A recent survey by the Fuji Film Company, in collaboration with mental health expert Dr. Lauren Cook, explored the emotional impact and meaning that photographs have for people, whether looking at photos or taking photographs yourself. As Dr. Cook states, “Photography provides a shared language for expressing our emotions, whether we’re celebrating an achievement, sharing a challenge, or simply staying connected with others. This act of sharing photos, especially in times of emotional need, can bolster our sense of belonging and community—critical components of emotional well-being.” Photography can also be a wonderful creative outlet. The survey noted that 72% of respondents use photography as a form of self-expression.

For older adults, taking photographs can be a way to make sense of the twists and turns of life and to communicate with the community of older adults into which they have now entered. Several older female photographers have recently used their photographic skills to make sense of the lives they’ve lived and the adjustments and challenges they now face as older women. Take, for example, the photographer Cindy Hansen. Based in Wisconsin and only having started her photography career in midlife, she stages extraordinary and visionary photographs, mostly of herself, living out the challenges she faced with her aging parents, who suffered from dementia, along with images portraying feminism, justice, and aging more generally. You can see her provocative and often humorous photos here, and read about her story, which was featured on the Instagram site Humans of New York, here. Her photographs reveal a remarkable journey of mid-life creativity and a vivid portrayal of some of the challenges faced by women as they age in our society.

Or consider the work of another older female photographer, Rosalind Fox Solomon, who also began her photographic career later in life (at age 53). While she is known for her portraits of others, she recently published a book of self-images, entitled A Woman I Once Knew. With remarkable candor and a lack of inhibition, her photographs reflect her unadorned aging body, across the decades, with remarkable starkness and clarity, revealing the aging female body in ways not usually publicly shared. Now 95 years old, Solomon’s photographs have been collected by museums and collectors around the world, and she continues to exhibit her photographs to this day, including on her own Instagram account. Both of these female photographers are using their artistic creativity to communicate with us about the feelings, emotions, and experiences they’ve had- and continue to have- as women, and now older women, in today’s world. 

And if you feel drawn to communicate your own feelings and experiences using photography as your language, take a look here at the latest review of easy-to-use instant cameras available in today’s marketplace.