Kaila White

The Republic | azcentral.com

The photo of a couple embracing is striking for many reasons. First, they are nude. The couple are interracial and past middle age. They are standing holding each other, their wrinkles and rolls and wobbly bits proudly on display.

And their love for each other is bursting through the screen, evidenced by their smiles and gentle embrace.

Tucson photographer Jade Beall took portraits of Gerry, 75, and Darwin, 70, a Tucson couple who have loved each other for more than 20 years. The photographer said the couple preferred that their last names not be used.

More than 4 million people have seen and 34,000 have liked Beall's Facebook post with the photo and a few paragraphs about beauty and love in less than two weeks since she posted it.

The post includes a quote from Gerry: "I love my body. I use a cane, I am having vision problems and my breasts reach to my waist, but you know what? I like me!"

'Truthful' photos of all bodies

Beall is known for her un-Photoshopped portraits showing bodies of many ages, races and sizes.

"My goal is to create truthful imagery to inspire self-love and to help others feel seen," she said Tuesday.

In 2012 she co-founded A Beautiful Body Project, a group of 24 female photographers, videographers and journalists in seven countries that captures women’s stories about their bodies and lives, according to abeautifulbodyproject.org.

It's not the first time her work has gone viral — last year Facebook removed one of her viral photos of a group of women breast-feeding their children.

"I feel honored when something goes viral. I feel like people are saying, 'Yes, I want to see more of this,' " she said. "There’s a yearning to see a realness and truthfulness. The supermodel has it and the stay-at-home mom has it."

'Moved to tears'

Her latest focus is on the bodies of people over 60 years old, Beall said. She reached out to Gerry and Darwin to be part of a series "expanding the definition of ‘beautiful’ for elder bodies."

"Working with them was just so easy. I was moved to tears many times," she said. "They’re so in love. They started kissing a few times and I was like, 'Damn, I haven’t kissed like that in years!'

"They have so much juiciness and palpable love we were able to capture in an image."

Gerry wrote in an email to Beall that she and Darwin love the photos and are grateful they have gone viral.



"I am thrilled that so many people responded to these photos with HOPE for their own lives," Gerry wrote. "It’s WHY we agreed to un-cover for the camera. We wanted to show that wrinkles and aging, sagging body parts are NOT barriers to love unless you let them be. Like fine wine or good cheese, we are more fully ourselves and more full of Love in our 70s than we ever were in our 30s and 40s — which were more painful, growing years.

"When you can love yourself in the body you are in, you are confident, graceful and joyful. And beauty comes from that inner glow not from youthful promise," Gerry wrote. "You can focus on love flowing OUT instead of looking for love to come IN to make up for that shame. THAT is the secret to happiness."

'This is what a refugee looks like': See Tucson photographer's pictures from the front lines in Greece