Seniors in photo contest at new center

Picture this: A photo contest is coming to the Malden Senior Community Center.

By Travis Andersen
Town Correspondent

Senior photographers have less than a month to take their best shot.

The Malden Senior Community Center on Washington Street will hold a photo contest for members in August. The entries will hang in locations throughout the center, and seniors using the facility will vote for their favorite pictures from Aug. 5 until Aug. 13.

Between 600 and 800 seniors use the center each week, according to human services director Christine DiPietro. She said her staff hopes to make the contest an annual or semi-annual event.

“We think of the body, mind, and soul as we prepare our programs,” DiPietro said. “We really want to try to tap into as many seniors in this community as we can.”

The contest grew out of a weekly photography class that Malden resident Fred Swart – a retired pharmacist – began leading in April. The self-described “photo hobbyist” takes about a dozen seniors on walks through the city streets, helping them develop an eye for the right shot. A photography excursion to Fellsmere Pond is also planned.

Asked what students prefer capturing with their point-and-shoot cameras, Swart paused for a moment before rattling off a list.

“Flowers, street scenes, interesting arrangements of urban things, pipes and highways, balconies with flags,” he said. “I don’t know, you name it.”

Swart added that he enjoys volunteering his time.

“It’s a very fulfilling task,” he said.

It’s a task made possible by the extra space the center has in the Washington Street building, a former church. Before that, the center was housed in the basement of City Hall.

That changed when officials bought and renovated the new space for about $6.8 million, with $2 million from a federal loan and $700,000 from private donors. The center – officially named the John and Christina Markey Malden Senior Community Center, for the parents of Congressman Ed Markey – opened on Jan. 24.

"Several seniors informed me within the past week that they are very happy with the new center and are using the location more than ever," City Councilor Gary Christenson said in an e-mail.

Seniors can pick and choose from eight rooms, myriad program offerings, and plenty of recreational tools in their new digs.

“There’s a dining room, a fitness room, a gym, an auditorium, a pool table,” DiPietro said. “We’re really hopping here.”