ALS sufferer holds photo show
The Yomiuri Shimbun

An exhibition by a 60-year-old photographer suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease causing gradual loss of muscle function, is currently being held in Kagoshima.

Shinichi Sato was diagnosed with ALS in 1999 shortly after he embarked on a new career as a professional photographer.

The photo exhibition, featuring 30 of his photos, runs through June 29 at the Kodama Museum in Kagoshima.

Sato, who was born in Kagoshima, joined a construction material company in Tokyo after graduating from university. He returned home in 1977 and started working for a local agricultural cooperative, where he edited the association's newsletter, among other duties.

As a hobby, Sato took pictures of terraced rice paddies as he believed they were not only beautiful but also represented the day-to-day toil of the farmers.

After winning a number of awards in national photo contests, Sato quit the co-op and became a professional photographer in August 1999.

Four months later, however, he was diagnosed as having ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Over the following year, he continued to visit the terraced rice paddies and other places to take pictures with the help of his family.

After shooting scenes of 33 terraced paddies in the Kyushu region, he was forced to stop to undergo medical treatment.

During his tours, he also took photos of the seasonal changes in the scenery around the Kodama Museum, which is located on about 100,000 hectares of mountainous land.

About 15 years ago, Sato was asked by the museum to make a photo record of its seasonal changes, and so he had been taking photos of scenes such as ume plum trees in early spring, new green leaves in early summer, red spider lilies in early autumn and snow in winter.

In 2000, Sato published a photo collection, "Yamazato no Shirabe" (The Tune of the Mountain Village), from those pictures.

The exhibition, which opened on June 3, was held at the initiative of the museum.

Sato now has to use a respirator and is unable to speak. But his wife, Megumi, 57, said that when the museum offered to hold an exhibition of his photos, he told her to tell as many people as she could about it, communicating with her using an alphabetic panel controlled by eye movement to express his thoughts.

"All of his works shed light on the beauty of nature from his own point of view," Megumi said. "We look over the photo album sometimes, and we really like these photos. I hope the exhibition at the museum proves popular."

(Jun. 21, 2008)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp:80/dy/natio...21TDY15002.htm

Bobby, would you post a link to this man's photography? I found the newspaper article, but no pictures.