With bright yellow disposable cameras in hand, residents of the Hillside community headed to the streets of LaGrange to take a good look around the neighborhood.

Irma Jean Tucker, who has lived in three different houses on the same block in the past 20 years, looked for plants. That’s what she loves, that’s what she sees - bright red blooms, gardens and trees lining the streets. Tucker shot photo after photo.

“Plants and flowers. That’s what I like,” she said. “I took more pictures of flowers and gardens than I did people.”

For Dianne Pinnell, it was the people, especially the children.

“We have young people and old people. We have white people and black people. We have lots of good people,” Pinnell said.

Pinnell and Tucker’s photos will be on display beginning Friday at the Department of Drivers Services office on Dallis Street. They are two of the nine “seasoned” Hillside residents who participated in a community photography project that began several months ago.

Shelia Turner, a social documentarian from Columbus, first worked on a summer youth photography project in LaGrange. In conjunction with Communities in Schools, Turner worked with children to help them take photos of the Hillside community.

“We made them walk and look around. We wanted them to become aware of the cool things around them,” she said.

The project was a success and Turner decided to do a second one with the “over 50” Hillside residents, naming it “Vested Interest: A Seasoned View.” Residents who agreed to participate were given instructions and three disposable cameras each.

The project was funded through DASH for LaGrange Inc.

Pinnell and her husband, David Vincent, participated.

“It was really fun. I wanted to help people understand that this is a diverse, growing neighborhood,” said Pinnell, who moved to LaGrange three years ago from North Carolina.

Tucker admitted she doesn’t consider herself a photographer, but she did enjoy walking in her neighborhood to look for photo subjects. A Master Gardener who oversees the Hillside community garden, she looked for the beauty in nature throughout the streets.

“Some of us took pictures of the same things,” she said. “We all liked those houses on the hill on Lincoln street and Doc Speers’ place.”

Each participant will have two or three photos on display in the lobby of the former county Administration Building.

— “Vested Interest: A Seasoned View” will open with a reception honoring the Hillside artists from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday in the lobby of the Department of Drivers Services at 900 Dallis St. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit will remain through March 30.

Sherri Brown can be reached at sbrown@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 240.