Photographer captures striking portraits of centenarians – including a 105-year-old woman who attributes her longevity to a daily glass of red wine
- Karsten Thormaehlen, a photographer from Frankfurt, travelled across the world
- The pictures form part of the photographers book called Aging Gracefully
- Each portrait is accompanied by a short biography with quotes about their lives
- 105-year-old María attributes her daily glass of red wine to her longevity
- Kimiyo, 106, loves German cars and drove her red Mercedes until she was 94
A photographer has shared a series of images of centenarians living and ‘thriving’ all around the world.
Karsten Thormaehlen, a photographer based in Frankfurt, travelled across the world to meet and take pictures women and men over the age of 100.
The pictures form part of the photographers book called Aging Gracefully – which shows 52 portraits of centenarians with different stories to their longevity.
Each portrait is accompanied by a short biography with quotes and wisdom on life, love, food, health and old age.
The models include 105-year-old María, who thinks it’s her positive attitude and a daily glass of red wine that’s the secret to a long life, while Gisele, 104 year-old, is still a working actress.
Here Femail showcase some of the photographers best portraits from the book…
Luz (pictured) has six daughters and two sons, but she’s not quite sure how many grandchildren and great-grandchildren she has
Luz Pacifica Torres, 102
Luz was born in November 23, 1916, in Vilcabamba, Ecuador and she claims that it is hard work which has enhanced her longevity.
Luz has six daughters and two sons, but she’s not quite sure how many grandchildren and great-grandchildren she has. Possibly around 30 and 40 — a number that even younger people would lose track of.
According to the centenarian she doesn’t officially exist. The path up the mountain to her wooden hut, where she lives, is so drastically steep that not a single civil servant has ever taken it upon himself to issue her an official ID card.
Kimiyo’s daily schedule is packed: Breakfast at 8 a.m., shopping, senior center activities, painting classes, and, of course, Sunday mass
Kimiyo Sato, 106
Born October 28, 1912, in Nagasaki, Japan, Kimiyo has a weakness for cars made in Germany. She got her driver’s license when she was 50 years old and drove her red Mercedes until she was 94.
She raised six daughters, but tragically her twins died in a gas-explosion accident at the age of 15. She has eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Kimiyo’s daily schedule is packed: Breakfast at 8 a.m., shopping, senior centre activities, painting classes, and, of course, Sunday mass.
Gisèle (pictured) who was born on June 14, 1914, in Paris , is a French movie star who acted in her first role in 1944 and became quite well known in the Seventies
Gisele Casadesus, 104
Gisèle, who was born on June 14, 1914, in Paris, is a French movie star who acted in her first role in 1944 and became quite well known in the Seventies.
The actress, who still lives in the same apartment where she was born, was rediscovered at the 96, when she starred opposite Gérard Depardieu in My Afternoons with Margueritte.
Gisèle is currently filming again and writing a book about her life in Paris.
Kiyo Aragai says she has her husband to thank for the fact that she has become such a good cook
Kiyo Aragai, 104
Kiyo, who was born in September 10, 1914, in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan, says she had a free, idyllic childhood and a wonderful marriage ‘full of happiness and without any arguments.’
She has her husband to thank for the fact that she has become such a good cook, ‘thanks to his wonderful sense of taste and his weakness for good food.’
She says she doesn’t have anything to complain about, nor does she have any regrets – she’s at peace with herself.
María thinks it her positive attitude toward life and a daily glass of red wine that is the secret to a long life
María Teresa Bolivar Vda De Lercari, 105
María’s Chilean-born mother lived to be 104 – so maybe longevity runs in the family.
María thinks it her positive attitude towards life and a daily glass of red wine that is the secret to a long life. María has a weakness for Southern European pleasures, including ravioli.
She has had a 39-year marriage to Michele Lercari, who passed away 35 years ago, and traveled often with him to Europe and visited her favorite cities, Paris and Rome.
Her advice to young people is that you should: ‘Never go to extremes!’
Betty, who was born on August 26th, 1916, in Toronto loves to people watch and has been married for 80 years
Betty Markoff, 102
Betty, who was born on August 26th, 1916, in Toronto, says that her 80 year successful marriage was down to listening.
Betty first met her husband at her cousin’s wedding in New York in 1938 and thankfully didn’t listen to her friend when they warmed her off him.
Fortunately she didn’t listen and by the end of the year they were married. Like her husband, Betty loves people watching.
She has had ample opportunity to do so since the two of them moved to LA’s Bunker Hill, a lively hipster district.
In the forties Olivia (pictured) was one of the first African American women to join the U.S. Army
Olivia Hooker, 103
When Dr. Olivia Hooker, who was born on February 12, 1915, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was six years old, members of the Ku Klux Klan ransacked her home during the 1921 Tulsa race riot.
‘I still don’t know why they bothered to burn up a little girl’s doll clothes, but they did,’ she told the Wall Street Journal.
‘And that’s what made me very, very afraid. That was a startling thing for a child. It took a while to get over.’
In the forties Olivia was one of the first African American women to join the U.S. Army. Then in 1961 she earned her PhD in psychology from the University of Rochester and worked with women with learning disabilities.
Aging Gracefully: Portraits of People Over 100 by Karsten Thormaehlen (Chronicle Books, £19.99)
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