[killjoy]

I think it is a rude intrusion of privacy and an assault on personal dignity, to be shoving a camera in a dead persons face.

As a photographer, I completely disagree. I have taken similar pictures and I can assure you that absolutely no disrespect is ment when they are taken.

During the Vietnam War, photographer Tim Page took a shot of a guy who had just been in an ambush and was being helicoptered out of the area. He said at the time, the guy wanted to kill him for taking the picture. Twenty years later, he sent a letter to Tim Page thanking him. He told Tim Page it is the only picture he has of himself in Vietnam.

[Calvin Locke]

There's a documentary on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A [professional] photographer only took about
a dozen shots at most, immediately afterwards.

Can't remember if it was shock, or respect.

IMHO, he should have kept documenting. There's always the editing process.