We are now a leading authority on ageing for our kind of people – those who are living in a modern, active way. I’m very proud that we have been able to give a face to this community who was previously invisible and considered to be just a liability. Instead of viewing age as a problem that needs a solution, we’re saying that this phase of life is something to aspire to. Essentially, we’re involved in moving the culture in a small way, much like what happened with feminism in the 70s or gay rights in the 80s or 90s. People need to see images to understand this shift, because only then does it become a reference point, an attainable goal. And that’s what we’re really good at: the showing, along with the telling.

You have to be careful with this 50+ thing. I’m 61 and my mother is 90. What I need and what she needs is vastly different. When a person enters a senior community at 85, they do so because they need access to amenities and services that facilitate life. But people who are younger don’t have those needs; in order for them to move, they need to want to be in a place. So essentially, we need to build for what’s desired rather than what’s required. That is what THE EMBASSIES is doing, and a major point in achieving that is community. Unfortunately, that’s the thing that most housing does not address because the purchase decision is often made solely with real estate or design in mind. If you want me to live in a place, you have to surround me with other people I find stimulating, no matter what their ages may be.

Nothing. Life is a series of steps. You can’t jump them. When I have the time, I still take the pictures for the AGEIST. I couldn’t have been born into doing all the stuff I do now. I had to do what I did to be where I am and do what I do.

I think we are going to see people pay more attention to proper science and really tap into what matters. We need to think of Covid as an accelerator. It has turbo-charged all manner of things by giving people the time and space to reflect. Black Lives Matter would not have happened with the intensity it has without Covid. People in cities would not have been working from home as much or breathing cleaner air – and maybe now they’ve decided that they would like more of that. We may have nationalism and hard borders we can’t cross but, because of Zoom, I am now more connected to people around the world than I ever was before. I don’t think people will just forget these relationships. We have gone through a weird anti-science and anti-knowledge period. And look how that turned out! Now science is becoming a top priority. People are increasingly looking to experts and scientists, and really paying attention to their answers. And that’s great.

I would like to change that question. The better question to ask is, how do you envision dying? If you have a vision of how you want to die, you can think about the life you want to live up until that day. I want to be walking in the Alps and have a coronary and die there. It’s going be a problem for my wife, but she’ll figure it out.