The
healing power of nature
Flower photos help daughter connect to mom with Alzheimer’s By M.J. Ellington
W
hat started out as a trip of curiosity to take a few photographs led one Alabama woman to a professional career as a nature photographer. The career, in turn, led Elmore DeMott to a personal commitment to capture an image of a different special flower each day to share with her mother, Elmore Inscoe, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The convergence of DeMott’s sophisticated nature and plantation burn photographs and “Flowers for Mom,” her ongoing daily photographic gift to her mother, will be on display in September at a Tuscaloosa art gallery. Proceeds from sales of her work will benefit Black 16 SEPTEMBER 2018
Warrior Riverkeeper, a nonprofit that advocates for clean water. DeMott began photographing one
Rose from a friend’s garden photographed in Montgomery.
See more photos at alabamaliving.coop
flower each day as a way to have a daily personal connection with her mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. The result is a topic that draws on Inscoe’s fond memories but also acts as a link to today through her daughter’s work. DeMott said the discipline of achieving the perfect image of a new flower each day for her mother has been a challenge, but she said the impact on people outside her family has been a wonderful surprise. “Never did I dream that ‘Flowers for Mom’ would be so far-reaching. People literally send me pictures and ideas from all over the world,” DeMott says. The www.alabamaliving.coop