Christians (maybe other religions or cultures) believe death is a time for celebration, not grieving, and vice versa with birth (grief not celebration)
I once was at a memorial service where the woman's daughter showed up drunk and was taking pictures of everybody at the service. That was awkward.
I have relatives that did this at a family funeral. I thought it was creepy. It's better to be remembered how you were alive.
Christians (maybe other religions or cultures) believe death is a time for celebration, not grieving, and vice versa with birth (grief not celebration)
What the hell are you talking about? I've been to plenty of Christian funerals, and never once has the pastor / priest said anything about celebrating.
Oh, I thought we were talking about taking pictures of the corpse. I don't see a problem with taking pics of the attendees. Especially if you rarely see your extended family. My family only gets together at weddings or funerals.
I've noticed the practice to be very common among the older generation of Italians, at least in the NYC/Northeast area.