No one is surprised by a photographer on the most beautiful day of your life. But book a photographer on the saddest days in life? That is still quite new. Yet more and more people are deciding to have funerals recorded, notes Gonnie Bax from Hoogerheide. She is a ‘farewell photographer’ and is increasingly busy. “It is very valuable for the grieving process.”
Gonnie has been photographing for 25 years, but has only been photographing funerals for two years. She started it when her sister died at the age of 52. “There were about 800 people and a photographer. It was captured, but to this day we have not received any photos of it,” she said. “How valuable would it have been if we had had that?”
She then decided to change course and start as a farewell photographer herself. From closing the coffin, dressing a deceased loved one to the funeral itself, she records everything if the relatives wish. “There is so much love involved in six days. Everything is thought about. From the coffin to the music and the location.”
“How nice is it that you can still grab something from the last moment?”
Anyone who thinks that Gonnie simply photographs crying people is wrong. “Just people crying is horrible to see. I usually focus on holding hands and the support people have for each other. But there is often laughter and I want to capture that too.”
According to Gonnie, photos of the farewell can help with the grieving process. “People fall into a black hole in the period after saying goodbye. A lot has been arranged during a busy period. Then it is finished in one go and only then does the mourning follow. How nice is it that you can still grab something from the last moment? Thanks to photos like this, you can make it a topic of discussion.”
“I sometimes have a hard time when there are small children around.”
Gonnie always tries to work so inconspicuously. “I’m not invisible, but I try to move with the crowd in the background,” she explains. Sometimes it becomes too much for her too. “Especially when there are small children,” she says. But in those moments she tries to immerse herself in the technical aspects of her work. “Then I start moving and shift my attention for a moment. For example, I pay more attention to my hands.”
People sometimes react with surprise when Gonnie shows up at a funeral. By talking about it, she hopes that people will find her presence more normal. “Not only for myself and my colleagues, but also for relatives who can look back at beautiful photos after saying goodbye.”