Every successful campaign needs good photos to illustrate why it matters to people.
But how do you go about illustrating a problem like funeral poverty? We can all conjure up the images normally associated with funerals; gleaming black hearses; a hand clutching a single white rose; water babbling tastefully over pebbles.
But at Fair Funerals, we were adamant we wanted to break away from this. The campaign is trying to change the way people think and talk about funerals, so we knew we needed a very different way of illustrating them.
As a small charity without the budget for professional photographers, our options were fairly limited.
But a potential solution presented itself when I went to stay with my mum at Christmas last year. I was helping her sort her through huge collection of family photos. Together we waded through boxes; funny, moving, occasionally embarrassing photos spanning back over sixty years of birthdays, holidays and days out. It struck me that in these photos perhaps we had the seed of a solution.
It struck me that old family photos were a really good way of showing why funerals should be fair. Funerals are about coming together, celebrating our memories and the lives of people we love. When we look at these photos, it’s obvious why funerals are important and why everyone should have access to them, even if they haven’t got much money.
I travelled back to work that New Year armed with lots of old family photos scanned and saved on a memory stick.
With that in mind, we’re asking if you would send us some photos of you in good times with your friends or family?
To show that we’re not shy, here’s one of me (Carl, campaigns officer) with my family in 1990 when I was a baby. I have no idea what my dad is doing, but this is a great photo for me – it’s how I want to remember my dad.
And just to make sure we’re all on the same page of spreading the joy, here’s one of me and my siblings in our garden, home in Belfast.
We know this is a big ask. Our photos are very personal to us, and sharing them publicly can feel a bit odd. We appreciate not everyone will be up for sharing their photos.
For those of you that do, we promise:
- Your photos won’t be used for anything other than on the Fair Funerals website or social media platforms
- Your photos won’t be shared with any third parties
- You can withdraw your consent for us using your photos at any time. Just email me at
- Your photos will be anonymous unless you choose to provide us with a caption.
Photos needed for campaign launch in three weeks!
We're looking for photos to use in a new campaign calling on the government to increase the funeral fund for people who can’t afford it. Right now the fund covers less than half of what a funeral costs. This causes delays in being able to lay loved ones to rest and pushes people into unaffordable debts. We’re launching this campaign in mid-September, so we only have three weeks to gather in the photos we need to launch this campaign!
Sending us your photos
We’ve created a really simple way for you to send us your photos. Just use the box below to update your photos directly from your phone, laptop or computer.
