London Photographer, Freya Najade, finished her Masters Degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of the Arts London last year, but her site reflects enough interesting projects for decades more. Freya Najade was born in Germany, and studied in Bremen and San Francisco.

Her engaging series, If you are Lucky, you get old, has two parts: Encounters and Stories. The images I have featured below are from Stories.

People think life stops when turning 70. My encounters with the elderly prove quite the opposite. They show that despite this common misconception, emotional development never stops and that the elderly continue to love, suffer, long, dream and have sexual feelings.

Dennis (76) in his Room
I have my own house, where I live half of the year. Sometimes I don’t talk for a week to anybody there. In the summer I rent a room in a gay retirement home. I enjoy meeting people of my kind

Astronaut
The thing I regret most is that I didn’t become an astronaut and never went into space.

Dennis in Stockings
The first time I dressed as a girl, I was eight years old. I don’t want to be a woman. I am happy the way I am. I just enjoy the kick.


Dennis dressed up
I feel that I am transforming from a catapillar into a butterfly. Sometimes I go out like this. If people don’t like it, it is their problem.

Roy (80) at Home
My first wife was beautiful. I married her when she was fifteen and I was twenty-one. Six years after, she left me for another man. They moved away then. I would have loved to raise my children myself. This is my biggest regret in life. After that I never fell in love like that. I had other girlfriends, though.

Roy and Geneva
I took my last girlfriend, Geneva, to Ireland for her 75 birthday. I bought her a crystal there. She is a beautiful lady. The only bad habit she has, is that she likes to gamble. There are different types of love. We love each other but there is no sexual attraction. That’s one reason why we broke up after 15 years.

Roy at the Pool
I believe in love, but I think there is not just one right person for you. If you would have 100 people, you could probably pick at least ten, which could be right for you. It is just compatibility here and there.

Roy in the Water
A couple of years ago I had a heart attack. I have to take medication for my heart now. Since then I have slowed down a lot sexually.

Thelma ((82) in her Living Room
I got married for the first time when I was 15 years old. After my first husband I had two other and five children. I thought life was just about raising kids and being a mother.

Thelma’s boot
My biggest fear is that I can’t take care of myself anymore. This is what keeps me going. Every day.

Thelma
One day Swede went to see his son for seven weeks. The seven weeks turned into seven months. I got really ugly with him then. When he came back he didn’t want to touch me anymore.

Squirrel
Things got difficult when we stopped agreeing. Once I started having my own say about things, Swede would go home. People often don’t realize that everyone sees things differenty. This can be a problem.

Chris (70) on his Bed
I am happy with my life. I have now been with my partner John for 36 years. It was not always easy, but definitely worth it.

Chris and John
I was married to a woman for thirteen years. I had seven children with her. I am not only proud of them, but also that John and I raised them together.

Chris and his Dog
To lose my legs was not as difficult as I thought, my divorce and to admit that I am gay was much more difficult for me. But everything that is difficult in life makes you stronger.

Chris and John in the Pool
When I saw John for the first time, I knew my ship had arrived. Meeting him was the best thing in my life.