October 21, 2007 - Geoff Morris held an anti-ferry sign at a public meeting on Kauai at King Kaumual’i Elementary School for a special session regarding the Hawaii Superferry. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 70-200mm (at 200mm) f2.8, Aperture Priority, 1/320 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Auto white balance

I got sent over to Kauai the other day to cover the public meeting for a possible special session by the legislature to try and keep the Hawaii Superferry afloat.

It was an in-and-out deal; fly in mid-day, shoot and transmit photos, and catch the last flight back to Honolulu.

The meeting was to start at 2 p.m., and I got to the school around 1 or so. There were some people starting to wander in, and I began analyzing the lay of the land.

The meeting was held in the cafeteria, three of the walls of which were essentially all windows. The senators were on a small stage against the one solid wall in the place. Everything else was pretty much back-lit. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, adding a a weird hue to the otherwise daylight color of light in the room. Oh well, not much I can do about that, I thought.

I went outside and got some photos of people signing up for testimony, then hung out and lurked. In a situation like this, I like to get a feel for the people involved, and try to keep to myself as much as possible.

I was wearing a Star-Bulletin shirt, and had my “press” tags dangling from my neck for effect. And one or two people came up to me and handed me copies of what they planned to say. I dutifully took them, just in case (and it’s always nice to have extra paper for notes if needed).

Then a guy came up to me and wanted to hand me what looked like a magazine. “Can I give you one of these?” he asked.

“No thank you,” I replied.

“Are you sure?” he asked, looking a little surprised.

“Yeah,” I said.

“But you’re with the media, I thought you’d want one,” he said.

I just looked at him. And then he walked off, looking a little hurt.

Things finally started rolling at 2, and I started shooting. After about 10 minutes, it was becoming apparent that this was not going to be a repeat of the infamous Lingle/Coast Guard episode from last month. The crowd was well-behaved, and there were only about three or four signs in the crowd.

Since there wasn’t a whole lot of drama going on, it was just a matter of getting a variety of different shots of essentially the same thing — people standing at the microphone, saying what they would say, and senators looking at them, occasionally scribbling on yellow legal pads.

At one point, a woman got up and began speaking. She prefaced her comments by telling the crowd “You’re probably not going to like what I’m about to say.” At which point I thought, hmmmm… could there be drama? When it became apparent that she wasn’t against the ferry per-se, she was immediately heckled and booed by the crowd. Might have been good with audio, but the pictures just looked like any other.

Some other guy went up and gave a rambling talk about how he was in favor of the ferry, and again was promptly booed and jeered. After I shot photos of him, I went up to him (in the middle of the crowd) to get his name. As he was giving it to me, some guy behind me started blurting out various lines like, “I hope you got pictures of the people who are against the ferry!” I ignored him thinking “how could I not? There are over 300 of you here.” It’s the usual thing I get all the time, people see I’m from “the mainstream media” and immediately brand me as someone with an agenda. Usually one that doesn’t agree with their point of view.

Let me tell you, while I might have my own opinion on what I’m covering, I make it a point to leave it behind when I go into a news situation. I shoot exactly what happens, avoiding coloring it with my own opinions. Of course, nobody believes this, and I’ve learned long ago that I’ll never please all of the people all of the time. So I just let it go.

Anyway, I stood around for about two hours or so, then decided I’d go back to the car and transmit the photos back to Honolulu. I also called the city desk to let them know this was not the pressure cooker drama that some may have expected.

After about a half-hour of editing and sending, I went back in and hung out just in case something else happened. Although I was doubtful at that point.

The place had emptied a bit by this time, and I saw some room to sit at the front by the mic. A woman went up to testify and had a long scroll of the negatives she thought the ferry would bring Kauai. She unfurled it in front of the senators and I got some photos of that.

Then right after her, a high school student went up and held a banner with a bunch of negatives written on it.

Well, this is interesting, I thought. Props. So after the kid sat down, I went over to get her name. As she was about to give it to me, the scroll woman came over and said, “you need to talk to her parents.”

“She just gave public testimony, in a public venue,” I told her (while thinking, “and she gave her name, too”).

“Don’t talk to him,” she told the girl.

At this point I could see things unraveling fast. The woman was getting agitated, and I wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation, not in this crowd, anyway. I decided it would be best to let that one go.

“Well, can I get your name, then?” I asked the woman, since I had photographed her. Maybe I could salvage something.

“They have it,” she snapped back.

“Who?” I asked.

“Them,” she said, pointing to the senators.

I looked at her blankly, then got up and left. It was a lost cause. And the photos weren’t worth the potential for a full-blown confrontation with this person who obviously didn’t want anything to do with me.

It’s like arguing about religion or politics, nobody’s gonna win.

I left the school a few hours later, and went back to the airport.

Definitely an interesting day.

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