CHIP LITHERLAND PHOTOGRAPHY

editorial essay: ashes to ashes

FHP troopers investigate the scene as an alarm clock sits on the side of the road after it was thrown from a van along with the driver in a fatal accident in Bradenton, Florida.
  
Silver paint is applied to a casket by Binny Quintana at the Cardinal Casket Company in Orlando, Florida, while customizing it for delivery to a funeral home.
   
Funeral Director Tom Packer applies makeup on a man while preparing for an open casket service in sarasota, Florida.
     
  
Mary Jo Cronen reaches into a cooler at University Florist to select a group of flowers while creating a piece to be placed next to a casket in a funeral in Bradenton, Florida.
   
Reflected in the marble mausoleum walls, Pastor John M. Bartha leads a prayer with a group gathered to mourn a loved one in Ellenton, Florida.
  
Powell Helm digs into the earth while preparing a grave site for a vault installation and burial in Sarasota, Florida.
     
  
Nancy Dunn tapes a price tag to a mirror inside a woman's home after she passed away, while preparing to sell her personal items at an estate sale in Sarasota, Florida.
  
Funeral Director Tom Packer and Bill Massengill guide a casket into an hearse at Packer Funeral Home in Sarasota, Florida, in preparation for a funeral service. Florida's death industry is alive and kicking as most people spend their lives trying to avoid death; but some make their living staring it right in the face.