I also kept hoping they wouldn't die in the next picture.

Very moving.

Death is a part of life, ironically enough.

What did she expect to see upon clicking that link? People's stupidity is appalling.

I thought those photographs were fascinating. Horrifying in a way, but fascinating.

Makes me feel lucky to be alive and healthy. Makes me want to go home and squeeze my babies and tell them how much I love them. They were beautiful.

I've been waiting almost a week now for the call from my mother, saying that my grandmother has died. She was admitted to hospice about ten days ago. I thought these photos and the accompanying text were incredibly moving and thought provoking.

Thank you!

They are beautiful. Images like this help us to love our lives and our loved ones more.

Mimi... you'll die, too, you know?

The photos were sad and made me get a little teary but the picture commentaries made me want to get an MRI. It scares me that a body can be ravaged with disease and the person doesn't know until too late.

I found the series of photos to be beautiful and felt a sense of peace when viewing each one. I can only hope that I look that beautiful and peaceful when I depart.

So yeah. I found that article before coming to your site this morning, and I too thought it was amazing. I was glad to see that you thought the same, and that it touched you in some similar way.

As for people who refuse to accept responsibility for their actions and are always looking to berate and/or blame someone else...grow up. The world ain't your mommy.

Wow. Someone had obviously not had their morning coffee. Personally I thought those photos were stunning. It is a very interesting photography project so don't get why their panties are in a twist. It's not like you posted the pictures on your website, just a link. Geez. :P

Okay, so I never, ever comment, but here's the one time that I break that rule and get up on the sassy horse in order to talk about people I've never met and don't know:

I don't think Mimi was being a jerk or a prude. I think she was urging Heather to open up comments because of her (Mimi's) strong reaction to the photos, and she wanted to know what other people thought of them. When I red Mimi's email, it seemed like she was being pointed and cantankerous in order to adequately portray the depth of her reaction. Calling Heather out as a chicken shit seemed no more vicious than when Heather personally calls herself names in order to get a point across.

People are allowed to like things and they are allowed to not like things. It's okay if not everybody likes the same stuff. I absolutely loathe most of the pop music that Heather talks about on her site, but I think that Heather herself is great and that her writing and her site are phenomenal. I am allowed to think that. Just like Mimi is allowed to not like those photographs.

So thanks, Heather, for linking to those incredible photographs, and thanks, Mimi, for saying how you really feel.

I hope I'm that beautiful after I die.

Those photos were terribly sad but it's not an overwhelming sadness as I had expected. I suspect it's because I haven't experienced the death of someone close yet. Those photos were very moving and humbling. I think I understand a little more what death is.

"beautiful and haunting" really sums it up. To be honest, I've never been one for open caskets. I find the idea of people walking by and gawking at/crying over a dead body to be...not morbid...but more akin to a side show than anything else. This, though, this is beautiful, and I think if I were going to be "viewed" in some way after I'd died, I would want it to be something like this.

it still made me miss my grandma, though.

So fascinating. Another work that moved me in much the same way was the Frontline program called "The Undertaking," and the book of the same name by Thomas Lynch. Both were so moving and really beautiful in a way that's difficult to explain. The book is one I have bought extras of to give away, and with a little google-fu you can find the program to watch online.

I think they were difficult to look at, but I expected them to be. I actually waited until I got home from work to look at them because I knew they would probably evoke an emotional response. I work with people who are HIV positive, so its part of my day, everyday.

I find this study beautiful. Stark, poignant. Moving.

thank you for linking to this, i think i am a little more appreciative of my life at this moment.

I liked them- I worked for 3 years with people who were all terminally ill and on more than one occasion held their hands as they breathed their last breath. I considered it a privilege and an honor to be with them and it was a blessing to see the pain and suffering end for them. Death is sad, yes but also beautiful. Thanks for sharing Heather, I appreciated it.

I thought they were beautiful. The captions brought me to tears. Reminded me of the article in the SL trib a while back about the photographer who volunteers at hospitals to photograph stillborn babies or babies who only live a few hours. The photos are dignified and a wonderful gift for the families, not something to be afraid of. Thanks for the link!

I braced myself to be afraid... and instead found myself hoping very desperately that in my final hours someone would capture the essence of who I was and then my final bow to the world.

Someone took my picture moments after I entered this world and cherished it for their entire life. I hope someone will do the same for my adieu.

I have had the unfortunate experience of photographing three of our friend’s babies who have died. Three babies, from three different parents, who all died before the age of 6 months. I came in to take pictures after the babies had died. It was at the same time the most horrifying and the most intimate experience I have ever had. While it is hard, it is so precious and invaluable. I was able to give these grieving parents one more memory, one more moment with their child, one more pause in time before the world whips past them at warp speed. Who else wouldn’t want just one more pause…..

I'm 67 so, lots less time left than I've already spent in this life even if I don't get cancer or otherwise die tragically. Plus, I live with and care for my parents who are 89 and 90. Although, even though both have multiple health problems, neither of them really expects to die. Seriously. They don't want to think about or discuss anything to do with death or dying. They will not discuss a living will and would not sign one even when they each had surgery in a hospital within the last year. Denial is ageless.

I've never seen anyone die, but I have seen dead people, specifically three of my grandparents and an uncle, who died at 65 alone in his apartment from a fall and wasn't found for almost a day. His face had that pulled down at the cheeks look that a couple of the pictures had, which makes me wonder if they were found immediately after death. My son was killed at age 25, but I didn't look at his dead body. He was killed on a motorcycle and his fatal injuries were head injuries in spite of his state-of-th-art helmet. I didn't want to see my beautiful boy looking sewed together like Frankenstein.

Anyway, I looked at these pictures to see if I could get anything helpful from them, but don't believe I did. So now, for me, there doesn't seem to be much point in taking pictures of corpses. (Maybe a picture of my son in death could have been helpful to a parent trying to persuade their child not to ride a motorcycle, but I doubt it.) But if someone else sees a message in it, or a comfort in it, or even art in it, why should I object? If I did, I wouldn't look.

I wonder if Mimi has the courage to read all these comments.

No disrespect to anyone haunted by those photos...
after reading your post and the email that Mimi in Oakland sent you, I was expecting something really horrific - like blood and guts.

I think these photos were very tasteful and respectable.

I thought they were beautiful. Sunday marked the five-year anniversary of my mother's passing, and these photos reminded me that along with the sadness of death there also comes the comfort of knowing that their earthly suffering has passed.

Thank you for sharing this photo essay -- it was an incredible source of comfort for me.

This is just another reaffirmation to me that the spirit leaves the body after death. These photos are truly beautiful. I am no stranger to cancer and hospice. I did a photo documentary of my mother not more than 18 months ago. I have not been able to look at them but one day I will want to. Life and death are one in the same. BTW, I have those same roots as heather and my easter eggs never looked so "molly" :)

Nearly all of them stated how, before their diagnosis, they took life for granted and wanted more time. Poignant to note that we all, those of us reading this, have that chance, and should be thankful for it.

I write this with tears running down my cheeks. These portaits are so human. I was fascinated by what people said. Some reconciled to death, some not. We all die, as we get older we all battle with grief for those we loved who have gone. We often deny this grief, and the fact of death.

Thank you Heather.

The photos brought to mind "What Sarah Said" by Death Cab for Cutie: "Love is watching someone die."

and, oh how touching was the one about forgiveness? I am breathless.

Interesting how I too am compelled to comment. 10 out of 10 people die. I guess its just a matter of when.

It makes me think of eternity.

I enjoy your site. Dont blame you for keeping the comments closed.
The pictures linked to are beautiful and well done. As someone who has worked in the HIV field for 17 years, and have seen way too many people die, I think the pictures/stories of these people are wonderful.
We dont like to deal with death in our society much less look at it. Unless of course it accompanied by composed music, special effects and lots of guns at the movies.

Touching, sad, moving, heart breaking. Thanks for sharing.

Haunting, moving, beautiful. Anything but nauseating.

I think they're beautiful. How very generous of all those involved to share something so personal.

I was there during the final moments of someone very dear to me and it was one of the most terrifying, amazing, beautiful and deeply moving experiences of my life, second only to the births of my children.

Thank you Heather. A chicken shit, you are not.

Okay, the link CLEARLY lets the reader know what they will be taken to view --- so Mimi is a total doof for looking, clicking, and then blaming you.

The closing comments thing? Well, I've seen other complaints --- and some seemed to have merit, but surely other people can figure out why on their own.

With the hundreds in to the thousand(s) of comments you get when you do open comments they only have to imagine how much time it would take just to read all those! And then there are the emails you receive, too. You wouldn't have time to post anything at all. And then the Mimis of the innernets would have nothing to gripe upon anymore.

Or, idunno, maybe I'm just sucking up.

how do you look at those pictures and feel *nauseated?* they were extraordinary...

I believe the inspiration for taking these photos comes from the same desire that prompted, for centuries, Western countries to create death masks. We document all sorts of important things about our lives, so why shouldn't humans document the end of life?

Mesmerizing is the word that really says it. We ALL have to die. These pictures made my heart hurt AND soar.

They are beautifully done - not one of these people looks "scary" or horrific. And the statement it makes about the end of life is one we ALL need to hear/learn/live during our WHOLE lives.

I keep thinking about the one lady that said she never thought about living until she found out she had cancer. What a statement. And I agree with what Matt said about the comment saying they wished the people would survive, even though it was a forgone conclusion that they hadn't.

Thank you for sharing such a hauntingly beautiful site.

Dooce, thank you. Those pictures reminded me not to wait for the things that I want in life, because all of those "waits" are less than dust if I'm not alive to fulfill them. I was struggling with one of my demons this morning (I too suffer from depression and anxiety); now I feel invigorated. Revitalized.

I'm going to write "Live" on the inside of my wrist every morning to try and keep this feeling up.

no, mimi shouldn't pull the stick out of her ass, some other people should. she wasn't angry at heather for including the link but for closing comments - it seemed to me the anger came from her need to respond and just because that response didn't tally with the majority doesn't mean she should be insulted.

thank you for opening comments heather, something that powerful does need room for discussion and it's brave of you to let us do that.

Thankyou for sharing those. The stories and comments were amazing.

i thought it was honest. and beautiful.

honest scares some people.

i'm glad you're not one of those people - and i'm glad you're one of those who share your honesty with others.

Mimi is afraid of death. Those photographs were tastefully done and reminds us all (or should) that we're mortal. Beautiful and sad... but no way was that nauseating. Mimi may need to get out more. My dog eating her own vomit is nauseating.

such peace in each death was captured over and over, how fascinating - these were beautiful

Ok... I don't have time to read all the comments, but I am sure that I am not alone in this sentiment.

Everyday people like Mimi in Oakland watch horrible things on tv... they watch families being split apart by infidelity, people being shot and maimed in other ways, children being abused and killed, fictional or not, people choose to watch these shows. Then, of course, there is my least favorite, reality shows that were created often for the express purpose of denigrating others. Let's turn to the local news and newspaper, seven out of ten headlines will be about death and you know it doesn't make it on to the local news unless there is video. We watch, we listen, we LOVE it. We love to sensationalize whatever national tragedy is the latest or just small ugly acts.

These photos were planned, these people are not numbers or statistics and their death photos are BEAUTIFUL... even without the commentary, which I thought was wonderful, these photos are FABULOUS. Did MIMI not like it because it was REAL instead of STAGED?!

I don't understand the NEED TO COMMENT on something you DON'T LIKE. But then again, I am here to comment on her commenting on something she didn't like.

Those were unbelievably beautiful & moving. The stories struck me much more than the photos. Barbara's story made me wish to hug her & sit with her. I also thought about how I would look when i'm dead & hoping the photo is flattering. How vain is that?

It was beautiful. It was poignant, and it was moving.

Had I posted this, I might not have allowed comments either. Not out of "chicken-shit-ness", but out of an desire to preserve the dignity of those people. It would have been a way for me to send a message to my reader that some things, one experienced, are so profound that you just don't need to talk about it or comment on it. You just get it.

But that's just me.

i am continuously astonished by the responses that you receive. however, you didn't ask how i felt about that, you asked about the pictures.

they're haunting, and beautiful...and remind me of how my loved ones have looked before and after their passing. "nauseating" i don't understand, but to each their own.

thank you for posting the link!

I thought they were beautiful, and were a very dignified way for these people to say goodbye. Thank you for sharing (and for opening comments).

Somewhat off topic, I was delighted to see Bo in The Daily Chuck today (but I own a crazy rooing beagle too, so I'm biased). Good luck with the three musketeers!

Art taps into something relevant and relates to the viewer, helping us experience the timeless. Great art involves the viewer in a dialogue that leaves them changed.

I just got in a screaming match with these photos.

Incredibly beautiful, hauting, touching and human.

Thank you for posting the link.

I was nervous when I clicked the link to the photos; maybe slightly afraid that I would see something disturbing. I'm glad to have found something very pleasant and unexpected - the beauty, the peacefulness, the wisdom.

It's amazing to read the varying levels of acceptance. I hope that I can make peace with death when my moment arrives.

Thank you for sharing. It's an amazing reminder to LIVE now.

I think I "enjoyed" reading the text next to the pictures more than reading the pictures. You see when the picture was taken, and sometimes only weeks later the person was gone. I think the one that struck me the most was about the lady seeing the little men trying to take her away, "I'm not ready to die!" I usually don't tear up at things on the internet, but if you read those I think you'd have to be close to heartless to not. =\

I was incredibly moved and saddened by the photos. Mostly because of how many of the subjects seemed to regret that they hadn't lived life to the fullest and felt it was taken from them much to soon. I am in tears right now because I'm afraid one day I'll end up like them: dying before I've had the chance to live.

And oops cause I meant Mimi's email not yours Heather because who writes themselves an email complaining about oh, whatever?

Heather,

The pictures were stunning and hauntingly beautiful. The stories were uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time. And I'm keeping this link with me, because I have had cancer, and I've got heart problems, and other, even more boring stuff, and I know that someday, maybe soon, it will be my turn. I don't really fear death, but I don't look forward to pain, either. These faces, though, they tell me that even the worst pain will eventually go away. I can't tell you how comforting this is, even though I'm writing this through tears. Bless you.

If you notice, they only show you 22 photos of the series. In the essay, the photographers mention the youngest subject, who was only 17 months old.
I would have liked to have seen those before and after shots.

I already think you're a chicken shit for closing comments on 99% of your posts. This just added to it.

My grandmother just passed away, on her ninety-first birthday. I have never experienced a natural death, a death from old age, and it was fascinating. I lost my fourteen-year-old brother in an accident many years ago, and it was heartbreaking and tragic. But my grandmother had lived a full life and she wanted to go.

I was a little scared to see her, when I flew out to have that last visit. But she was beautiful. She had long, flowing white hair, and my aunts had her dressed in an old-fashioned, white cotton nightgown with a high neck and long sleeves. She looked like an angel. I stayed for a few days and had to go home.

It was very, very hard to leave. The only way I can explain it, is to compare it to labor and childbirth. The room was filled with women, and we all sat around the bed, keeping her company. When I left, it felt like I had sat with someone in labor for two days and then had to leave before the birth. I felt very disappointed and wanted to stay, I wanted to see her as she left this world.

I have a different view of death now.

I thought that these were so beautiful and haunting at the same time. While I am only 20 years old, it is a hard realization that one day we will all get old and die, or, in some cases, die before we have the chance to grow old. These pictures made me want to reach out and touch the hands of those people. Though I believe in God and in Heaven, I also believe that we were put on this earth for the sole purpose of living to the fullest. So that's what I plan to do.

It's incredibly moving, and I am glad I stumbled upon them on your page.

I didn't think there was anything nauseating about these. I thought they were lovely photos and really interesting; I liked seeing the passage from alive to not-alive, and to see what's left of a person once they've passed out of their body. They reminded me of the death-photos that used to be taken 100 years or so ago -- peaceful and haunting but nothing sensational or scary.

I didn't see anything dark or ugly or upsetting about it. War photos are far more disturbing to me.

@#297, no maybe about it, Mimi was very impolite in her demands.
the photographs made me cry, also. I saw them earlier via Boing Boing, with the title, "Wrenching and beautiful..." If you can send an angry shout to a stranger about being nauseated by the pictures, I hope you're someone I don't know.

As a professional photographer I found the portraits to be powerful and tasteful. The subjects got to tell their story, and it was done very gracefully. The post death pics were done in a way to honor the dead. Those who know their history know that the earliest portraits were all done after death so this study was not a completely unique idea. It must be tempting for some people to hide from that which they find distasteful, but you cannot have life without death. Mimi must come from a closed casket family or her family is immortal. Ignoring death doesn't keep it from happening.

I thought they were beautiful and very respectful. Thank you for sharing that link.

beautiful and amazing.

Thank you for sharing this.

The woman who lived with rejection her entire life touched me the most... especially when she said now it felt as though life itself was rejecting her. I could weep..... How many people live and die feeling rejected and worthless? That moved me beyond words. Every human has value, and it is so very important to tell them so.

(originally sent to Heather but I am posting it here for all to read)

Heather,

The point of my email was NOT the images but that you closed the comments.

Now that I've been told to place a stick up my ass and pull it out, I feel I must defend myself a bit.

I had just finished reading this article on SF Gate about my friend's unsolved murder case in San Francisco. It has been ongoing for a year and has been emotional and frustrating. With the article were posted bloody, crime scene images I had never seen before. THAT made me nauseous. Not because I'm squeamish, I'm not. It was because I was looking at my friend's blood all over his apartment, wondering what he must have gone through.

Moments later I went to your site for my daily dose of Dooce. Your comments introducing the link were honest and accurate. I knew what I was going to be viewing. Coupled with the images I had viewed moments before I was then in death overload and was unprepared for my own reaction and feelings. I felt overwhelmed.

I think you, of course, have a right to post whatever you want on your site. I am a fan. I just found it to be completely unlike you (from what I have come to know of your reading your postings) to close the door to feedback, especially when posting something that you knew would probably evoke a lot of feelings and reactions from your readers. I found it to be evasive. It didn't seem like you.

Why DID you originally close the post to comments? I'm not the only reader who made note of this, am I?

Mimi
Oakland, CA

And a second email to Heather entitled "Mob Mentality":

Heather,

I don't know how you do it. I'm a little taken aback by the things people write. And they don't read thoroughly, they just spew out venom without even attempting to understand what the writer is saying. If you thoroughly read my email to you it clearly does not attack you for your post. I merely shared with you 1) how it made me feel, and 2) questioned why you closed comments. At no time did I say anything about you or your right to post them.

Now I have made one fatal error: I assumed you left the comments open on all your posts. I looked. You don't. I thought you always left comments open and thought you closed them for fear of the ensuing potential reaction to the images.

As for calling you a chicken shit, I know you can take it. And I called you a chicken shit in the same way I'd call a friend of mine chicken shit for not doing any number of acts I might be goading her into doing that she desn't want to do. Yes, you've been goaded.

Enough.

Mimi
Oakland, CA

Those pictures were amazing and beautiful. Makes a person realize that there is no promise of tomorrow so we should just stop complaining and enjoy life.

Those photos are elegant, moving, and beautiful. thanks, Heather. Don't let the idiots get you down.

I couldn't look thorough all the photos, but that is because of more of a personal choice that I like to remember people for what and who they were, because once we are gone, you can almost see that the "essence" is also gone. That said, I thought the photo study was done in a really great artistic way, and obviously reflected that very point, those people are gone and quiet and peaceful.

Those folks obviously knew that they were going to be photographed and left amazing stories behind. I think that's real strength.

To not accept death is to not affirm life. The road begins and it also comes to a close on this world.

Good pics, I thought. I don't get why you rarely open comments up on your blog, but it's your space, I suppose. More like a journal, though, than a blog, in my opinion. Blogs should allow for comments. It's how people connect.

I can understand how some people may be disturbed and "nauseated" by these images - it's difficult to embrace the beauty in death. However, this particular study was beautiful. I felt extremely touched and saddened by Barbara Grone's story, “all my efforts were in vain”, she said. “It is as though I am being rejected by life itself."

I cried as well. So touching.

A real reminder that you should make the best of it every day, we just don't know how truly limited our time is.

Mimi in Oakland:

I am very sorry that you are so close minded and rude.

The Internet: user be aware

ugly/beauty/death/peace/fear/hope/pain

(thanks for opening the comments, people's perceptions and emotions read out so clearly and varied... I'd hope the artist gets a chance to see these responses to his work)

I feel kind of angry, actually. Most of those people died of cancer, and yet, we are still producing products that are known to help develop these cancers along. And it makes me sad, my grandpa is dying of cancer right now. and he looks like these people - sad, lost, hopeless. And some so young. UGH.

Beautiful work.
And the most incredible spam blocker thingie last time I commented- never thought I'd type "norwegian orgy".

I think that the peaceful expressions on their faces somehow comforts me. Perhaps knowing that their suffering is over. I don't know. But I am glad I looked.
However, I can't say I am ready to condemn Mimi. One never knows how they may react to something especially related to mortality. It could be a personal experience she had, or a very real fear. I have OCD and anxiety and irrationally fear many things. We all feel what we feel and sometimes we make irrational choices about how to express those feelings.

Post # 435 is from the Mimi that caused you to open up the comments. I think she does a good job of defending herself against the "mob". To everybody out there I just say "chill". The comments are great. Thank you everybody.

Everyone has different views of death. It's a strange, personal thing. Most people fear death for most of their lives. Most people fear the unknown.

I think the series of photographs are poignant, and I can understand why he did it because I read the associated article.

It's not a tawdry ploy for attention on the photographer's part. It's a way of saying "hey, Death. I know I'll meet you one day, and that's OK. I respect you."

I've never seen death portrayed with so much dignity, and naked truth.

I have two opinions I'd like to offer which contradict most everyone here.

If you can't take the heat then get out of the kitchen...and as a bloggers 99% of us feel that we owe our audience the chance to react and offer feedback on all of our posts. We take the good, the bad and the ugly because we choose to put ourselves out there. What makes you so special?

As someone who was diagnosed with cancer, yesterday, for the third time I found those pictures very disturbing because I'm looking death in the face at age 41, as the mother of two young children. That's as real as it gets for me. I didn't have to click on the link...it was my option to.

I just don't find death so utterly beautiful and peaceful as the 400 other people who have commented before me. Walk a mile in my shoes...then you'd get it. You are all a bunch of followers.

I was scared to click on the link, but I did it anyway. The pictures were beautiful and respectful. Thanks for sharing them with us.

I am a nurse and did Hospice nursing for six years. It was one of the top experiences in my life. One of the things to notice about the pictures you linked to here is that the majority of these people looked so much more peaceful after death. Death can be a very cleansing process.

I will be eternally grateful for the time my patients shared with me during such a difficult time in ther lives.

You know, I expected to see a bigger difference,I think - someone above mentioned that they looked like empty shells...I lost my grandmother 5 years ago now (feels like last year, weirdly).

as a growing photographer, i am incredibly moved by these shots.

while i can understand that they might be too intense for some to be comfortable with, they reach deep down into my soul and makes me want to be able to create something that is even fractionally as meaningful as this series one day.

i find them sad but beautiful. and i like to be sad sometimes.

My brother died of cancer at age 40... 2 years ago.
I found these pictures beautiful...
The honestly in thier faces before death, and the peace afterwards is beautiful.
Death is natural, we mourn the people we lose, but don't stop loving them...

How sad that Mimi has a problem with such hauntingly beautiful photos.

The difference between the two is amazing. It's the person versus the outer shell.
My grandmother passed away about 2 weeks ago after living with advanced Alzheimer's for several years. She was hardly recognizable as herself at the end. And at her viewing, I didn't want to see her, as every other time I've seen a boy the difference between death and life seemed so harsh and overwhelming. But she looked like herself. And, for the first time I can remember, I was comforted by seeing a dead person finally at peace.

And to comment #38, what a beautiful way to see things.

Truly, truly amazing.

Those are amazing. Makes you think about the big picture.

Honest, beautiful & peaceful.

Hmmm, what did I think of the photos?

I don't see "peaceful," I just see "empty." Maybe because I don't believe in a life-after-death. I think the human body/brain is amazing, and when it stops, this is what it looks like.

That may make no sense to anyone, but I guess I just had to share that I don't get all the "peaceful" comments.

Perhaps Mimi in Oakland should learn to read things before she clicks on links. I knew exactly what I was going to see, being as you TOLD US WHAT IT WAS. I can understand some folks being uncomfortable with them, but how hard is it to not click on a link?

Those photos are amazing. I'm actually spending this afternoon scanning in the last of my post mortem photo collection, and it's rare that I have a "before" to go with any of my "afters." Thank you for the link.

The photos are beautiful.

I was struck by the sense in each of the 'after' photos that the person who had occupied that body was gone. There was nobody home anymore.

Thank you for linking to this.

They were fascinating. Amazing how what they said and felt about their death was reflected in their faces, before and after death. It's so typical for Americans to take this kind of stuff at face value and make that kind of remark. So tiring.

Heather - Thank you for sharing this. Very beautiful and powerful.

When my grandfather died, I sketched him at his viewing. (Not very extensively--it's mostly outlines.) But I felt better.

I found them beautiful. I was there when my grandfather passed and it can be a very moving experience, life and death are equally powerful in the moment they happen. After reading the comment I feared I would be disturbed by the photos but I wasn't at all. I am much more disturbed by regular bloody death photos on the cover of Time Magazine.

I'm the biggest chicken shit ever and I totally respect Heather and Mimi for their opinions. We all deal with our feelings our own way and Mimi was angered by this. She has that right. I, on the other hand, who as I mentioned am a massive chicken shit decided after much trepidation to click on the photos and am glad I did. It made me decide I should stop putting off all of the things I want to do and just do it.

This made me feel hollow. Is there really a point to all the struggle? We all know how it will end for us. Is it all meaningless?

I am currently in medical school, and will someday be a physician. These photos reminded me of all that I cannot understand, but will need to help my patients experience. Thank you for posting this and making it real to me.

I'm not gonna lie - I thought the pictures were a little weird. For whatever reason I don't think I would have been creeped out by the pictures of the dead people exclusively. It was looking at them alive - and the close-up, eye contact nature of those pictures - followed by the dead picture is what was a little disturbing to me. Frankly, I couldn't look at all of them... and I was expecting something a little more April Fools-y.

Simon #179-Beautiful comment.

Thank you for sharing that, Heather. I found nothing nauseating here, perhaps Mimi was looking at rotten.com or some other ilk.

This was beautiful. I was brought to tears and I won't forget the stories the artist shared. So profound.

Good heavens. Some folks are so uptight about death.

Personally, I found them poignant and moving. Thanks for the link.

Thank you, Heather, for this post. How beautiful, peaceful and eloquently death was presented. My mother has been recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer and I am getting ready to pack up my office (MAC included -- I'm a graphic designer) to head south and help her and dad out. This is really the first time in my life that I am being forced to come to terms with the fact that both my parents are not far from being photos in this gallery. In a strange way, looking at these images and reading the captions has actually made me feel just a little more at ease about what my family will surely have to face in the not-so-distant future.

I've been witness to the dying process (of cancer) of a few people. When my mother was in the last days of her life, she started to stare into space, at nothing in particular. Only when I told her that I loved her, that I would miss her, she would turn to me and say, "I love you, too." She had the bluest eyes and they were so intense. I don't have a picture of her dying-but she was beautiful-and so are these photographs. Thank you for posting the link.

I thought they were haunting and beautiful. Without the bits of interview, I might have felt differently, but the words provided a window into the person. We all have to face death. I do not find these photos repugnant in any way; they were reverent and respectful.

Death happens.

Photos of death...no so much.

Kudos Heather for posting the link. It was both emotion- and thought-provoking, as well as beautiful.

Hugs to Mimi. Sounds like she needs them.

Checking dooce while listening to itunes. When I began reading the link, Killing the blues by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss started playing. It seemed to match perfectly (in an inspiring kind of way)

What an interesting subject for photographs. I can only imagine how eery feeling it was for the photographer to see them alive and then a few months later dead. I wonder what their perspective is on these photographs. How did it change their lives? I would be interested in reading that article.

I don't want to look at them: they will make me too sad ...

i haven't even looked at the pics yet. mimi smokes too much crack. if you don't like it, mims, don't look.

heather, i'm usually falling off my chair laughing at something you've said. how dare you. "the audacity." (poor coco.)

:D

My first thought was: "I guess I need to quit making excuses for staying inside to watch reruns on Angel, Rob & Big and America's Next Top Model and go work in the freaking yard. Or take the dogs for a walk. Or find a more satisfying job."

those were beautiful portraits, I'm so glad you share them. Val

I am a photographer and I also cared for my Grandmother at home, holding her hand as she died. I wish I could have photographed her like this.

I think these are utterly beautiful. But then again, I don't think death is a tragedy, or scary, or creepy, I just think it is part of life, part of the cycle.

Seems to me that many of the bodies looked quite at peace after the person had passed. Very transcendent.

It CLEARLY states that "I am Heather B. Armstrong and this is my website" on the top of the page. The operative part of that phrase, Mimi, is that it's HER site. She warned you. She often closes comments. Yet you went to all that trouble to email her on the side and blast her for your failure to read directions.

I hope you do indeed have someone near you who can hug you because as someone else pointed out, you do certainly seem to need it.

Relax honey. If nothing else, these photos show that life is TOO SHORT for this kind of bullshit.

i'm not looking at them. it's late at night and my baby is sleeping next to me and i don't think i can handle it.

i'm not sure why all of you are attacking "mimi" though. i think heather can handle being called chicken and i appreciate her opening up comments. i really don't think she needs all of you sticking up for her, it just sounds lame. she's a grown up lady.

people have a right to be disturbed. just because you found the pictures beautiful doesn't mean someone who doesn't is WRONG.

she wanted the comments open to see if others were disturbed like she was. this blog is usually prety light hearted so she felt shocked and maybe violated by the difference.

anyway, enough bashing "mimi". geez louise.

I don't think your timing could have been any better. I received the call today from my mom that they are calling in hospice for my grandfather. If I can see that peace on his face it will make the torment of the last five years bearable.
(Terminal cancer is a bitch.)
So, thank you.

I thought they were touching. Not nauseating, or even worrisome. In death, people still looked like themselves. Isn't that kind of comforting?

But - and I haven't read every single comment, so maybe someone already said this, but I think Mimi has every right to feel a bit upset, if the pictures made her feel that way. I mean, come on, when you clicked that link, was it what you expected? Raise your hand if you thought it was going to be lots of photos of inhabited caskets. It certainly wasn't what I thought it would be. I am still processing what I think of them. But maybe they touched something personal in Mimi. At least she told Dooce what she thought, and it was a genuine, heartfelt emotion.

But Dooce is no chickenshit... she's like Chuck Norris, she has counted to infinity... twice.

Wow, wow, wow.

I especially appreciated the "helping to birth souls" comment in regards to hospice care.

Thank you for posting that link. Beautiful and moving. I come from a family where it's common for us to take photos of our dearly departed love ones. My mother was adamant that her photo not be taken because she was being ravaged by cancer. For many years I was happy that no one had a photo of her in death and now 11 years after her passing I find myself wishing I did have a photo even though she was a mere shadow of her former self. Morbid, sure, disturbing, of course, but still comforting to me.

Again thank you for posting the link, it brought me to tears.

I found the pictures beautiful and moving and a great tribute to wonderful people. I would much rather have that kind of picture in my obituary than when people put their baby pictures in when they lived to be 99!! I want to be remebered how I am in the end--I will have fought hard to get there!!

I came THIS CLOSE to a nervous breakdown last night.
This was the perspective I needed today.

Thanks Heather.

Haunting... yet oddly appealing. It's interesting how some of the people look dead and others just look like they're sleeping.

I guess I don't get it....What is the BFD? I see death a lot as a nurse and I gotta say these folks look pretty good. Death can be really really GROSS. Then again, the living can be too! Why are so many people so freaked out by dead bodies? A dead body is just as much a part of life as a a living one. We come into this world kinda funky and we usually leave the same way.

When it comes down to it....death is scary for most of us. We don't like to think about it, talk about it and certainly not observe it unless it is glorified in a "blow them away" movie. When I began working as a medical social worker I was nervous when I had to speak to my first patient and their family members about hospice, but what I soon began to realize is that speaking about death, planning for your own death and the ability to say goodbye to those we love prior to your own death is an amazing blessing. Thank you for sharing this link with us.

That was beautiful. It fit in nicely with the book I just finished called "A Brief History of the Dead" which I recommend.

Great link, Heather.

I thought they were utterly fascinating and well done by the producers. It was touching to meet those people through their short stories and admire the strength and gift the subjects left us by allowing us to peek into their final days.

It's unfortunate that people attach such a strong stigma to death and dying. It's the one thing each of us will share within our lifetime. Burying your head in the sand with the mindset that it's something ugly and unnatural only perpetuates fear and ignorance.

G

Apparently Mimi doesn't read very often, since you rarely open comments.

I looked at the picutres, read the text... WOW. Simply amazing, and peaceful. I couldn't really look at the death pictures for more than a moment, it's just too hard for me to see a face without the living muscle tone.

Mimi should away and get herself to fuck.

And frankly? Those dead people pictures were the most peaceful, composed and gentle depictions of dead people I've ever seen.

Death isn't pretty, the commenter who mentioned how fast the 'light' goes out of people has it spot on. People return to lumps of meat real fast once they're gone.

A shot of reality is a fine thing when facing the truisms of life. Bitching that you feel 'nauseated' by it simply spits in the face of the subjects' memory.

Part of me was scared before I clicked the link, not sure of what I would find. What a moving site. It's amazing. I am sitting here with streaming tears at some of the descriptions how people felt.

Thank you for posting this.

My friend died of cancer and I wish I had a picture as beautiful as those to remember her by. I would pay anything. I would have never seen this work of art if not for dooce. Don't look it up if you don't want to.

I think its amazing and beautiful, it takes a special person to take pictures like that. And I think we need to take a look at our selves and the way were living our own lives,these pictures make us do that.

i actually find it very poignant and compelling.

I was with my first husband when he died (age 33)--I held his hand as he took his last breath, as his heart stopped beating and he took the next step in his journey from health to cancer to peace. Death is a part of life, we should not hide from death or treat it like a pariah in our world. These portraits brought back so many memories...many painful and difficult because I still miss my first husband. Still, I am honored to have been there for him and to have viewed so many of these pictures today.

Thank you for sharing them.

When my best friend died after a long struggle with leukemia and an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant, one of her childhood friends and I washed her and dressed her and covered her with her favorite sandalwood oil before she was cremated. Your correspondent who found death so repellent is a sad product of a society where we absent ourselves from these moments of passage. Was that body Kathy? Not anymore, but by caring for it and honoring it, we honored her with the last services we could do for her in this world.

The director of my work died recently after a long battle with cancer. His funeral service was today. He stopped talking about the details of his illness with my co-workers, some of whom he was close with, and seeing their reactions toward the end I think it was because of the isolation that the photographer described with some of these people. They kept telling him "oh when you're better ..." and "when you get back ..." after a few times trying to describe the reality of his situation to them and having them deny that reality. I wish I knew him better so that I could help him in just acknowledging that reality.

I understand completely why you didn't initially turn on the comments - witness, seven years of crazy internet trolls yelling at you - but I'm really glad you did. It was SO nice to read other people's views and experiences. Thank you, everyone, for sharing.
And Heather... Dooce... I really, really needed this today. So thank you.

I thought they were challenging to look at. But they were beautiful as well, and lovingly rendered. I could not look away.

Thanks for sharing.

I am guessing that some people don't like this series because they are afraid of death. I found that the text and photos together are quite poignant. They made me feel like living life to the fullest. This may sound strange, but thank you for posting that.

Jesus Fucking Christ... It's not like you 'Rick Rolled' her. Now that would have been truly abhorrent...

Hey,
Mimi got the comments page open!! Lets face it, she knew what to say. Chicken shit Heather is not.
I have not looked at the link and yet, after reading comment after comment, I have cried a bucket of tears. I will get there, maybe tomorrow.
Once again Heather, thanks. This seems to be a very important post.
LL

The photos are many of the things people have posted. They are: haunting, beautiful, peaceful, brilliant, poignant, compelling. They also made me nauseous. Not because I found them repellent, ugly, distasteful, disrespectful, or any of these things. I am ENTITLED to feel nauseous after viewing these images. They are images of life and death and are very strong, visual reminders of our own mortality and the short time we have. They are reminders of who were are, what we have done, our hopes, dreams, regrets, missed opportunities, families. They are reminders that this too shall be all of us one day. Feeling nauseous by the inescapable, overwhelming reality that this will be me, you and everyone we know one day is FAIR. I am human, god damn it. I am not going to bang a tambourine and applaud of all you for being so magnanimous that you did not feel the same way.

I didn't even find them mildly disturbing. The first one is the only that I wanted to quickly look away. The rest are very peaceful.

It made me grieve for them. They were very compelling. The live portraits more than the dead, and I think it's because I knew they were dying. Some seemed like people I wish I had a chance to know.

Death is actually quite beautiful and these photos clearly display that. Thank you for sharing these.

Heather,

My father died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face. He didn't die until a week and a half after his suicide attempt.

As morbid as it may seem, I have often wished that I had taken a before and after picture so that I could have captured the look of distress on his face while he was still alive, and the expression of tranquility he had after he died. I want to never forget the pain he was in that caused him to want to end his life and how peaceful he seemed when his ordeal was over.

Thank you for continuing to make me laugh and cry, and for challenging me to think about why I react the way I do.

I think its funny how you can call just about anything 'art' and some people will find a way to like it.

Sheep. People = sheep.

Thank you Heather, very moving and incredible images. I have lost my mother last year to cancer, she died alone, unexpectedly before any of us made it to the hospital. I believe she prefered it that way. Peacefully withy dignity. I took pictures of her afterwards and I've realised - after looking at these shots - that I needed to do that.

Thank you.

Death is natural and a part of life. I thought it was beautifully done. They each had such different views on their own impending deaths...it reminds you that we all walk that road some day.

The picture I took of my grandma after she passed away is one of my favorite. Especially the one I took of her hands, folded just so in that pose that funeral homes do. There is only beauty to be found in these moments that make us remember where we will all be one day. Only a spurring on to live each moment, alive with joy and awe.

Thank you, Heather, for putting this link on your site.