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Photography: Tomales Catholic Cemetery

“The cemetery is an open space among the ruins, covered in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with death, to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place.”—Percy Bysshe Shelley, Adonais

I’ve passed the Tomales Catholic cemetery for years and always wanted to stop. On Thanksgiving, I finally did. Wandering the grounds taking pictures of the beautiful statues, some dating back to the 1800s, my mind wandered to my own lineage. I have no sacred grounds to honor my ancestors and so I choose to think of them.

Hawks circled above me and the sun shone far too bright in the early afternoon sky. I felt a variety of feelings from unease to joy. I wondered about the women who came before me and the roads they walked. Gratitude flooded my body. My camera is a time machine. A lens to see more than I can.

Walk with me.

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  • Photos were taken with Olympus OM-D  and edited with ON1 Photo RAW

70 thoughts on “Photography: Tomales Catholic Cemetery”

  3. I like the ones where you just have a statue against the sky. Looks like you had a bright-enough day for it so you get a pleasant, uniform background which doesn’t draw any attention away from the subject.

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  4. Bridgette I love the black and white in these photographs, it brings out the detail, it leaves you with a feeling of tranquility but ls gives us a glipes into our own mortality very humbling. Up my street Thanks for sharing 😁

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  7. Sorry Bridgette I am not used to the site I meant to say magic is a small word for this inspirational island the people here use its draw to achieve beautiful artworks of all kinds

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    • I’m really starting to have a fondness for them too. The first time I photographed a cemetery I wondered if someone would find me disrespectful, but I’m careful to never share names and to be reverent in the space. I hope my photos honor them.

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      • I don’t think so. I have wandered in Cemeteries all my life, I lived about 300metres from the biggest in Sydney.
        They have such feeling, the names I don’t think matter. I always dislike the old graves that are a bit haphazard, sometimes you never know if you are standing on someone 😲😀

      • I don’t like that either! This little one was laid out so strange. Some of the bigger plots were surrounded by a low chained fence (odd), but other plots were just here and there. There were no paved paths either.

    • Thank you! Yes, I’m learning to really appreciate the differences but also recognize the similarities when it comes to gravestones. I’ve noticed the older stones always do the math for you, telling you exactly how old the person was at death. They also often mention the home country of birth.

      I noticed an entire family buried in one plot close together except for one woman. She had a smaller headstone and was off to one side, as if perhaps to distance herself from the others. I know there’s a story there.

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    • Thank you. That was the view looking out from the back fence of the cemetery. A little further out was a hill covered in black cows. It’s a very peaceful place of rest.

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  19. #3, if only for the cobweb 🙂 And like you I like wandering around graveyards, reading the inscriptions (where still readable) and reflecting on their – often untold – stories.

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    • That cobweb was so cool! This cemetery had a lot of bees too but they were quick and didn’t land long enough for me to photograph them. Yes, the wandering of graveyards is becoming something I find both moving and peaceful. So many stories and lives.

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