“A precious memory, even without seeing it with your eyes” ... Canon Korea’s special gift of photos

[Financial News] Canon Korea continued its photography-based community outreach efforts, taking longevity portraits of 491 seniors. It expanded the project to include seniors with visual impairments, helping everyone record their image and preserve their memories.
Canon Korea said on the 11th that it had wrapped up its 2026 longevity portrait project, photographing 491 seniors over 15 sessions this year.
This year, it partnered with Siloam Center for the Blind to run the “Photos Seen Through the Heart” program. On the 22nd of last month, it visited the center and took longevity portraits of 18 seniors with visual impairments.
At the shoot, staff used the sound of clapping to indicate the camera’s position, helping the seniors with visual impairments determine which way it was facing. Photographer Yoon Woo-seok naturally captured each person’s individuality, including seniors comfortably closing their eyes or wearing the sunglasses they usually wear.
The center helped recruit participants, provide information in advance, and guide them on getting around and posing on the day of the shoot. Canon Korea provided professional photography equipment and a photographer so the seniors could take part in a familiar setting. The photos will be retouched and framed before being delivered around the middle of this month.
Canon Korea runs an annual community outreach program that takes longevity portraits of vulnerable seniors at local senior centers and welfare centers for older adults, and provides them with framed prints. A total of 491 people took part this year, including seniors with visual impairments.
Since 2013, Canon Korea has also run the “Focus on” campaign with the Korea Blindness Prevention Foundation and Community Chest of Korea, funding sight-restoration surgery for children and adolescents from low-income families.
In December, Canon Korea plans to hold the “Photos That Connect Hearts” program at Hanam Bobath Hospital for pediatric cancer patients and their families. As it did last year, it plans to take and deliver family portraits featuring the patients and their parents.
Canon Korea CEO Park Jeong-woo said, “Photography has a special power that goes beyond visual records, allowing us to preserve the emotions and memories of precious moments for a long time. Canon Korea will continue its community outreach efforts, drawing on its imaging technology and expertise to share the value of photography with more people in our community.”
[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter