Community Chat

[DukeBlueNan]

I thought it was a very sweet idea and wish I'd done something similar with my sister! However I wouldn't be brave enough to have pic taken for 40 years and very doubtful I would look as lovely as the sisters. OP, you're very fortunate to have taken such good care of your skin. I always felt like I did too, but time marches on. Thank you for sharing the link.

[Mominohio]

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

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@Mominohio wrote:

Geez. Way to judge.

This is what real women look like. Without all the fake our society 'demands' these days.

You have no idea what their lives involved, their health, their stresses, and the path each walked.

They seem to be 'real' women. They appear to not be caught up in lifts, and tucks, and creams and makeup. 

This is what the human body does as it ages, and it is not only natural it is beautiful.

I love to see beautiful natural women, who's faces, skin, body and hair tell the story of their lives.

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@Mominohio  This was just my opinion on what I felt after viewing the slide show. Nothing wrong with them being so called real women... I was just commenting on their skin and how much it aged.  It really did tell the story of their lives that is for sure! 

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@SeaMaiden

I didn't mean for my post to seem like it was lashing out at you directly, but is more a general statement about what society thinks women should be and look like at various stages of their aging process.

I just can't stand women to be judged on body type, and physical traits, especially those that are totally natural, like aging.

For those that feel the need to reduce, hide, erase or contain the looks of aging, the world is full of products and procedures to help with that. If that is what one needs to feel good about themselves, they should do so.

But just like we shouldn't judge all women who do that as shallow, vain or insecure, neither should be judge those who simply go natural with their ageing, and I'm afraid society in general does.

I love to see older people with the lines of life in their faces, and the wisdom of their years in their eyes, and the spirit of a life lived in their hearts. 

I find the women in these pictures to be so interesting and intriguing. I feel like they have so many stories to tell. I can see that they have lived. It is a perfect cover to the book of their lives.

[stevieb]

To be sure, there is so much more to all of us than how we look... That said, no matter how we live or how we care for ourselves, there comes a time when we 'break'... And all the lotions, potions, or 'procedures' in the world don't change that...

For most of my life, I've been fortunate, I guess, to look younger than I am... Still, it made far more of a difference when I was younger than it does now...

 

As for the chronology of photos taken by the sisters, I knew a group of brothers who did the same thing, until one of them passed away, the remaining two still do... 

[Bird mama]

I come from a family of three girls, I'm the youngest.  I sometimes look at group pics of us from different years (not annual ones like the ladies we are talking about). 

We've aged and because we are from the same family and have shared experiences, I can say, oh yea, I see more gray here - that was the year Ma died, or wow, little bit more wrinkles and tired looking - I remember that, when my husband was sick and died or when my eldest sister's husband was fighting for his life in a cancer battle.

When I look at them in person, I see beyond that.  These are people who knew me why I was 'wee'.  When I learned how to roller skate or ride a bike without training wheels.  They played tag and hide and seek with me.  We all survived my Dad teaching us how to drive.

[SeaMaiden]

@Mominohio   very well said! 

[SilleeMee]

As a young girl I remember sitting down with my mother as she shared pictures of herself when she was very young and while we looked at those pictures, I would turn to her and ask: "Was that you in the picture, mom?".   How sweet those days were. She aged so gracefully.

[Gram W]

One of the things that stood out to me was the lack of smiles from their mouth or eyes.  They often seemed to be frowning or squinting.  My family has no trouble smiling but we might want to make sure direct light does not make us squint.   I know that I smile with my eyes more than my full face.  When I get caught laughing I think my picture looks unnatural for me.  I am 71 and am often told I do not look my age.  I have no idea what my age is supposed to look like.  Good health and happiness means more to me than looking 10 years younger.  

[Q4u]

My only comment regarding these sisters is that they look so unhappy.... just a spark in their eyes would have made all the difference....  :

[Allegheny]

One of the things I noticed in most of the pictures they appeared solemn.  I think not smiling in pictures, especially with older people, makes them look even older.

And while I discontinued wearing make up myself, I think the lack of having make up on when photographed can make a person look older.

[missy1]

I am guessing they wanted to have no expression.

Why didn't they do one in 2015 and 2016?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/magazine/01-brown-sisters-forty-years.html?_r=0

(this link  is easier to see the pictures)

I noticed it wasn't the same location, but the sisters were in the same order each picture.

This isn't creepy like the the father/son one.