I have been living in Albany for ten years now – closer to eleven – and how time flies. I remember when I moved I explored a lot of haunts remembered from childhood holidays and found some new ones. Always I saved the old cemetery as a treat. Yes, a treat for a time I was bored, or a bit down and needed something special to do. Now you are confused? 
I really enjoy visiting cemeteries, as a historian I find the family relationships, disasters, love affairs and fashion, spread out for all to see fascinating, encouraging and sometimes a little sad. 
Some headstones resound with grief and a sense of a family that can not go on, and yet neighbouring plots will reveal that those same relatives lived to ripe old ages and gave joy to others, somewhere they found strength. The graves of children bring a lump to my throat, and yet these ancient headstones also serve to make me very grateful for the time I live in, where so many more children grow to fulfil their potential.
Today I needed some photos for an altered book and so I ventured into town for a blissful afternoon, feeling a little sad that I was ‘using up’ this treat.
I was caught in a dilemma – as often is the case when I visit cemeteries: Indulge my slight obsessive compulsive tendencies and visit every grave in order from beginning to end, reading every headstone; flit from section to section following the trail of family relationships or follow my camera and capture the afternoon shadows and shapes. I ended up doing a little of all, and resolved both to visit without a camera and in a morning so I can shoot with my back to the light.
Archer seemed particularly interested in this tiny grave for sisters Emily and Violet. I was heartbroken to see the work of vandals, not for the sake of the dead, I know their souls have long departed, but for the history, for those who left these markers. How beautiful was the plot of identical plain crosses home to the bodies of departed nuns, how poignant the messages of love left ... These cemeteries of of old seem to resound with hope for future meetings and a belief in the life after death, and yes, art.
