Gracewood Photographic Club's open invitation to residents
Members of a photographic club at BaptistCare's Gracewood Retirement Community have put their work on display, hoping it will spark interest and attract new members
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05 October 2022
Members of a photographic club at BaptistCare's Gracewood Retirement Community have put their work on display at an exhibition held in September, hoping it will spark interest and attract new members.
Residents Bill Heinrich and Kevin Carey are neighbours at The Gracewood Community who share a passion for photography.
They founded the club in April last year in what both describe as a team effort.
Kevin explains: "Bill and I both had an interest in photography. So we got chatting. We finished up forming a camera club. We've had up to a dozen people at various stages in and out."
They're urging community members to join the club and say it's been a fun way to meet new people.
"Making friends has been a major feature of the group I suppose, getting to know each other and working together and enjoying each other's company,” says Bill.
Kevin agrees. "Our latest member here, I'd never seen her before she started coming to our meetings," he says.
Bill believes anyone and everyone can enjoy photography. "One member is a very interesting photographer. She was starting from scratch. I don't think she'd ever owned a camera before she started. One member has Parkinson's, and this group has become almost a therapy, something she can do. She manages to do a super job."
Group members meet regularly and travel to different locations to take photos.
"We started having twice monthly meetings. We'd gather, make decisions, review photos we'd taken, and plan outings to various places. We had to deal with some restrictions during COVID that limited where we could meet, but we worked our way through it," says Bill.
The Gracewood's Manager, Tracey Jones, thanked club members at the exhibition's opening.
"It's wonderful to see a group of people with a similar interest, photography, come together and have an opportunity to create what they create and go on outings together. It also encourages other people in the village to dust off their cameras. It encourages a greater community to feel more comfortable to try something they may not have done for a while."
Bill says the club offers people a social and active way to engage despite any personal or health conditions they may be challenged by.
"There's such a wide range of people in this narrow slice of demographic, all within the same age group, most of us with chronic ailments and illnesses, and many people battling cancer in various stages, treatment and whatnot. Anything that keeps us active and interested in life, living to the full, you know, we all grasp onto that, and like to do the things we like to do."
Nestled in Sydney’s beautiful Cumberland Woodland, BaptistCare’s The Gracewood Community is an award-winning and established retirement living community offering 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments and providing a fully integrated independent living environment, with aged care available as needs change.