02/26/2026
The harsh reality of human impact- witnessed through the magical world of photography.
Upon first glance in an image you might think the specs on the sand are shells or stones. They are easy to remove in photoshop and with one click- the beach is suddenly spotless and perfect.
But the reality is that this past photoshoot for and was spent avoiding and covering mass amounts of microplastics that have washed up on the shore with the recent rain storms and floods on the east side.
People might volunteer and clean up bits of the plastic, but chances are, with tides and wind and human foot traffic, much of this plastic will just go right back into the ocean to be consumed by fish, turtles, sea birds and more.
I point this out because this is direct impact from human choices- whether those choices were from the manufacturers and businesses, or the people who purchased them. These plastic pieces which are thrown away, still end up polluting nature. Trash is dumped in the ocean, trash/recycling is transported to other nations that lack infrastructure, trash blows away, trash is forgotten. But it’s not invisible and it’s not going away.
So my two asks from you are:
1) if you see some trash or plastic on the beach or the park- clean it up- then clean your hands :)
2) think before you purchase an item made of plastic or packaged in plastic. Is there an alternative? Or do you even need it at all?
Let’s keep our beaches beautiful!!! 😍
