Trained in commercial graphic design, Karsten Thormaehlen is a self-taught German photographer. For advertising clients, he developed a keen talent for capturing the essence of products on film with a specialty in fashion photography and portraiture. He is best known, especially in Europe, for his portraits of centenarians. Centenarians intrigue him for many reasons, one of them being their wisdom. Two of Thormaehlen’s centenarian subjects were, at the time of taking the photos, the oldest women in the world. Shot from 2006 to 2011 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Thormaehlen’s collection of centenarian close-ups became an award-winning exhibition, Jahrhundertmensch, as well as a book, Mit hundert hat man noch Träume or Happy at 100. Through Thormaehlen’s captivating portraiture combined with his subjects’ stories, readers of Happy at 100 can better imagine and empathize with how it feels to belong to a very narrow segment of the population – those who have reached 100 years or more.

For Not Another Second, Thormaehlen’s assignment was to explore yet another narrow segment of the population: LGBTQ+ seniors in the U.S. More abundant yet far less understood than centenarians, their stories have been hard to come by, until now. Inside the pages of Not Another Second, striking images captured by Thormaehlen introduce readers to a range of emotions commonly shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender seniors. Through courage, conviction, sacrifice, love, and hard-won pride, they have transcended fear, discrimination, rejection, loneliness, and loss. Lost to them along the way have been families, friends, partners, income, health and, collectively, far too many years in hiding and uncertainty.

While their lost years cannot be regained, it is our hope that Thormaehlen’s portraits and the stories they illustrate will help seal a different fate for future generations, one in which not another second is lost.