Webster photographer's new book shows how cemeteries have changed with the times

Jane Hopkins, a landscape photographer, can get a mixed reaction when she tells people she focuses her camera on cemeteries.

“It’s a conversation stopper,” says Hopkins, who lives in Webster.

But it can be a conversation starter, as well, because cemeteries have stories to tell.

Hopkins chronicles these stories in her second collection of cemetery photographs, “Buried Rochester New York Area: 200 years of Cemetery History.”

Published by America Through Time, “Buried Rochester” follows “Cemetery Reflections,” Hopkins’ collection of photographs published in 2022.

The first book offered thoughts on death and grief in addition to photographs.

“Hopkins sees (cemeteries) not just as places that honor the dead but also as peaceful places that provide healing for the living,” I wrote then.