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Post-mortem photography (also known as memorial portraiture or memento mori) is the practice of photographing the recently deceased. The process used to take pictures back then was expensive enough that it was a once in a lifetime thing for most, and required people to sit perfectly still for a couple minutes for it to turn out properly. And if there’s one thing dead people are good at it’s sitting still. So, the bodies were dressed and propped up, with their eyes held open. And in case they still weren’t giving off that lively vibe, some color was added to the faces in the photo. Eventually the practice of memorial photography went out of style, maybe because picture-taking became more affordable and didn’t have to be reserved for special occasions such as death.
(via crone2thebone)
