Magical moments captured

Queensland’s Immanuel Gardens hostel residents were given the Hollywood treatment during a glamour photography session staged at the Buderim retirement village.

Experienced photographer, Marion Jonkers, who specialises in wedding and vintage portrait photography, volunteered her time for the half day shoot which was organised by Immanuel Gardens care coordinator, Selina Bennett.

Ms Bennett said she decided to take that idea a step further and began investigating the logistics of a ‘vintage’ photo shoot.

“I put a post on a Sunshine Coast community Facebook page titled ‘Can you Help?’ and asked people if they had any costumes, cars, props or photography skills that could be utilised in a vintage photo shoot at a retirement village,’’ she said.

“The response was incredible. I put the post up on a Thursday night and by the next night I had more than 200 replies.’’

Immanuel Gardens registered nurse, Deb Ryan, was the first to come up with the idea of taking professional photos of the residents.

One of those to respond to Ms Bennet was photographer Ms Jonkers, who photographed 38 residents over a five hour period. Each resident volunteered to take part and had a hand in selecting the backdrop and props for their photo.

Ms Jonkers said she was immediately captivated by the concept when she read about it online. She described the photo shoot as “incredibly fun’’.

“It was wonderful how the staff encouraged the residents to select their own theme for the photo, which allowed many of them to relive aspects of their previous lives,’’ she said.

“One lady was a champion tennis player in her younger days and when she came out dressed in tennis whites and with a racquet in her hand, she had this amazing spark in her eyes. As a portrait photographer you want to tell people’s stories through your photographs and together we were definitely able to achieve that.’’