Inside Alzheimer's

Digital Journal — If a picture speaks a thousand words, then Kaz Ehara’s photographs could speak novels. This 27-year-old freelance photojournalist conveys the myriad emotions behind each character he captures, turning a poignant moment into a rich portrait. Ehara watched his grandfather deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease and caught the vulnerability of human frailty. He can photograph his ailing grandfather as beautifully as he can shoot vistas and landscapes in his native Japan. Ehara’s motto is simple: “I want to show people what they normally don’t see.”

“I have to go,” says Yoshikazu Ehara when he wants to leave the house, confusion wrinkling his face. Nobody knows why or where he wants to go, but his family locks the outside gate to prevent him from wandering alone. — Photography by Kazuyoshi Ehara

A graduate of the photojournalism program at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, Ehara says he found the course enriching and inspiring. As a student, he won the Toronto Sun Peter Brysky Award for Outstanding Contribution to Photojournalism in 2004 and the Toronto Star Frank Teskey Award in 2003.

Yoshikazu’s wife Sakae tells him he can’t leave the house, and then the couple face a moment of silence and frustration. Alzheimer’s can fracture a marriage and Sakae admits at one point, “I don’t know what I can do anymore.” — Photography by Kazuyoshi Ehara

Ehara has interned at Canadian Press, the Ottawa Citizen and the Toronto Star, and the photographs of his grandfather were featured at the 2004 International Alzheimer’s Convention in Kyoto, Japan. Ehara appreciates the reception that his work has attracted, especially with the close relationship he had with his 89-year-old grandfather, who passed away in 2003. He says shedding light on such a debilitating disease as Alzheimer’s is a necessary duty. “By talking to these patients, you have a totally different idea of what they’re going through. I really wanted to convey that message through these photos.” Ehara is married and is currently a freelance photographer living in Toronto. To see his portfolio, visit www.kazuyoshiehara.com

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