Aging In NYC: Photographer Captures Senior Life In The City

While sitting in Verdi Park on Broadway and 72nd Street waiting for someone to come by, this couple sat down next to me. We began chatting. Gary walks with a cane; Gloria does not. They have lived on the Upper West Side for more than 20 years.

Gary currently has two jobs; he works as a headhunter for a living and as a writer of fiction.

Gloria had been a book editor and has published a book of her own photographs - Highway 51 (small towns in Mississippi) as well.

Gloria is originally from Mississippi, which surprised me since she has no trace of a southern accent. We had a long conversation about following one's passion vs. taking a job that pays the bills.

Gary and Gloria invited me to come back another day and visit their apartment. We set a date and I bought some of the photographs for them. They loved them. Their apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City is a classic setting for a creative writer. There were books and books and books all over the apartment.

Gloria is no longer taking photographs, but she has some magnificent images. They had not had their photograph taken in quite a while, so they were happy to have me take some more images of them. Gary wore a jacket and tie for the occasion.

What I find wonderfully interesting is here I met two strangers in a park in the middle of New York City and after only a 30-minute conversation they were perfectly willing to invite a stranger to their apartment and this stranger was perfectly willing to go. Just one more reason why I love this city.

Herb Bardavid is a social worker with a passion for photography going back to his childhood years. When he was 12 years old, Bardavid commandeered his family's only bathroom to serve as a part-time dark room for developing photos. At his wife's suggestion, the Upper West Side resident chose to chronicle the lives of New York City senior citizens for a year-long photography project.

Bardavid, who's in his 70s, is inspired by New York City's elders who don't let their age get in the way of how they live their lives.

"Elderly people in New York City are sometimes invisible," Bardavid told Patch. "People walk by and nobody pays attention to them. So when I stop people they are not only surprised but also happy because people don't often talk to them."

Check out Bardavid's blog here.

Photos by Herb Bardavid