Twelve interviews inspired 12 photographic portraits of residents of Christenson Village care home. For the last few years, the salon program put on by Gibsons Alternative School students for residents of the care home was as it sounds, a body care salon in which students offered hand massages and manicures to those who wished a little essential pampering.
This year the program took a different focus, explained Christenson’s Bruce Devereux to an audience assembled in the care home’s activity room for the grand unveiling of the photography show on June 4. Five Alternative School students, Dinah Lynne, Stephanie Hart, Adam Crane, Chelsea McKeil and Evan Dressler, with input from their teachers, interviewed 12 residents to learn more about their lives and passions.
“They were asked to display through portrait a bit of the essence or dimension of each person,” Devereux said.
Using only phones or iPads and an inexpensive backdrop and lighting, the kids took more than 1,000 photos of their 12 subjects. After very little editing, the best photo of each participant was chosen for display, and the nervous student photographers were in the audience at the unveiling to gauge the reactions to their portrait project. The result was a hit with the crowd, many of whom were featured in the photos.
Playwright Robert MacDonald is seen creating at his writing desk with pen and paper; Marion Alsager, a veteran traveller, sits by a globe of the world. Bob Christie is seated with his talking stick in hand, one he has carved himself. Irene Brougham is a gardener, and she is depicted with her trowels. Joe Gelleny has a past full of spy intrigue, so the mysterious X behind him in the photo refers to Camp X where he trained during the Second World War. Other photos show the passions and pursuits of other residents: film-making, performing arts or teaching.
“It was five months of hard work,” Devereux said, adding that many volunteers had also pitched in to help.
The photos are on display in Christenson’s activity room until the end of the month.
