So as a nature and wildlife photographer, I like to go out not only in the wilderness, but I spend a quite amount of time around the parks in my area. One thing that I have really noticed is that there is trash, primarily plastic, freaking everywhere! So as a “photographer”, how can address this pressing problem in my own backyard especially when I don’t see trash as a very compelling main subject?
After noodling on what I should do, a resounding duh came from within. It said, “Hey dummy, while you’re out there, just pick up the dammed trash!” As I am often on my e-bike around town, I should easily be able to at least payback the areas that I am enjoying and helping out the very wildlife I am looking for.
So after my graduate school disappointment (well documented in this blog), I guess one of my life’s purposes moving forward is to leave the places I photograph better than when I arrived by cleaning it up, not for others to enjoy, but to help the flora and fauna thrive. Heck, maybe I can influence others outside to walk around with a trash bag too? It could be the next “thing”, Haha! I actually was inspired by a guy at Lake Pleasant outside of Phoenix who picked up a staggering several tons of trash there just in 2024 and was back at it last spring.
It is like karma, the more I cleanup, the better opportunities for images Mother Nature will help to provide, simply because the area is cleaner for the next time I visit. I have started watching old reruns of “My Name is Earl”, whose premise is about righting past wrongs else karma will get ya. Hopefully I can right a few of my own environmental wrongs. I have not been awful, but simply by being born in America during in the 20th century gives me much to make up for regardless.