Life Before Death

“I wonder if it’s possible to have a second chance at life? I don’t think so. I’m not afraid of death — I’ll just be one of the million, billion grains of sand in the desert…” – Klara Behrens

Sometimes, a photo grabs you and will not let go. Well, on this occasion it wasn’t one photo, but a series. I came across them accidently, and they have been haunting me. Wyrd Words & Effigies is about celebrating the strange, wyrd and different. The fact I kept going back to them only strengthened the desire and absolute need to share them.

This macabre, yet somewhat serene, and darkly beautiful series of portraits are of people before and after death. They were captured by German photographer Walter Schels. Interviews with the subjects were conducted by Schel’s partner Beate Lakotta.