Stewardship of Sacred Place, Surf Spot, and Studio...
The weekly transformation of Trash to Environmentally Friendly Pixels (EFP) and Self Discovery.
Connecting the Dots...
The image to the left is comprised of countless digital pixels. Within this same image, I am certain there are Environmentally Unfriendly Pixels (EUP). In other words, bits of this and that, trash, scattered here and there. Unseen, seen and ignored, but very much part of the "Big Picture." How it all got there is irrelevant at this point and time, or for anytime, for that matter.
A choice has to be made. One of many made everyday... This is not a Left or Right aisle type of decision. This is doing the appropriate thing rather ignoring it and hoping it will go away.
For me, I have come to realize and came to the following conclusion. That one ignored lone piece of trash laying on the ground, is the link to minimize or effectively eliminate the bigger, broader issues humanity faces. Such as, pollution, personal relationships, business issues, unrest, and possible the majority of all the issues we currently face. It is systemic. Our world, is a reflection of who we are as humanity and societies.
All that probably sounds crazy, but I believe this to be 100% true. It's my experience, belief, founded during years of weekly cleanups.
Comfort is the Enemy...
Photography, the ocean and surfing changed my life even further. They are catalysts that sparked my personal growth and evolution. The world looked different, sounded different, and indeed was different when quietly observed it from a kelp bed about one hundred yards from shore just like the image to the left. Roar of the ocean and walls of salt water bliss. A salt water baptism of sorts and a blessing from God.
Life on land, however, was and still is complicated. Sitting at local coffee shop listening to the frequent cruel and nasty political banter got old real quickly. That was in 2017. To me, it was all just "Noise" and nothing was being accomplished.
Also, it was time to leave the comfort of reading and watching documentaries about the Pacific Garbage Patch. I was curious and unemployed. Definitely knew that I wanted an ocean related job, wanted to be of service and give back, and find to myself a hippie, artist, surfer name. It was time to get my hands dirty...
Rite of Passage...
My clean up song: I am a castaway. I am a runaway. I am lost-and-found. I thought, I had drowned. It's around, and around I go. It's around, and around I go. where I will end up, I will never, never know... but God does!
There I was, knee deep in early clean up searching and pondering a surfer and beach cleaner-upper name. Loud and clear came "onemankando." Humbly, I took this rite of passage name. It seemed to fit, because I was really curious to see how much trash I could pick up. Alone. Plus, at the time, and almost all others, there was nobody else out picking up beach trash or on PCH. The thought of creating artwork came later.
Photography as Communication...
My first instinct and desire is to be a yammer-doodle and prattle on about this and that about oceanic trash. Believe it to be safe to say that everyone knows what pollution is. Be it land, sea or air...
Instead, in this forum of my website, it is my sincere desire and intention for my images to possibly speak, tell a potential story, provoke thought, maybe even inspire.
Forever In Debt...
to God, family, friends, photography, surfing and a surfboard. Not to mention, an infinite amount of sand, salt water, and over 57,000 pieces of trash picked up from a beach and highway during my weekly "Rain or Shine" cleanups. Afterwards, each piece was painstakingly inventoried, documented and relocated to trash or recycle bins.
Majority of the items, such as the paint can in the sunrise image above, are retained to provide context, scale, and to legitimize my work.
Also thought it would be pretty cool to accompany with my artwork.