Note to FaG photo requesters (soapbox time). I have fulfilled many photo requests over the years, however lately I have noticed a trend of some members requesting thousands and thousands of photo requests or perhaps adding 50 requests to a cemetery in one day (how rude). It's easy to click the button "request photo" but those specific requesters need to know that they are burning out the energy and joy of us volunteers who actually go to the cemetery and spend 15-30 minutes per request finding the grave and taking the photo. Therefore, as of summer 2024 I am only going to fulfill requests for those folks who appear to be asking for photos of family members or ancestors. For you other folks, might I ask that instead of clicking a button, you come out to the cemetery and join us photo volunteers doing the photos. (end of soapbox)

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During 2020/21 I took about 5000 gravestone photos in Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Hillside IL to keep myself busy during the isolation period of the Covid pandemic. I did not clean up the in-ground stones for these photos and some are really grungy. If you wish to have a nicer photo for any of these memorials - just request a better photo.

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December 2017, I retired from a major Chicago area paint manufacturing company. These days I enjoy fulfilling photo requests at St Adalbert's Cemetery in Niles, Illinois and other Catholic cemeteries nearby. Early in my working years I worked in a photo store in Chicago and later was a semi-professional photographer before my career in the paint industry. So, I'm picky about the quality of the photo. Often, my photos are improved versions of earlier photos taken by others. Perhaps the lighting is better in my photo, or the shadows enhance the information on the stone. No malice is intended to the previous photographers.

I strive to take the best photos of the stones for the enjoyment of the viewer. A photo isn't any good if the viewer cannot determine what it says because the info is covered by dirt or grass. I urge other FAG photographers to do the same - Before taking a photo, please carefully clean up the gravestone removing any mud or encroaching grass. A battery operated weed-whacker works best. Put yourself in the shoes of the requestor - will they be happy with the photo you just took?

Feel free to use any of my photos. 99.99% of my memorials are not my family and I will gladly transfer them to you if the memorial is your family.

I've been doing genealogy since the early 1990's. Primary family names include: Zukowski, Mosiniak, Josefiak, Jasniewski, Polowy, Lepianka from the Polish side of the family in Illinois and Wisconsin. Primary West Virginia names include Miller, Brafford, Peters, Whitehair and many others.

During winter when I can't fulfill photo requests, I review the online Mount Carmel Cemetery (Hillside, IL) daily interment records and add new memorials or updating existing ones into the F-a-G database. Over the last few winter seasons, I've completed all of the 1930/1931/1932 burials.