Harnessing the Power of Images

One thing I have always thought would help the goal of promoting environmental protection and sustainable development more in the DR would be to get more photos that say what a 1000 words cannot say -- both for showing what's worth protecting (mountainsides, forests, rivers, reefs, national parks, wildlife, etc.),


as well as the problems (litter, untreated sewage, mining scars, deforestation, erosion, etc.).



Seeing Skippy's recent pics of the river blocked by plastic waste,



the great reaction everyone gave to John Evan's & Curt's fruit and animal pics,



Reese's plant pics and Big Bird's Jarabacoa pics, and gathering some pics of what the last round of major forest fires did, all brought me back to this idea.

How best to tap it to greatest impact?

Photo contests, maybe? If so, general or thematic? On the discussion board, or in the GT blog? Or somewhere else?

Also, there's this terrific nature photographer living in SD named Pedro Genaro Rodr?guez. Here's his blog with pics: Crónicas de los Minutos que ya pasaron...
I was thinking about approaching him, asking if he would like to work with us somehow -- cross-posting his pics to the Environment Forum and/or GT blog, and us sending him more traffic. I think if more and more people appreciated all the natural beauty in the DR, they might get motivated more to help protect it. Especially since some of these animals are on the endangered lists. Whatcha think?

Maybe there are more such guys out there we can ally with....

How about some ideas folks!

Well, AlaninDR volunteered to get the ball rolling with a Green Team blog entry on his own take on what it means to "take a walk" in the DR countryside:

"Come Hike With Me"

great pics, tht! Would love to show them on the Green Team blog, even with watermarks if that makes you more comfortable. Would you be okay with that? Also. is it possible to have a better fix on which reef? Are these off Boca, or Catalina, or...

Great! You could leave watermarks on, or we can add a copyright message "(c) 2008 your real name" whatever level of protection you wish -- I believe in giving credit & protection where it's due. I'll PM you the email address to send the jpegs to. Thanks so much!

This, guys and gals, is the type of thing I'm talking about! Getting psyched now! Anyone else have some pics they think would fit the bill?

okay, tht's reef photos are now on the Green Team blog:

"The Beauty of the DR's Southern Reefs"

C'mon guys, with so many of you running around the DR with your cameras, surely more of you have some digi-photos of either what's worth protecting or what needs to be addressed....

Thor has kindly offered some more stunning reef pictures, and they are now posted on the Green Team blog:

"More of the Beauty of the DR's Southern Coral Reefs"

I appreciate Thor stepping up to the plate not once, but twice. AlaninDR has done so as well, with photos of a hike in the countryside.

Surely we have more than just two photographers (whether amateur or pro) in the DR1 who have photos they can share of the DR's natural beauty, or its environmental problems that need addressing? C'mon folks! :surprised

sokitoumi said:

maingirl and j d sauser had some good photographs in the flickr thread perhaps they need encouragement and a theme to work to -

Click to expand...

Yes, MG even offered to let me use her pics for the blog's "The DR We See" series. However, it would involve alot of sifting, organizing, etc. on my part and I'm trying to encourage her to do so, as I would JD. Both are bright and creative folks from what I can tell, so I know that they both could put together a great small collection of photos around a theme.

I prefer to let the people who actually took the pics to organize and explain it their way, that way we see the DR through their eyes, not mine. And generally speaking in blogs, that personalized approach, particularly regarding photos, garners much more interest in the readers.