The film director Jean-Luc Godard once said, “Photography is truth.” So when a photographer captures an image, of him or herself, of another person, or of a particular setting, he or she is capturing a truth that can speak to us all. Several new or ongoing photography projects have recently been publicized that reveal the truth about aging: how your body changes over time, how a family can grow up and older, and how aging can alter or influence our point of view in life.

First is the project “Beautiful Girls” (​​BELLES MÔMES) by the young French/Swiss photographer Clélia Rochat. Repulsed by the societal treatment of older women, she set out to document the truth and beauty of the older female form, asking women to decide for themselves what parts of their bodies (clothed or unclothed) they wanted to present to the world in an expression of truth and confidence, as opposed to the shame so many older women feel about their bodies. With almost 10,000 followers on Instagram, Rochat’s Covid-begun project continues to add photos and stories as older women step forward to portray themselves in front of her camera. To find out more, focus your vision here.

Photographer Zed Nelson has also used his camera to capture the truth of aging, focusing his lens on a family unit with an annual family portrait session going back 30 years. Beginning with a husband, wife, and infant son, the portraits evolve as the couple ages, the son grows up and the family dynamics shift. As the wife in these photos commented, “Three decades have gone in a flash. These photos make me realize the sheer speed of time passing.” That’s a reality of aging that’s often painful to acknowledge but definitely rings true for so many as they marvel at the speed at which their children grow up and begin their own independent lives. To learn more about this project, read here.

Finally, for many, the pandemic distorted reality and altered our sense of time passing. In the Bronx, members of the Bronx Senior Photo League, an organization that sponsors photo classes in senior centers, in collaboration with the Bronx Junior Photo League (sponsoring photo classes for young Bronx residents) were given cameras and told to take self-portraits in a project sponsored by The New York Times. These portraits- of young and old (some photographed their environment rather than themselves)- have just begun a public exhibition at Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, from now until December 1st. Reflecting on their past lives as well as their lived experiences during the pandemic, the photos from both young and older photographers reflect the complicated truth that all of us have experienced during the pandemic. For more on this photo series, click here.