Photography With A Conscience

When I first moved to Hawaii, I registered and completed two courses at the University of Hawaii - Manoa. First, Know Your Camera II and Second, Photography With A Conscience.

Liisa Roberts Photography

Let's discuss Photography With A Conscience and the project that was born from our class assignment. The course was taught by the talented Dana Forsberg. It was designed to highlight ways the participants would be able to capture more compelling images, improve self edit and improve the overall image to best reflect an idea, story, and/or mood through composition, post processing, lighting etc. I took a lot away from this class and found an ongoing project in the process.





Dana has an idea that a photographer should get out and shoot and through the process of routine image capture we will naturally shoot subjects and genres that interest us. That basic and simple idea rang so true to me and my work. As I took time to review past images as well as getting out to shoot new images for my class, I found myself outdoors taking in the beauty of our natural world. I knew that my assignments for this course would have to focus on the great outdoors. Now as with the beauty of the outdoors, I have also been fascinated by man's impact on our natural world. Generally speaking, It seems with wreckless abandon and with no real foresight, we create, consume and dispose leaving behind a trail of trash and muck. Who has to deal with this? Our neighbors, our friends, our families, and the our voiceless population of plants and animals. And this is how my project was born: Document the illegal dumping and litter on the island and then do something about it. Don't leave it behind. I have made a commitment with all the moving we do for Brian in the Navy, that I would try and not only enjoy everything unique that each duty station locale has to offer, but to also give back to the community before we leave.





I packed up my camera gear and headed to Heeia Kea Boat Harbor. A classmate had been documenting the trash in B&W and we thought it would be great to shoot together to examine our individual perspectives and also to see the images in color vs. b&w. The lush emerald green Koolau Mountains, the dreamy cotton-candy cloud covered blue skies, and the sparkling turquoise, cobalt, aquamarine green waters of Kaneohe Bay create a vivid mask that covers all the trash left behind. Just looking at the breath taking landscape as a whole, we are unable to see all the trash and the impact that it has on this special ecosystem. Once I took the time to remove the mask, I could see clearly. I never knew there could be so much broken glass, used tires, plastic bags, unwanted appliances and miscellaneous trash in such a small area. The bay side was littered with so much glass you had to watch each step and hand grabs carefully. Half buried car tires could easily trip you up. But hey, if we tired at all, we could rest comfortably in the car seats that balanced precariously in the mangroves and trees. The street side, was full of plastic bags, car parts, vibrantly colored lingerie and random kitchen appliances. Unreal. I know that the Kenmore refrigerator did not float over with current and all the other Styrofoam containers! Someone dumped it! I did a little research and apparently illegal dumping is a common occurrence on Oahu. There seems to be political issues with recycling, and issues of just being overwhelmed at the dump with so much trash. I read that the dump even closes early because they just can not take more trash.





I was able to document the trash in a small area near Heeia Kea and now after the class is long since over, I am still working on the cleanup. After tossing around several ideas of how and who I would approach for the cleanup, I decided on contacting the adopt a highway program as the cleanup framework. It just seems to be the most logical way to handle the cleanup. This is going to be an ongoing project for the local community. It is also the most efficient way to clean up the trash and gain access to equipment needed to haul the heavy items to the dump and at no charge. What I need now is a local group that is passionate about their neighborhood and about Kaneohe Bay where this particular dumping site is located. They will work with me for the remaining time that I am here but then will continue with the Adopt A Highway program after my family relocates to Brian's next duty station.





So hello Kaneohe, HI. If by a fantastic random chance you have happened upon this post and would like to coordinate our efforts, please contact me: via email.

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