As Derbyshire Funeral Videographers we filmed the inspiring pirate-themed funeral of YouTube star "Captain" Kori Stovell on Wednesday at All Saints Church in Ripley, Derbyshire. Working alongside Funeral Directors at Archway Funeral Services, we filmed the whole day for the family with the aim of providing a video for all of Kori's Youtube followers, to show his amazing send-off.

It was an early morning as me and my team headed down to cover both the Funeral Photography and Funeral Videography for the Dube Family at Hollybrook Cemetery in Southampton. It was such a lovely funeral with amazing Gospel singing during the service and Graveside burial. A lovely family and here are some of the images from the day to give you a feel for what we do.

It was nice to be back at Randalls Park Crematorium again in Surrey yesterday. I was there a lot throughout the pandemic Live Streaming Funerals for Families as the venue didn’t have the facilities at the time. This time I was back to capture the funeral in the main crematorium through normal Filming. The family wanted a high quality copy of the funeral to share with friends and family. Normal filming gives you this opportunity, to film everything in 4K, inside and outside and to capture details in much more clarity and with much more creativity than what Funeral Streaming would allow.

The coffin was carried down by the Pallbearers and Funeral Director on a Hand Cart followed by Family and friends. It’s always a challenge to film this moment from lots of different angles without being too intrusive, but it was really important to the family to capture the essence of this part of the Funeral. I had already been filming lots of details such as drone shots alone the canopy of the forest ready to set the scene and lead up to these moments. The whole service was beautifully done, with some singing, a reading, tributes and touching music played in the background at various moments. Once the coffin had been lowered then flowers were sprinkled in the grave while music was played in the background on an instrument which I have never seen before, but sounded amazing.

Horse & Carriage Final Journey - Gilroes Cemetery

For some of our families capturing every detail of the funeral is so important. Some may emphasise the Church Service or the burial as being the most important part of the day. Whilst for others it may be capturing friends and family to show who attended and paid their respects.

For this particular gentleman it was very much about the final journey his mum would take in the horse and carriage. From the getting ready at the Funeral home, his mums coffin being loaded int the carriage, to the pink ribbons he picked out for her and the journey past a number of places where they had lived as a family and finishing up at Gilroes Cemetery and Crematorium, he wanted us to capture it all. This was a little more complicated than normal, so there had to be two of us filming at separate points, but leap frogging each other in order to capture the next location.

He was very proud of his final film and said “It went way beyond my expectations and its something I will treasure forever. “

It was so lovely to work with Co-operative Funeralcare in Birstall who originally recommended me for this family.

It was a privilege to film the funeral of Mr James Campbell on behalf of his family at Rye Lane Baptist Church in Peckham, London. It was a beautiful service with so many friends and family sharing stories, songs and poems. After the Service we headed to Camberwell New Cemetery where we finished the day with the Burial. The Funeral directors on the day were Constable and Coop, they were amazing and so easy to work alongside. Thank you!!

On a wet and windy day, the friends and family of Joan arrived at All Saints Church in Hampton, London to celebrate her life. All Saints is a very beautiful and friendly church. Whilst setting up one of the ladies made me a nice cup of tea and showed me around. Soon freinds and family arrived and made their way into the Church as the dark clouds rolled in. Just as the Hearse arrived the heavens really opened up and the rain came down really hard.

The rain was relentless as Joan’s coffin was carried into the church. I managed to find a relatively dry spot under a tree where I could take photos from. The tributes led by the family were really beautiful and once the service was over we headed off to South West Middlesex Crematorium (Hanworth Crematorium) for the final blessings.