A Father, a Son, a Disease and a Camera

A Father, a Son, a Disease and a Camera

In 2011, Cheney Orr was 21 yr old. His 62 yr old father, David Orr was notified of getting an Alzheimer’s disease.  Cheney felt like he has never taken time to know about his father, or got more connections with David.  By this chance, he tried to create some memory with David by taking photos.  The story seems actually started from a self-portrait about the father and the son was taken at David’s apartment. At that time, David seems still fine. He can also swim in the Atlantic Ocean off Rockaway Beach even faster that people who’re around 20s. In the whole process, the Alzheimer’s disease made David sicker and weaker. However, David was a competitive swimmer in elementary and high school, and he always goes swimming in the morning, around the neighborhood, Brooklyn.  He still could dress nicely by himself after a swimming exercise, although the disease made him get more difficult to tie his shoes.In all these scenes, photos were taken from a long shot that includes the background more, that made David be part of the srrounding.

At the end of 2016, the negative from the disease became more obvious. David started to need the assistant of taking shower. He needs to be reminded to use soap to clean his body; before, he was still able to dance in the summer. Until December 2016, David had a difficulty holding a conversation in a family meal even though he was such a social and friendly man. In fact, in summer 2015, David was locked in his own apartment few times because of escaping. On March 2017, David’s situation got worse. He needed the help of carrying him to walk down Eastern Parkway after left the hospital. Later on, he couldn’t go anywhere without accompaniment. In the few months before David left, he started feeling nervous and family members took turns to visit him in order to calm him down from anxious. He started taking different pills to defense from the feel of uneasy, sensitive and increasingly accompanied by the panic. When David’s situation became worse, photos more be taken with close shots in order to show his facial expressions; about the depressions, uneasy and panic.

After the first diagnosed, in December 2016, Briana put all the photos of David and named it “David’s Memory Box.” Unfortunately, David’s body became deteriorate in a really short time. Feels like it was just an overnight, he couldn’t even eat or stand by himself. He had to stay in the hospital and rely on the medicine. Then the rest of the story showed how David got weaker and sicker, until he passed away. At this point, photos were taken in close shot, close-up shot or extreme close-up shot to emphasis any emissions that through David’s face.  There’s a strong impact of the photo when David was sitting on the wheel chair in the hospital. The pattern from the light that reflected on his face, the light frame the shows the contrast between the shadow the around him and the light that put on him.