Young and old click as St Mary Magdalene Academy turn camera on the community
Six-week photographic project reveals that ‘elderly people and students have same feelings’
Published: 30 July, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB
A TEENAGER playing basketball with a pensioner, a boy peering over a wall with two elderly sidekicks – unusual sights but these moments have been captured in a photographic project at St Mary Magdalene Academy in Holloway.
Youngsters worked alongside pensioners from Sotheby Mews day centre on a six-week photographic project, which culminated in an exhibition of their work on the theme of community.
They discussed the best way to illustrate the relationship between youngsters and the elderly.
Irma Gomez, 72, said: “We were looking at how the elderly and young people get on in the community and tried to translate that in the photos. We found that elderly people and students have the same feelings.
“It was amazing how we got on. They were very helpful, well-behaved and had great respect for us.”
The pensioners were shown how to use the cameras. Ms Gomez has since used her skills on a trip to the seaside, where she took photos of a mother and daughter having tea.
“I wish I had a nice camera because I like photographs, but I can’t afford it right now,” she said.
The scheme – called A Different View – was run by Magic Me, which sets up intergenerational art projects.
Joe Hagland, 75, who took part, said: “As we’re pensioners, we don’t deal with the gadgets of today. It’s all new technology.
“It was a worthwhile course to find out how to work these things.”
At the end of the project, the pensioners were given DVDs with the photographs, a selection of which can be seen above.
Mr Hagland, a former railway worker who spends his spare time looking after a disabled friend seven days a week, said: “I wrote a letter to the headmaster. I spoke very highly of the well-behaved children.
“It was real nice to work with them.”