Oakland Cemetery – Beauty in Death

One of my favorite places to shoot is the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.  Whenever I have time, I enjoy roaming amongst the graves.

1-67Right now, the cemetery is in bloom.  The most beautiful flowers in the world to me are daffodils, and the cemetery is full of them.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they 1-21
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.  Wordsworth
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The flags are always hung at half mast in the civil war section of the cemetery.  Lines and lines of tombstones of fallen soldiers adorn the field.  Their lonely graves all that is left of a dark time in our country.
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 The colors are vibrant and create quite the contrast to the pale graves.
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I love using light to catch interesting focus depth behind my subjects.  Outdoor photography using natural sunlight is how I prefer to shoot.  I shoot with Nikon, and generally use my telephoto zoom to get my shots.
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 Another reason I like to shoot in the cemetery is that I love to shoot crosses. There are so many beautiful examples in Oakland.
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I also enjoy getting different viewpoints of the same object.
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The beauty and intricacy of each grave is amazing and breathtaking.1-87

So if you’ve never been to Oakland, I highly recommend you visit.  There are three miles of walking trails, created and natural beauty, and a peacefulness that you do not get at other Atlanta landmarks.  It is one of my favorite places to go and get lost in the moments of other people’s lives.
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Rebecca Bozarth is an artist who lives in Atlanta.  A graduate from SCAD Atlanta, she runs her own freelance business, Fotografia Film & Design, specializing in photography, film, social media, programing, and graphic and web design.

In her free time, you can find her exploring the city, at the park, reading, or playing on her PS4.  She loves classic film, concerts, and geek culture, especially Star Wars, Nightmare Before Christmas, Marvel, TWD, and recently has fallen in love with the art of cosplay.

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