These five cemeteries were photographed in the last two years, and each could not be more different. Rosebank Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland – Taken at a 19th-century graveyard located near the historical boundary of Leith on a damp fall day. The amazing lushness of the trees and bushes, many of which had overgrown and overtaken the markers, easily drew the eye, to say nothing of the remarkable statuary and stonework throughout the cemetery. Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas – Despite being located adjacent to a major interstate highway, standing in the middle of this cemetery was more quiet than I could have thought possible - the loudest noise was when a plane flew over. Containing some graves of various notable and notorious residents of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, including Texas gunman and lawyer John Wesley Harding, it also contains a Chinese graveyard with funerary and a memorial to Buffalo Soldiers. Merrick Cemetery, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana – These were taken about five and a half years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita emptied and relocated burial vaults from this cemetery. There was almost a palpable feel of sickness and insanity, staring at tombs that were emptied of their contents by forces of nature and which, years later, remain in their abandoned state. While a number of the coffins were found, they remained at the cemetery in the concrete vaults they were brought back in, which themselves remained outside of tombs, falling apart slowly. Lockheart Municipal Burial Park, Lockheart, Texas – Taken at twilight, the humidity of central Texas was still pervasive in October, while the noise of insects overwhelmed the nearby roads. These vaults and monuments all predate city ordinances which now prohibit above-ground markers. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 , New Orleans, Louisiana – Shot at while dodging groups of guided tours being led around. The cemetery itself is located next to a tourist office and only a block away from the French Quarter. One of three cemeteries with this name in New Orleans, it only spans a block, but contains thousands, including, it is rumored, voodoo queen Marie Laveau.
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