Fabulous Over 50 (Copy)

Photography should “…Free women…….from the terror of Youth and perfection.” ~Peter Lindberg

The idea began in the spring of 2019. That’s when I heard Peter Lindberg’s name for the first time-a name on a list of speakers scheduled for Sue Bryce’s The Portrait Masters Conference in Phoenix, AZ that fall. I’d never heard of him - which felt rather embarrassing as a portrait photographer - since he was, at that time one of the biggest names to ever photograph fashion and movie stars alike.

So I looked him up. And the more I read, the more I liked-from his humble beginnings in the then German occupied Lissa, Poland where he was born, to the masterful shoot of five young, little known models in Yamamoto shirts on Santa Monica Beach in CA. He didn’t care for women plastered in makeup, perfect hair in a carefully curated backdrop. He was much more journalistic in style, and shot a good portion of his work in timeless, classic, black and white.

Sadly, he passed away just two days before the conference, and I never had the opportunity to hear him speak or see him work. Thankfully his work lives on in cyberspace. When I returned from the Portrait Masters, Peter Lindberg’s work was still very much on my mind, especially his 2017 Pirelli Calendar shoot, which was the single biggest impetus for my 50 Women Over 50 Campaign I launched at the end of 2019. Interviews with the likes of Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore and several others in the making of the Calendar connected with some deeper part of me that truly believes that we, as women over the age of 50 should be able to embrace being in front of the camera as we are-that we don’t need, or have to be recorded according to what society thinks we should project, nor hide from the camera altogether. Peter Lindberg said it best: Photography should “…Free women…from the terror of Youth and Perfection.”

Thanks to Covid, my campaign ran much, much longer than it should have, and only concluded at the end of 2022. The feedback I received from the women who participated in this shoot was absolutely heartwarming. I loved that this type of photography session promoted so much positive energy surrounding women over the age of 50 to embrace where they are in life. Lets keep that momentum going for 2023 and beyond. To enquire about my new Fabulous Over 50 Sessions for 2024, please visit: www.arnelgoncephotography.com/50-over-50 or call 434.422.0005.