If you haven’t seen the series, start with Vol. 1. But if you need to cry — or need to call your grandmother — start with Vol. 3.

Released in a year when so many of us were separated from older loved ones — or grieving them — this installment feels especially tender. 2021 was still deep in pandemic fog. Nursing home windows, masked visits, postponed birthdays. Against that backdrop, Age and Beauty Vol. 3 becomes a quiet act of resistance: we are still becoming.

That image alone is the thesis: It’s the way a weathered face lights up when a familiar voice calls. The way a body that has survived decades knows exactly when to be still and when to laugh loud.

Here’s a reflective post exploring — the third installment in the series that looks at the evolving relationship between growing older and our perception of beauty. Title: More Wrinkles, More Light: On ‘Age and Beauty Vol. 3 – 2021’

There’s a moment in Age and Beauty Vol. 3 where the camera doesn’t look away. It lingers on a hand spotted with sun damage, on hair that has turned from chestnut to silver, on a smile that has learned to say both “I remember” and “I’m still here.”