Last year Laurie Giesen was swimming at Lake Forest High School when she saw an older woman walking to the pool using a cane.
“I thought about how great she looked,” Giesen said. “Then I thought more about it. As a professional photographer, it would be a meaningful public service exhibit to focus on 80-plus-year-old women who make a lifelong effort to take pride in their appearance, stay active and healthy.”
The photo exhibit Giesen was inspired to create is now on display at the Lake Forest Library, 360 E. Deerpath, through Aug. 21. It includes a swimmer, boxer, fast walker and bicyclist, among other women. Giesen said her subjects have faced such physical challenges as pancreatitis, Alzheimer’s and a bout with cancer, and range in age from their 80s to age 96. All but one is from Lake Forest.
Among Giesen’s subjects is Mae Goldner, 89, of Lake Forest, who has played golf since she joined a program for junior golfers at the Deerpath Golf Course when she was 12.
“In March, I had a minor stroke, which affected the right side of my brain,” Goldner said. “I lost my left peripheral vision. I can see, but it’s challenging in a way.”
She belongs to a woman’s league at Deerpath Golf Course, though she no longer drives.
“I have full-time golf friends who are happy to pick me up,” Goldner said. “Everybody needs a little help once in a while.”
Fellow exhibit subject Molly Heizer, 85, has played tennis, golf, walked, skied and done curling.
“I’m the one who will try any sport,” Heizer said. “I’m a master of none.”
She cut out tennis and curling after having a below-the-knee amputation of one leg due to cancer, but she can still walk and play golf. About a year ago, she took up boxing.
“It’s good for the balance and it’s a strengthening thing for your core,” Heizer said. “A trainer suggested it.”
Giesen has a history of taking unexpected directions in her photography. For an exhibit at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History in Monterey, Calif., she surrounded a life-size image of a human figure with photographs of people using technology, according to an April 2007 article in the Monterey County Herald.
As a wedding photographer, she’s done offbeat photos including a bride sitting in a golf cart and a couple wearing Giants shirts over their wedding apparel, which she collected in a self-published book titled “The Wedding is Off.”
She’s also taken photos of people with physical disabilities.
“I often choose to put the focus on people who are frequently overlooked, not heard from and misunderstood in society,” Giesen said.
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Giesen said her effort in shooting this exhibit was supported by donors. She also baked chocolate cookies and requested donations in exchange from local residents, businesses and delivery drivers.