

Through this lawsuit, the City also learned that the balances of the bank accounts owned by the Association are too low to effectively operate the Cemetery.  This issue has been reported to the Real Estate Commission, the Attorney General and District Attorney.  
 

Graffitied mausoleum

As part of the City’s court action, the Court allowed the City access to the property to abate the most egregious conditions.  The City’s vacant lot program was able to cut the grass on a significant portion of the property at a significant cost.  This effort culminated in a community event organized in larger part by three community organizations: the Friends of Mt. Moriah, Save a Grave for Mt. Moriah and Build a Fence for Mt. Moriah. The Association has been billed and a lien will be placed on the property for the full amount.  

These community groups have committed to provide best efforts to maintain the property for the immediate future and several additional community clean-ups are scheduled. Estimates for annual maintenance of the entire property are approximately $500,000.
 

Yeadon side, Cobbs Creek Pkwy.

Because of the resources required to maintain the property, Yeadon has not been able to take the same action as Philadelphia; however, they are moving forward with property violations and intend to lien the property.
 

Because of the imminent threat of damage to the historical records contained in the Association’s office, the Court authorized the City to remove and secure the historic records.  The records are currently being stored by Iron Mountain, a records storage company.  The City’s Consumer Affairs Advocate Lance Haver is the point-of-contact for family members inquiring about their loved ones.
 

Ongoing Operations – The Long-term Issue

The future operations of the cemetery are complex and must account for a number of issues.  

        Considerations include:

        The Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in the City known to accept Muslim burials.

        The Cemetery is one of two in the vicinity known to accept “communal” burials – burials where three bodies share one grave and are a less expensive option for many families.
 

        The Cemetery charged approximately $1500 per burial – a much more affordable option than other cemeteries, which charge up to $5000 per plot.

        Approximately 60% of Philadelphia’s portion of the cemetery and perhaps more of Yeadon’s portion – including the most important historical sites - is overgrown and inaccessible to the public.  

        While approximately 80,000 dead are buried in the Cemetery, by most reports, there is still significant space for additional burials.

        As previously mentioned, the perpetual care fund – a fund established by law in the 1950s to guarantee ongoing cemetery maintenance into which 10% of the plot cost is to be deposited – and the general operating account do not have balances sufficient to maintain the property.  
 

        Several reports have indicated that burials may have not occurred properly (i.e. within a drainage area) and there are unconfirmed reports that multiple burials have occurred in single (not communal) plots.

        Because of the questions surrounding the Cemetery’s operations, whatever entity takes control of the Cemetery in the future must be protected from the Association’s past liability.
 

The Cemetery contains several historical burials including soldiers of the Revolutionary, Spanish-American, Civil and both World Wars.  

        Notable individuals buried at the Cemetery include Betsy Ross (thought to be moved in the mid-1970s); George Connell, Philadelphia’s first Mayor; Senator Israel Wilson Durham, a former President of the Phillies; John Whitehead, singer, songwriter and producer; and Henry Jones, fugitive slave turned successful restaurant owner that won a landmark Supreme Court decision to allow his burial at the cemetery.  

        

Several churches moved their cemeteries to Mt. Moriah over the years.  Notable sections include: First Baptist Church, St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, St. George’s Methodist Church and others.  Several Masonic Lodges also have specific sections and the Beverly National Cemetery maintains veterans’ sections.

        The Cemetery may be a node for the East Coast Greenway.

        Because of these historical and environmental attributes, funds may be available through historic preservation, recreation and environmental grants.

        Because the Cemetery is an important resource to several racial, religious and socioeconomic stakeholders, it is important to guarantee stability of its future operations.  
 

Today, the Mount Moriah Cemetery is owned by a defunct non-profit corporation and the Cemetery cannot continue its business operations unless and until the ownership issue is addressed. In order to obtain a new owner for the property court action is likely required.  
 

Yeadon and Philadelphia are currently negotiating the development of a new not-for-profit organization to take ownership of the property.  Because of the complexity of the issues and in order to insure a similar situation does not occur in the future, ongoing municipal involvement is important.  While the organization would be led by the municipal governments, the organization’s board would be as diverse as those interested in the Cemetery and include representatives of different races, religions and backgrounds. 
 

Funding

There are several opportunities to fund the new organization and improve the Cemetery’s current conditions.  Historic preservation grants, storm water management fees, funding as a portion of the East Coast greenway, environmental protection grants and donations from stakeholders like the various churches, masons and veterans’ organizations are all potential funding sources. Cemetery operations could be funded by new burials.  Once the site is abated, most death care industry experts believe the cemetery may be self-sustaining.