Peaceful Work - Keenan Pickell tapes a marker made by the family to their loved one’s grave in preparation for...

Peaceful Work - “I’m not a people person and during the semester I’m very nose-in-book. This job forces me to get...

Peaceful Work - John Wampler, left, works to open the storage shed while Keenan Pickell watches. The shed used to...

Peaceful Work - “This is my favorite grave in the cemetery. The lettering is so old and faded that you...

Peaceful Work - Keenan Pickell, left, Taylor Carinder, center, and Justin Baysinger stand away and watch the...

Peaceful Work - “I think it’s important to have a healthy relationship with death. I’ve always thought cemeteries...

Keenan Pickell tapes a marker made by the family to their loved one’s grave in preparation for the burial later that day. The tracing read: Dave Horner ♪What a Wonderful World♪ “Take care of the Earth”

“I’m not a people person and during the semester I’m very nose-in-book. This job forces me to get fresh air and to talk to people. I love it here. These guys are like my family.”

John Wampler, left, works to open the storage shed while Keenan Pickell watches. The shed used to be where bodies were stored before burial but now houses chairs, shovels and other tools the caretakers use to host burials.

“This is my favorite grave in the cemetery. The lettering is so old and faded that you can’t tell who it was. There’s mystery and ambiguity to it. It’s just beautiful.”

Keenan Pickell, left, Taylor Carinder, center, and Justin Baysinger stand away and watch the funeral for Dave Horner. They follow the idea of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as they wait for the funeral to end so they can fill the grave.

“I think it’s important to have a healthy relationship with death. I’ve always thought cemeteries were peaceful. They’re like a giant sculpture garden.”

Outtakes that almost made it in.

Peaceful Work - Keenan, the Columbia Cemetery groundskeeper.

Peaceful Work

Elizabeth Underwood

Photographer & Editor based in Buffalo, Wyoming, USA

Private Story

Peaceful Work

Updated Sep 2022