Looking back on my summer, I can say it was both busy and deeply fulfilling.
When I first went to Chongming Dongtan, my initial goal was just simply to document the beauty of the wetland. I spent days photographing rare birds, until when I came to realize the less inspiring and fragile reality of the wetland—plastic bottles and piles of trash scattered along the tide line. At the beginning, I thought just capturing imagines of the reality could raise awareness and lead people to care and to take action. However, that idea changed when I joined a local cleanup effort on the island. Collecting plastic under the hot sun during the summer in Shanghai, I realized that conservation isn’t just about observation, it starts with our own hands.
That experience made me think more carefully about how to turn awareness into action. Therefore, I in partnership with a local kids art club, I organized several workshops where I shared my photos and stories. Instead of simply showing the wetlands as something far away, I invited the children to use drawing and painting to express what protecting birds and wetlands meant to them. Their colorful works—cranes flying above clear water, children picking up litter, reeds swaying in the wind—showed me how art could make environmental care feel personal.
To connect the two ideas—photography and art—I also curated a small exhibition inside the workshop space. My photos of birdlife and shoreline litter were displayed alongside the children’s drawings, so that art and documentation could speak to each other. Some of these images were later published by Chongming Dongtan’s official WeChat account, where they were used to highlight the importance of wetlands for migratory birds and to encourage broader community participation in conservation.
Looking back at this shift in my belief, I used to think conservation meant capturing the “right” image to get attention. Now I understand that the real impact happens when others are moved to create, to respond, and to imagine a healthier world. Seeing younger kids put their own ideas on paper reminded me that habits of care and responsibility begin early, and that my role is not just to document but to spark that process starting from the youth.
