The Brief
Over the winter, still amongst the pandemic, I traveled to where most weren’t allowed – nursing homes and private residents of the elderly – to capture portraits for Hudson Valley Magazine most recent article “Our Greatest Generation.”
“Within the battlefields of popular culture, the generation wars continue to rage. Boomers are disparaged. Gen X is ignored. Millennials are maligned. Zoomers jockey for superiority. But above the fray, there’s another generation — one whose members saved the world from fascism, challenged segregation, overcame the Great Depression, and survived the Holocaust.” – LISA CESARANO
What I Did
With only a few minutes for each portrait, I asked them their secret to life and a good marriage, amongst other curiosities about their life as I was setting up. While sitting with their wisdom, vibrancy, and stories, I intimately connected and captured their essence.
What kept coming up for me after each portrait was the overwhelming feeling that we need to slow down and commune with our elders. Our society is so caught up in youth culture and consumerism. At the end of our lives, we accumulate so much stuff that’s just clutter covering up the deeper purpose in life, sharing time with the ones with love and celebrating community and family. Time is all we have here.
Thank you Hudson Valley Magazine, and to Bill, Sayoko, Elsie, Julia, and Ed. This opportunity was such an honor.
Hudson Valley Magazine
photography by Meghan Spiro
