There are few more picturesque places than Salem Pond, and for the past 30 years, Jeff Christensen has been taking walks around the pond with his wife, Janeen Christensen to take in the views. In recent years, however, taking in those views has become a lot more deliberate, as Jeff, who has long enjoyed the art of photography, has made a goal of capturing the perfect sunrises and sunsets over the majestic pond.
“My wife and I moved to Salem in 1994, and when we first moved here we figured we wanted to exercise three or four times a week,” he recalled. “So we would get up before the kids woke up, usually when it was dark or go walking really quick around the pond when the kids were asleep. As the years went on, I wanted to take some pictures of Salem Pond. I’ve always been an avid photographer, ever since junior high, and I decided it would be kind of fun to take pictures of Salem Pond throughout the seasons of the year.”
Capturing those moments when the sun rises and falls, reflecting color over the still water, brought joy to Jeff that he wanted to share with others, so he would make prints and give them away to friends and family. He said that it had a positive impact on him to be able to share these pictures with others because as time was going on, he was losing his sight.
In 2016, Jeff was diagnosed with a degenerative condition called glaucoma that can lead to blindness.
“Before I got glaucoma, I was into photography, but the more fantastic pictures of Salem Pond, I really started taking after I got glaucoma,” he said. “Glaucoma knocks out your peripheral vision, but it also knocks out your color and everything seems dimmer. Your shadows aren’t quite as sharp and your grays and your blacks and your oranges and your yellows are all kind of muddled.”
In order to compensate for his own lack of vision, Jeff came up with a method to add the color that he was unable to capture alone.
“I compensated for my lack of vision by taking pictures of Salem Ponds with three photos and then combining them into one on Photoshop,” he said. “Each picture I have is actually three photos taken on a tripod, and then I combine those into one and that creates the photo that you’ll see on my prints.”
Slowing down
After 30 years of walking Salem Pond, Jeff has been dealt with another set of challenges that have made it difficult for him to continue to walk the pond with his wife.
In May of 2023, Jeff was diagnosed with another degenerative condition called Parkinson’s disease where it has greatly affected his ability to do simple tasks like walking or holding a camera steady.
“I really started showing signs of the disease in July of 2022, about six months after my dad passed away,” he said. “My dad had Parkinson’s for 16 years, and so my family is very well acquainted with Parkinson’s. I started showing in July of 2022 where I would have a stiff arm and a stiff left leg and couldn’t walk very well.
“Parkinson’s is pretty rough,” he continued. “For me, Parkinson’s hits me more in the mood, but it hits all of your body, though. It hits your circulatory, your muscles, your balance, your digestion, your swallowing, your vision. It can hit, hit all aspects of your body systems, but it primarily affected my mood. I was really sad because it affects your dopamine levels. Without dopamine, everything just looks really bleak, and it affected me that way.”
Life changed quite quickly for the 59-year-old husband, father of four and grandfather to seven, but he said that he still tries to get to the pond to walk with his wife a few times a month to enjoy the place they have called home for so long.
As for the pictures he has taken over the years, they’re still circulating throughout the community and on social media. Each picture serves as a way to remind people what is in their very own backyards, and what can be seen through the eyes of someone eagerly looking to see all the beauty that eyes can’t see.
