The Legacy Photo Project is personifying dementia and Alzheimer's in LA

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November 1, 2023

When Cole Lambert’s grandmother’s Parkinson’s disease and dementia started to progress about two years ago, he found a new way to process her illness: from behind his camera.

Then 91, Elva Mae Parent was losing her ability to speak Cajun French, Lambert recalls, and showing frustration as simple tasks and knowledge escaped her. While caring for her at her home in Ascension Parish, rotating shifts with his mother and uncles, Lambert snapped images of her. He started shooting on his phone and soon pulled out his professional-grade camera.

He wanted to capture her at that moment in time, before, from his view, his beloved grandmother slipped away.

“It was to document, at the time, her aging,” the 43-year-old Lambert says today.

Victoria James and Cole Lambert, founders of the Legacy Photo Project.

At first, Lambert’s photos were part of a personal, albeit sad, passion project. The photographer’s shots had mainly focused on automobiles and corporate headshots up until that point. He had no idea that a few years later he’d be capturing the lives of nearly 100 elderly individuals in his work, known as the Legacy Photo Project. And he couldn’t have known then how those images would spread an uplifting call for awareness of those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Enter Victoria James. The 30-year-old occupational therapist was then serving as the director of activities for The Pearl at Jamestown, an assisted living and memory care community off Perkins Road.

She’d gotten wind of Lambert’s photos, and was determined to recreate them at The Pearl. For her it would also be a passion project, but on a more positive note.

“This is a population that is forgotten,” James says. “And I just have fallen in love with these human beings that I work with all of the time. I see in infinite ways how much wisdom and experience that they still carry with them.”

Wendell Harris played football for LSU and was a member of the 1958 National Championship Team. He played for the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants from 1962 to 1967. After his time in the NFL, he moved back to Louisiana and became a history teacher. He has two children, five stepchildren and 18 grandchildren. He is 83 years old and suffers from dementia.

Elva Mae Parent, 93, is a devout Catholic and raised four children as a single mother while working in the catalog department at Sears. In her younger days, she loved to cook and snap green beans. Paulette describes her as “super mom.”

What if, James wondered, she and Lambert could capture the residents at The Pearl as they lived today? Give them a reason to get spruced up? Give them and their families a chance to smile and celebrate their contributions to the world, even as they battled a demoralizing disease?

With James’ coordination—and with family and caretakers’ permission—the duo began taking photos of residents at The Pearl in October 2022. Lambert arranged a simple lighting set up and backdrop in one of the community’s larger apartments, and James engaged with the residents to help their personalities shine. Some sessions were shorter than a minute, as a few residents had difficulty sitting and following directions. Others eclipsed an hour, as the subjects enjoyed the spotlight.

James asked families to bring in clothing or props that represented the residents’ careers, hobbies or important elements of their lives. A former coach played around with a softball, while others clutched telegraph keys, cooking supplies, armed services memorabilia and more.

“Many of (these residents) cannot verbalize what they did professionally and what they contributed. Yet, if you give them something that they were very familiar with, at one point, it all comes rushing back,” James says. “It clicks for them.”

Ronald Walton was a devoted father to two daughters and an active grandfather and great-grandfather. He was an Army veteran who worked as a lab analyst for Honeywell International after being deployed in Germany at the end of the Korean conflict. He kept busy during his off time and retirement as a deputy reserve for the sheriff’s office, Sunday school teacher, church usher and LSU gate captain.

Walton’s health took a sharp decline shortly before his photos were taken. Barnett says the photos were both emotional and “powerful.” She particularly loves the shot Lambert captured of her father’s hands: “Those hands loved us and took really good care of us.”

Long-term memories are typically the last ones lost for a person with neurodegenerative disease, James explains—making it easier for residents to connect with long-cherished objects.

“Having that piece elevated the project from just a photo shoot to a really meaningful project,” James says today.

At that first photo session, James and Lambert captured roughly 80% of residents at The Pearl. They printed and compiled a few of the photos for a calendar, which raised $800 for Alzheimer’s Association.

In March, The Pearl’s parent company Phoenix Senior Living learned of the team’s work and asked them to recreate the project at its other communities in the Southeast. By this fall, Lambert and James (who was recently promoted to Corporate Director for Programming for all of Phoenix Senior Living), had photographed close to 80 individuals at eight Phoenix locations in Louisiana and Georgia—and they aren’t slowing down.

In October, they launched the Legacy Photo Project website to share their work and mission. This month, in line with Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, the team plans to host its first quarterly photo shoot for about 10 to 12 Louisianians suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Each featured photograph will be paired with a short write-up about the person’s life, with information about how to support organizations working to fight for and care for those with neurodegenerative diseases.

“We’re at a critical shortage for care and support for those that are inevitably going to be helpless and very, very much in need of external support at varying degrees,” James adds. “The website’s purpose is to generate that emotional attachment.”

Bob Madden was a radio operator on the Navy’s USS Boyd, and worked for the Union Pacific railroad and the Association of American Railroads after his deployment. He has two daughters and four grandchildren and continued serving as an amateur radio operator into his retirement. He is 80 years old and suffers from dementia.

Ruby Mounce, 92, was described by Lambert and James as one of the most energetic subjects they’ve captured thus far. She posed for photos with her handmade timeout dolls for almost 90 minutes. An avid sewer, she would make these dolls for family members to watch over their homes. Mounce traveled throughout her life and loves to read. She retired from the Hammond Health Unit. She’s a mother to five children, and has 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She suffers from dementia and is a breast cancer survivor two times over.

As for Lambert, the project has given him a new perspective to consider as his family continues to care for his grandmother. The emotions he’s experienced alongside his photo subjects have shifted his own view of aging and disease.

“A lot of what I had seen up to that point is all of the bad stuff, unfortunately, with my grandmother. But every time we do one of these (shoots), my view changes and I learn something new … this idea that that person is still a person,” Lambert says. “They’re still there, even though parts of their mind may not be.” theirlegacyremains.org

This article was originally published in the November 2023 issue of 225 magazine.

How a local photo project is personifying diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s