Ghost Motels of Arizona
Much of the history and romance of America has been bypassed by the Interstate system. This past winter I traveled to Arizona and drove down old Highway 60 from Wickenberg to Quartzite and encountered a living museum of Americana in its defunct roadside motels. A few were repurposed as homes or businesses, but most were abandoned and crumbling. On a bright sunny day with desert skies …Read More
Quartzite: Where Snowbirds Come to Roost
In my pursuit of growing old in America, this past February I went to Quartzite, Arizona to photograph and talk to the locals. This dusty town off Interstate I-10 is a destination for thousands of elderly retirees seeking an inexpensive getaway from the cold winter months. To my surprise I discovered that Quartzite is a barometer for economic changes affecting the elderly across the United …Read More
Sketching in the Desert
There is no better antidote to the busy streets and crowded subways in Manhattan than a few days in the American Southwest desert. Last weekend I flew to Phoenix, rented a car, and drove to Wickenberg – a cowboy town replete with Saguaro cacti and blazing sunsets. Living in New York City makes a horizon-to-horizon view in complete silence with nobody around an amazing treat. …Read More
Venice Beach Sketchbook
I started drawing again after a hiatus of over twenty years, and what better place to practice my rediscovered skills than Venice Beach, California. I first visited Venice in 1995, and there was something in the sand, the murals, and the alleys that enchanted me. I found it to be a place to relax in the sun away from the bustle of Manhattan, and mingle …Read More
In Search of Aging and Mother Teresa in India
It’s been over a year since I traveled across northern India to photograph faces of aging, and I’m still sorting through the images that I brought back. In the holy city of Benares, home of the great god Shiva, I heard of an old age home founded by Mother Teresa. As a geriatrician with a camera the thought of visiting and photographing inside this place …Read More
Sketching on the Left Bank
In the summer of 1977 I traveled to Europe carrying a sketchpad. These were my last months of freedom before entering medical school, and I had doubts about whether I was making the right decision. My acceptance letter was hard-earned, but I rationalized the decision by telling myself that medicine is a noble profession and I could still make art on the side. I wandered the streets …Read More
Victory Day in Moscow: Part II
It was Victory Day in Moscow, May 9, 2012 – the day that commemorates Russian triumph over the Nazi regime after a long and bloody war. I went there to take pictures. The day started with clouds and rain but by noon the sun was gleaming off the massive columns of the Bolshoi Theater. Water splashed in the fountain as elderly veterans milled about collecting roses, …Read More
Visiting Doctor Chekhov
I’ve spent a lot of time studying physicians who were also successful artists, poets, and writers. Examining their work and lives, I try to decipher how they succeeded in two challenging careers during the same lifetime. With this in mind, on a recent trip to Moscow to photograph aging I made a point of visiting Dr. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Born in 1860 in a small town …Read More
MetLife Foundation Funds Exhibit on Aging
MetLife Foundation has awarded the Society for the Arts in Healthcare a grant to support the US-based tour of Aging Across America, a series of photographs by gerontologist and photographer Jeffrey Levine, MD. The focus of the year-long tour, which will visit six teaching hospitals across the country, is to raise visibility regarding the issues affecting older adults, the nation’s fastest-growing demographic. Dr. Levine’s medical …Read More
An Unexpected Religious Festival in India
There are moments in travel when the mundane turns magical. This happens a lot in India, a country rich with ritual, mysticism and prayer where I was searching for new images of aging in the Fall of 2011. Unexpectedly at dawn I stumbled into a Hindu festival known as Chhath Puja (pronounced Chat Poo-ja). I was in eastern India in the Buddhist pilgrimmage town of Bodh Gaya …Read More
