A funeral is often so moving for loved ones that the day passes them by in a daze.

The togetherness, the friends from before and the friends from afar. The flowers. But also that one embrace, the small gesture, the pride, the love and the deep sorrow.

Those precious moments can be so important later in dealing with the loss. That is why I capture them.

Marieke

My approach

  • It is important that you as a family feel comfortable with the photographer you choose. Please feel free to give me a call where we can talk and I can explain how I work. Of course you can also email or send me a Whatsapp.

    If after this you decide to proceed, I will contact your funeral director or a contact person of the family. Using a questionnaire, I go over all the details with them so that I can take your personal wishes into account as much as possible. For example: is there something or someone in particular that should definitely not be missing from the reportage, such as a dear friend, a ring or a drawing? This way I can be sure that I don't forget anything on the day itself.

  • My preference is to start photographing at the moment you come together with the relatives. The first moments together, the coffee, maybe the closing of the coffin, together on the way to the location where the funeral will take place.

    I stop photographing when the official part is over, and the informal part (coffee table or drinks) starts.

    During the funeral, I photograph as quietly and discreetly as possible and adapt to the atmosphere that is there. I will never ask people to do anything in front of the camera. Actually, I am just a "fly on the wall. And in the unlikely event that something doesn't feel comfortable, a nod is all it takes. I am there for you.

    My camera is (almost) silent, and I always work without flash.

  • After the funeral, I start making a careful selection, image editing the reportage (in color or black and white or a combination of both) and, if desired, compiling the book. Within seven days I send a small number of first photos (6-8 pieces) by email, and after a month the whole reportage is ready. Should it need to be ready sooner, it can be done by mutual agreement.

    The reportage can be downloaded via an online gallery with password. Here all photos can be downloaded in high and low resolution without restriction and shared with others. Any magnetic boxes with prints and/or book(s) will be sent by mail.

Possibilities and rates

To reflect the story of the funeral as personally and beautifully as possible, everything is carefully crafted by me by hand.

Reportage

~ A reportage of 100-120 digital photos in an online photo gallery.

€ 995

Rep. & slides

~ A reportage of 100-120 digital photos in an online photo gallery.

~ A slide film (as above) of over 2 minutes.

€ 1.095

Rep. & prints

~ A reportage of 100-120 digital photos in an online photo gallery.

~ A deluxe magnetic box with printed photos.

€ 1.295

Rep. & boek

~ A reportage of 100-120 digital photos in an online photo gallery.

~ A high-quality linen book with pictorial narrative.

€ 1.495

Prices above are include 21% VAT | Preparation | Travel time | Fuel costs (first 50 km, then 0.24 ct per km) | 3 hours of photography (after that 175 p.h.) | Selection and image editing (1.5 to 3 days) | Printing costs | Book printing costs | Packaging and shipping costs. Prices may vary according to requirements, time and location. My residence is Amsterdam, but I photograph throughout the Netherlands and Belgium.

My wish is to make farewell photography possible for everyone, even if finances are an obstacle. Feel free to call me for an interview.

About me

uitvaart afscheid afscheidsfotografie uitvaartfotografie fotografe marieke van der velden mariekevandervelden mariekebijafscheid

I am Marieke van der Velden (50), born and raised in the countryside of East Brabant, living in Amsterdam. In the past 27 years I have built a fine career as a photographer there with much love and pleasure. International media and companies ask me for their portraits and reports, and commissioned by organizations such as Unicef I have had the opportunity to travel the world more than 50 times to capture their projects. On my blog you can find the latest updates.

In addition, together with my husband and filmmaker Philip Brink, I produce multimedia projects such as 'The Island of All Together' and 'Children of the Labyrinth'. This earned us 5 awards at the Dutch ‘Zilveren Camera’.

Often my clients say, "When the images need to be soft and human, we come to you."

If there are any questions, I would love to hear them.

Marieke

Read the article in JAN Magazine (in Dutch)