Photographer Captures Bittersweet Portraits Of The Elderly When They Were Young
Do you feel your age? In his wistful series "Mirrors," Dallas-based photographer Tom Hussey captures the discrepancy between how old we look and how young we feel with sharp tenderness.
By Sadho Ram — 08 Dec 2013, 01:49 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
The series is an emotional one, tying together the prime years of the elderly subjects’ past to their present lives. It is a beautiful yet melancholic take on the conceptual reality of natural life.
The photographer arrived upon the concept for his bittersweet series after a conversation with an 80-year-old World War II veteran who couldn't believe how quickly time had passed.
"He commented that he didn’t understand how he could be 80 years old as he felt he was still a young man. He just didn’t feel it was possible he could be 80 years old," Hussey told the American Society of Media Photographers.
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Hussey channeled the separation between body and mind in his mirror series, collapsing decades before our very eyes. Firemen, teachers, scientists and nurses confront their older selves in the mirror wearing retro uniforms and sporting rosy cheeks.
To cast the shoot, Hussey and his team found convincing dopplegangers separated by 40 or 50 years. The results are realistic and poignant, capturing the perplexing relationship we have with our changing bodies over time.
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10) Fireman
The series, a winner at the 2010 Communication Arts Photography Annual, was used for Novartist’s marketing campaign for the Exelon Patch, a therapy patch used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
Image via huffpost.com