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Golden Years

13 side-by-side portraits of people over 100 with their younger selves

These powerful before-and-after photos reveal just how beautiful aging can be.

via Jan Langer/Aktualne

Jan Langer's incredible photos are timeless.

Czech photographer Jan Langer's portrait series "Faces of Century" shows them in a different light: as human beings aged by years of experience, but at their deepest level, unchanged by the passing of time. In the series, Langer juxtaposes his portraits with another portrait of the subject from decades earlier. He recreates the original pose and lighting as closely as he can — he wants us to see them not just as they are now, but how they have and haven't changed over time. That is the key to the series.

These are the rare faces of people who have lived through two world wars, a cavalcade of regimes, and the rush of advancements in modern life. These photos, and the stories of the lives lived by the people in them, show not only the beauty of aging, but how even as we age, we still remain essentially ourselves.


1. Prokop Vejdělek, at age 22 and 101

All photos by Jan Langer.

Vejdělek is a former metallurgical engineer who will never forget the taste of warm fresh goat's milk.

2. Bedřiška Köhlerová, at age 26 and 103

Originally born in Merano, Italy, Köhlerová wishes to visit Italy one more time.

3. Ludvík Chybík, at age 20 and 102

Chybík is a former postal carrier and says he will never forget the route he worked every day.

4. Vincenc Jetelina, at age 30 and 105

Jetelina spent eight years in prison after World War II. Now, he just wants to live the rest of his life in peace.

5. Marie Fejfarová, at age 101

Fejfarová burned all her material memories, including old photographs, when she decided to move to a long-term care facility. She lived a dramatic life, hiding from the Nazis and then the Russians, but eventually she was able to travel the world with her husband. Her experiences show there's no such thing as too late in life to start a new chapter.

6. Antonín Kovář, at age 25 and 102

Kovář is a former musician whose daughter comes to visit him every day. He wishes to play the clarinet once more.

7. Anna Vašinová, at age 22 and 102

Vašinová will always remember the day her husband was taken away by the Nazis. She wishes to be reunited with him after death.

8. Stanislav Spáčil, at age 17 and 102

Spáčil was an electrical engineer throughout his life and thinks that it's too early in his life to think about the past.

9. Anna Pochobradská, at age 30 and 100

Pochobradská was a farmer. She now lives a quiet life and is thankful that her daughter visits her every weekend.

10. Antonín Baldrman, at age 17 and 101

Baldrman was a clerk early in life and keeps up with current events by reading the newspaper.

11. Marie Burešová, at age 23 and 101

Burešová loves talking to her family and wishes to have them all together again.

12. Vlasta Čížková, at age 23 and 101

Čížková cooked in the dining room at the airport in the small village of Vodochody. She'll never forget reciting her own poetry at wedding ceremonies.

13. Ludmila Vysloužilová, at age 23 and 101

Vysloužilová stays active every day by chopping wood, shoveling snow, and doing work around her house.

The photographer Langer was initially inspired to document the lives of elderly people because of what he saw as the media's lack of coverage of them. He decided to focus on people over the age of 100 — a very rare demographic indeed. The 2010 U.S. Census reported only 53,364 centenarians, which is only 0.19% of the population of people 70 years or older.

“One should live every single moment according to their best knowledge and conscience because one day we will see clearly what has a real value," Langer says of what he learned from his subjects while photographing them.

The series was originally part of a story that Langer did for the Czech news outlet aktuálně.cz. You can see more photos from the portrait sessions by following the link.


This article originally appeared seven years ago.



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People with dementia might be in danger from telephone scams. The U.K.'s got a neat fix.

Richard Guthrie, 92, said he took the scammer's phone calls because he was lonely.

In 2007, the New York Times covered a spate of phone scams targeting the elderly. Guthrie, a widower and Purple Heart veteran, was one of them. In the end, he lost all of his savings — including the money he was planning to give to his great-grandkids for college — to telephone scams.

Unfortunately, Guthrie's case isn't unique. Senior citizens lose about $2.9 billion each year (each year!) from financial scams and abuse, according to a 2011 report by MetLife.

Image via iStock.

There are a number of reasons scammers target the elderly. They often have savings, for instance, and can be reluctant to contact the authorities if they are victims.

Even more dastardly, scammers often target people with dementia. The medical condition hits more than 1 in 20 seniors, taking a heavy toll on them and their caretakers — before having to worry about scammers.

So wouldn't it be great if there were a simple solution to all this?

The United Kingdom has a pretty interesting idea on how to stop the calls altogether.

On April 6, the U.K. announced it would fund the rollout of a call-blocking device to about 1,500 people, according to the The Guardian.

The small device, known as trueCall, plugs in between a phone and wall outlet. Once installed, it can block recorded messages, silent calls, or calls from unknown numbers.

The initial rollout will go to people such as dementia patients who have been identified by their doctor as especially vulnerable.

“We have seen people tricked out of thousands of pounds by scam callers, and this government is determined to clamp down on their activities once and for all,” Prime Minister Theresa May said while announcing the fund.

This is could be a big "take that!" at granny-defrauding, savings-stealing scammers.

Nobody deserves to have their life savings whittled away — not people who should be entering their golden years, like Guthrie, and especially not people and families who are already shouldering the toll dementia can take.

Hopefully, this new solution will help those 1,500 families breathe a little easier.

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The heart-wrenching reason grandparents should see themselves on-screen.

Ageism is alive and well in Hollywood. Is it harming seniors' health?

Could casting decisions in Hollywood be shortening our lifespans?

It may seem like a provocative thought, but it's not as far-fetched as you think.

When you look at the 25 films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars over the past three years, less than 12% of the characters in them were 60 years or older — with very few being women or minorities — according to a new study from Stacy L. Smith, director of the Media, Diversity, and Social Change initiative at the University of Southern California Annenberg.

What’s more, few of those characters played roles pivotal to the plot, and many were misrepresented or created with ageist stereotypes in mind, Smith found.

This is a problem with ramifications felt far outside Hollywood.

Image via iStock.

Past studies suggest stereotypes about aging can have devastating effects on older people.

Research out of Australia's Charles Sturt University in 2015 found negative stereotyping about growing older — that it will bring about loneliness and frailty, for example — influences how older people see themselves and their peers. This, in turn, can effect a variety of other important factors relating to how a senior's life unfolds: how fast they recover from illness, their overall mental health and well-being — even how long they live.

Image via iStock.

When Hollywood does nothing to counter these stereotypes — and, in many cases, exacerbates the problem — it can cause harm off-screen.

"If I don't see myself in the movies, what does that say about me?" Yogi Hernandez Suarez told NPR. She's a chief medical officer at health insurance provider Humana, which funded the USC study. "Am I not a valued person? Should I be preparing for a future, or will I just sort of disappear at a certain time?"

Image iStock.

Media representation isn't just a matter of political correctness — it's a matter of bettering lives.

Thanks to the hard work of activists and increasingly discontented moviegoers, the 2017 Academy Awards on Feb. 26, 2017, are more racially diverse than they've been in years. Films like "Moonlight" and "Hidden Figures" — and the artists who brought those projects to life — have snagged much-deserved nods, bringing stories centered around the experiences of people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community into the mainstream. To audiences around the globe, that's made a difference.

In the same vein, it's crucial the stories we see on big and small screens include complex older characters living rich lives and adding value to the narratives which they're part of — not used as tropes or glorified extras.

After all, our grandparents are watching. They deserve better.

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Age is just a number. Ask this remarkable, record-setting 105-year-old cyclist.

'I'm doing it to prove that at 105 years old, you can still ride a bike.'

Although he loved cycling, Robert Marchand stopped participating in the sport when he was just 22 years old.

His coach told him that, because of his small stature, Marchand would never become a cycling champion, CNN reported. So, Marchand figured, what's the point?

Marchand, who was born in France in 1911, went on to do other exciting things with his life after locking his bike away all those years ago. But his passion for cycling never truly subsided.

Now — more than eight decades after he first decided to quit — Marchand is proving his old coach dead wrong.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

On Jan. 4, 2017, Marchand set a new cycling record at the age of 105. And the world is giving him a much-deserved standing ovation for it.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

In one hour, Marchand pedaled 14 miles at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome cycling competition near Paris.

It's a new distance record for the 105-and-up category — a pool created specially for Marchand, according to the Associated Press.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

"I didn't see the sign for the last 10 minutes, otherwise I could have gone faster," the smiley record-setter told BFMTV.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

Still, he explained, he's "not here to break any record."

"I'm doing it to prove that at 105 years old, you can still ride a bike."

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

Amazingly, it wasn't even until age 75 that Marchand decided to get back into the sport, CNN reported.

It's not as if he'd been lying low all those years, though. Throughout his adult life, the French veteran — who's lived through both world wars — has worked as a firefighter, a gardener, a lumberjack in Canada, and a truck driver in Venezuela, just to name a few.

After getting back into cycling as a senior, Marchand has completed impressive cross-country trips, like Bordeaux to Paris and Paris to Moscow, according to ESPN.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

"He never pushed his limits, goes to bed at 9 p.m. and wakes up at 6 a.m.," Gerard Mistler, Marchand's friend and coach, told AP. "There's no other secret."

Life's about so much more than riding bikes and setting records, and no one understands that better than Marchand.

The 105-year-old — who will turn 106 in November 2017 — is going strong thanks to his love of laughter, looking at the glass half-full, and a great group of friends who keep him young.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

He's living proof that age really is just a number.

Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

"Setting goals for himself is part of his personality," Coach Mistler said. "If he tells me he wants to improve his record, I'll be game. Robert is a great example for all of us."

Whether you want to graduate from college at 99 or deadlift 225 pounds at the gym at 78, Marchand's cycling record is yet another great reminder that none of us is too old to dust off an old bike and hop on for a brand new adventure.

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